im looking for a decent/affordable set of wheels for a commuter. i ride every day, but rarely more than a few miles.

any oppinions on the following (mostly) ebay sets? any non-ebay recomendations?

Mavic CXP 22 rims, Formula high flange Hubs. $135
Alex DH-22 rims, suzue hubs. $135
Alex DV-15 rims, suzue hub w/ DA cog/lock ring $159
Weinmann Aero rims, formula high flange hubs. $130

i went through about the last 30 pages looking for wheel threads and surprisingly found very little. i'm sure it's been discussed, but not recently. thanks for the help.

the first are good...i'll be picking up a pair asap. i know someone with them, and for the money, they're a good deal.

have links for any of the others?

i'm assuming they're all pretty similar, i just dont know what the different rim styles really translate to in terms of quality. ie; how does an alex dv-15 differ from an alex dh-22, etc.

alex DV 15

alex AT 450

aero

alex dh-22

well, all those have suzue hubs. presumably the cheap ones. now, some people will say they've ridden them miles and miles and miles...but the majority will tell you they're not the greatest hubs. no personal experience, but if the search function were working, there'd be plenty to read on them.

I have the suzue hubs. They are ok, but have a few problems.
1. the bearings are different sizes on each side. Kind of a pain to rebuild.
2. The locknuts are also different sizes, which means you need 2 sets of cone wrenches.
I would go for the formula hubs. They just seem to be better made, and the sealed bearings take less care.

I would go Formula too, and honestly if you can afford it, handbuilt. If you're going to ride them every day get good spokes and have someone who knows what they're doing build them. You don't have to have some kind of Phil/Deep V setup to get handbuilt wheels.

If you don't have the skills or the scratch for that at least have whatever machine built wheels you get looked over by a knowledgeable shop.

the mavic/formula's come from here. i found it while digging through threads earlier. it says they're 'hand built', but who knows what that really means.

i was also looking through bens cycles just now and found i could get velocity aeroheads/formulas for $184. i dont really want to spend an extra $50 bucks, but i would rather have black rims, and im assuming the quality is better with velocity, yes?

another thing, and so i can avoid making another thread, tonight when tightening up my chain, i noticed something weird. the chain will start very tight, but as the crank turns, it loosens up slightly, then as the cranks make a full rotation, it goes back to tight. only thing i can think is that the chainring isnt on straight/isnt an actualy round, or the cog isnt round. anyone ever notice this? is it an issue? is it possibly why my hub is making constant weird noises?

yep, it's pretty normal...gonna have to look for the sheldon brown link here...

i think this is what i'm thinking of...

https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#tension

Could be the chainring, could be the cranks. probably not the cog. There is enough play in the chainring bolts usually to fix this. Loosen them up, spin the cranks a few time and tighten them back down. Or you could have biopace chainrings.

ah, no ****. ive read that before (along with everything else on his site, including the page about hats). i suppose that gives me something to do tomorrow.

formula/mav-just have shop check them out when you get them. Them aeroheads ain't machined if you are planning on running breaks.

the weinman/formula doesn't sound bad either, but there doesn't seem to be a link there.

edit: found 'em on ebay. i kinda like those rims. looks like about the same quality as the formula/mavic wheels, especially since the hubs are the same.

He has a page about hats?

No. The formula/mavics are a deal, weinmann rims are trash.

I had a Wienmann for a few years. It held up, but you gonna have to get it trued every once and again.

no brakes, so the non-machined is fine. how much better are the velocities than the mavics? i'm sure they're better, but are they that much better? im pretty strapped, so anything i spend is more than i really have. i would like black rims more than silver though.

here's sheldons hats.

just walked over to LBS. they have Sun M13 II's, formula hubs, for $160. that's what i'd be paying for any of the others after shipping. any opinions on the sun rims? i did some google searches, but didn't bring up much.

link us the page with the damn hats already!

edit: yes, here we go baby. check out the snap-on tools hat.
https://sheldonbrown.org/hats.html

There are 3 models that Suzue makes. You cannot compare the enrty level model (unsealed bearings) to the Pro Max (sealed bearings) orthe Pro Max Njs hubs. I have not had a problem with my Pro Max SB hubs in 5 years.

the suns aren't pretty but they are bomb proof

*wrench in the works*

Here's the next wheelset I'm building:

- DT Swiss RR 1.1 rims (28/32)
- DT Swiss Revolution spokes (aluminum nipples)
- Formula track hubs (fixed/fixed)

Laced 2x, this'll be a light and strong wheelset. I may even try tying and soldering the spokes so the wheels are worthy of being used at the Forest City Velodrome.

Edit: I'd go w/ the CXP 22/Formula wheelset.

tye and solder jobs look sweet

anyone know how the mavic cxp-22's compare to velocity aeroheads?