I'm building up a Black 58cm Cannondale Capo frameset and I'm going for a lightweight build. I will only be riding this bike on the road (no track) so I'll need something sturdy and longlasting. I was looking at Velocity Deep V's but they seem heavy, and also Cane Creek Volos. But I don't know much about different brands and who makes good stuff and who doesn't. I don't have a ridiculously huge budget but I'd be willing to spend $300-500 on a really good full wheelset. Any suggestions?

Mavic Open Pros.

Formula/Open pro. 32 spoke 3 cross. Or do an Ultegra/OP front to save a quarter pound if you don't care about matching.

I'm quite enamored with my 2008 Vuelta Track Team wheels. Smooth, strong, fairly light, and inexpensive to boot.

Wait what?

Priorities. Do you want a light wheel that will stand up to the rigors of most road riding, or a bombproof wheel that's not prohibitively heavy?

This is a question you could talk to a skilled wheelbuilder about after you'd picked your rims and hubs.

I'm not looking for the lightest things in the world. I would just prefer if they weren't overly heavy and I didn't know many reputable wheelsets. Also, would you recommend getting everything separately (rims, hubs, spokes), or going for the wheelset?

Do you want a box rim or something more V like?

Open Pros are always a good bet. There's also DT's version, the 1.1. Aeroheads are decent and I like them myself.

If you want something more V like I'd recommend IRD Cadence Aero rims. 30mm deep, 455g, only come in machined black but good rim.

Be sure to build with double butted spokes. I'd say Sapim Lasers or DT Revolutions up front and whatever you want on the rear.

Using Formula hubs will keep the costs down.

Call (don't bother with email) Mike Garcia at oddsandendos.com. He will be able to build you a light (1500-1600 grams) strong superbly built pair of road fg wheels easily within your budget. I suggest lacing Niobium 30 rims (the same as IRD cadence), to formula hubs with some oval or strongly butted spokes. He will also send you the parts to build yourself if you want to go that route.

Hint: since you are building road wheels, use a light front road hub, like the Specific perception hub (for example)...you can easily save more than 150 grams without significantly adding to the cost.

I love Open Pros, though I've recently been curious about the DT Swiss RR 1.1 and the IRD/Niobium Cadence box section (non-aero) rims, which seem super mega light, which is awesome. All good options for reasonably light wheels and probably strong enough for your purposes. My Open Pros have to deal with me riding 23mm tires through ****ty, pothole filled roads, hopping curbs, locking up, getting stuck in train tracks and all of the abuse that wheels have to deal with in cities, and they're still true. A friend uses the RR 1.1's, and his are also still true after tons of hard riding (he's a cyclocrosser who sometimes forgets he's rocking 23mm tires when he's on his road bike). I'm fairly confident that my Open Pro wheelset could withstand his abuse just as well. I've never used the Niobium/IRD rims, but they have a good rep, and mihlbach and Andre Nickatina on this forum both love them (see above), and they seem to know what's up as far as good components are concerned. I'll probably try them out on my next wheel build.

Me and mihlbach are all about the IRD Cadence Aero (Deep V). The regular Cadence, which is a box rim, I've heard mixed reviews from the roadie forum. But those guys also typically try and get away with less spokes whereas the norm here is 32/36 spoke wheels so that could be one reason.

SS/FGers should actually be able to get away with fewer spokes than roadies because of the rear wheel's lack of dish. Personally, I ride a 24/28 spoke combo on road and fg with no probs, and I'm 205 pounds. If you are sure that you are going to get a quality build, and you don't plan on seriously abusing your wheels, you can get away with less than 32.

Yes but don't forget that road riding generally entails better surfaces than city riding where potholes, train tracks and other unexpected obstacles are a lot more common. Not only that, but a lot more people riding fixed do lots of curb hobs and possibly some bunny hops here and there, whereas a lot of roadies wouldn't dream of doing these things (of course, there are the cool ones who race cyclocross in the off season and get a kick out of curb hopping their nice road bikes and taking off-road detours; I like those guys). Rear wheel for city riding, 32-36 spokes is the best bet for anyone over 160lb IMO. Front wheel varies.

coloradocyclist.com will hand build you a wheelset with open pro ceramic rims and campagnolo record hubs for less than 500. i just got mine for my roadbike and i'm very happy. nice solid gray wheels.

+1

I really like my Velocity Aerohead rims with Formula hubs. Strong, weight is good, price was good. The Mavic Open Pro rims are good stuff. Mavic also makes the Open Sport rim for less money that's also nice.

My road bike has Shimano wheels; the rear is 24 spokes in a 2-cross pattern, the front is a 20-spoke radial. I weigh 150.

I'm hopping more curbs and steps with my ss/fg bikes so I prefer a 3-cross pattern in the back. 32 spokes 3x is a nice strong wheel. Front is 28 spokes in a 2-cross pattern.


Check out the Roadie forum for more info. Every day they get lots of "I want cheap and light". You can get cheap, you can get light. You can get cheap and light but don't expect durable to be part of it.

Someone mentioned Sapim Laser spokes. I have a very, very light wheels set on my road race bike, built up with Niobium rims (can't recall the hubs now) and the Laser spokes. My front wheel is only 16 spokes and the rear is 20. The wheelbuilder can get away with so few spokes by using these beefier spokes. So far it hasn't been a problem. And I ride pretty hard. But I for one, wouldn't want to go that low for everyday street use on a fixed gear. (on mine, I use Deep V's with about a million spokes, and they are heavy and completely bombproof, but I don't want them anymore). But it shows I think, what can be done if you wanted to push the envelope.

But listen to the posters here. Lots of good suggestions all around

Your wheelset sounds so nice. I'm wanting more and more to build some up, but I don't really have a reason to do so, as I'm cutting back to one fixed gear, and it already has Formula/OP wheels, and I recently scored an Ultegra/OP road wheelset for $13. I'm building up a wheelset, but it's going to be 32-spoke utility wheels with Tiagra hubs and Salsa Delgado cross rims. No lightweight componentry there.

This is when it really pays off to be 5'5", 130lbs. I can use any kind of crazy lightweight **** I want. And someday, I hope to be one of the cool roadies. I feel like you have to ride and remain unpretentious for 10+ years to really qualify, so I've gotta start puttin' in work!

You're lucky to be so lightweight. If I weighed that little, I'd be in a hospital under watch for extreme anorexia...

I really can't recommend the aeroheads anymore after seeing how the rim holds up during the tensioning process. Needless to say i'm not impressed.

Mark another vote for open pros. Great compromise between strong and light.

yup open pros. i have two sets laced to dura ace hubs and another laced to suntour superbe pros. excellent rims that hold up to serious abuse...

If you're looking for something a little different than Open Pro's: On my city bike, I've got a DT Swiss RR 1.2 on the back and a MAvic CXP 33 on the front. Both laced up with 32 spokes. Has held up great so far.

Wow, lots of options. I really like the V style rims, especially for my all black setup. I am doing a fair amount of city riding but I am really cautious about dodging potholes and all that. Plus I do not hop curbs or bunnyhop on my fixed gear. So maybe the open pros are the way to go. So nobody here is into the Velocity Fusions or Deep-V's? The other that caught my eye was the American Classic Track Clincher. Apparently those hold up well for street use. Has anyone had any experience with the American Classics? Thanks again for all of your help.

Has anyone used the Miche Xpress wheels?