I'm looking to put a new set of wheels on my SS ... don't like the look (yellow deep v knock offs) or feel of the stock wheelset.

What I'm looking for might be impossible. I want something not too expensive and that I'm not super scared about locking up (never overnight), but I also want decent quality. I've got high end campy hubs on my roadbike, and I've gotten used to what good hubs feel like.

My first impulse is the BWW Open Pro / Formula build, but I'm kinda hesitant on the Formula hubs. Are they actually good hubs? It seems they're the stock hubs on just about everything, so I'm kinda wondering .... that said, I'm not yet in the market for White Industries or Chris King. Is there anything in the middle? I am putting a White Industries freewheel on the new wheelset.

In short - can you think of a better all around deal than just over $200 for a set of Open Pros laced to Formula hubs with DT spokes?

for a complete deal, that's hard to beat.

but for custom, you can try...
tiagra front hub.
novatech rear hub.
sun assault rims.
2.0/1.8mm DB DT spokes and brass nipples

check out aeroxl.com. i bought a trackstar composite disc wheel for $199.00 w free shipping. fast, strong, and sexy looking disc wheel. i get comments everywhere i go. i think he has a 700c cassette on ebay, looks just like my trackstar composite.

The most affordable wheel I see on there is 600 bucks. Where is the cheap disc you speak of?

i bought mine on ebay. it had no reserve. i guess wait for one to go on sale on ebay.

I built my own wheels about $200
All city Hubs-red-$80 from aebike.com several colors
rhyno lite rims-black-$50 from bikesweets.com
Black Wheel Master Spokes- $50 from bikedeals.com
red nipples-$10 from ebay

You can easily do what you want for your price range, shop around.

I hate deep-v rims, they bend all to hell on pitted streets, thats why I went with the rhynos

you can get novatech hubs on ebay for about $80 too

lol
Formulas are good hubs. You couldn't feel a difference, even if there was a difference.

Build your own. Use a front road hub, a formula or novatec rear hub, KinLin rims (depth of your choice), and some decent double butted spokes. Shouldn't cost much more than 200 if you can build your own, and you'll have much better wheels than can be bought stock for the same price.

Use the edit button.

Stop double posting.

And REALLY stop triple posting.

Edit (see what I did there?): Check out Prowheelbuilder.com I've been very happy with my wheels they built me. Still true after 7 or 8 months of riding almost daily.

That is just a disk cover, and it is extremely heavy. One wheel weighs as much as my wheel set. Its cool to have a disk, but if you live in a city with wind your pretty much ****ed. Can you tell if it is real carbon weave? If it is thats pretty cool compared to the other disk covers.

Cool, that's what I wanted to know. I've never used them, and since they seem to turn up stock on every entry level SS and fixed gear, I had my doubts.

FWIW I have, in the past, felt an immediate difference going from a crappy stock rear wheel to a quality handbuilt on the same bike, and I attribute at least part of the difference to the relative quality of the hubs. Could I tell the difference between varying levels of good (and not just between crappy and good)? I doubt it. So if formulas are indeed good and not merely ubiquitous, we're golden.

I went through the process of building up my road bike from scratch, including the wheels (I chose parts, my buddy built them), but with these I'm just going to go pre-built ... quick, cheap etc. BWW claims they hand build them, but I'm not betting on that. I'll have them checked and tensioned, so it won't matter much.

Yea I can certainly feel a difference going from formulas to phils. Formulas certainly aren't bad hubs, I use them in a set of wheels of mine, but it's not a ridiculous thing to claim you can feel the difference from one hub to another.

Otherwise nobody would be buying high dollar hubs.

You can feel safe that there are no better deals than BWW.

That is what you think!

It's not that so much - I'd pay a bit more if there were hubs that were between Formulas and something like a Phil Wood etc.

Well, BWW it is I guess. Thanks!

There can be differences that don't come down to "feel."

Assuming an undamaged nondefective hub, all that matters for smoothness are the bearings. There is no reason that the cheapest hub cannot feel as smooth as the most expensive hub with a bearing swap. The hubshell itself just holds the spokes and axle in place and is irrelevant to rolling resistance. The flange height and spacing are relevant to wheel stiffness, but that is another issue apart from quality.
The formula hubs I have used have very smooth and durable bearings and spin more freely than Phil bearings because there is less seal drag. Even if the bearings don't last as long, bearings are very cheap and can easily be replaced with Phil bearings. The cost of a formula hub + the highest quality bearings available will still be many times cheaper than a Phil hub.

The difference in rolling resistance between mediocre bearings and the best bearings is exceedingly minor. Unless the hub is severely maladjusted, people who claim to "feel" the difference in hubs cannot really isolate the "feel" of the hub from other parts of a new wheelset. Tires, tire pressure, spoke tension, lacing pattern, the number of spokes, and the rim, will effect how a wheel seems to roll. Of course there is also the placebo factor. It is nonesense to attribute a percieved difference in feel between two wheesets to the hub.

EDSR,
Sorry dude, I didn't know it irritated you so much to scroll down to read the rest of my thoughts. I'll make sure that I use the edit button

edit-
d i c k

if your deep vs are bending on pitted roads, you're doing something wrong.

So they should bend all to hell on smooth paved roads?

I dont know how hard you ride your bike, maybe you just use it to go to the bar to meet your friends, but I tear mine up going up and down curbs and jumping medians and whatnot. I weigh 200+, it doesn't take a whole lot on pitted roads to bottom out, even with high psi. The things simply aren't built strong enough for me, and most of them are built pretty cheaply(like that velocity crap). I suppose high end deep V's (if there really is such a thing) may fair a bit better. The other thing I don't like about the Vs is that you can't get em with eyelettes, something I find very useful for rim longevity.

The rhynos on the other hand have a 3 chamber cross section, snake bite bumps and eyelettes for a good price at $50 a pair. My wheels will outlast most trackie wheels, and I can take em off road without problems on a cross setup too.

If you're wrecking deep-v rims on the street, you need to lose some weight, ride smoother, or both. The things have been ****ing bomber for me.

deep v's are pretty strong man. like you said you are just pushing them to their limit. For most 150 lb fixed gear riders they are bulletproof.

jim-bob,
F you dude, I need to lose some weight? I'm friggin 6'5 I'm almost at my ideal weight. And do you ride LA streets? Most of them are jacked. Keep riding that stuff if you want, personally I like to be able to ride back home.

The whole point of an urban bike is that it can handle serious abuse, If you want to baby your bike and ride perfect lines all the time, go for it. I personally like to be able to ride wherever my bike can go, sometimes that means rough streets or off road.

Another bad thing about the Vs is that they are pinned, a couple hits from going off curbs and they start to separate. I gotta ride welded rims.

Dude, if you're not going to lose weight you either need to ride smoother or learn to build wheels better. There's no reason for those rims not to hold up.

I haven't ridden in LA for a while, I'm in oakland where all the streets are smooth as polished glass.