Looking to replace the stock (yellow) wheels that came on the 2011 Madison and was looking at these:

https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/232...e-Wheelset.htm

Anyone know if these are decent or not for longer road riding? I've used Ritchey components in the past with good results but don't know about these wheels. Is there something better for the price? Thanks.

dt spokes are great, i'd say go for it. probably nothing better for the price. unless wabi wheelsets have dt spokes... doesn't say they do though. just double butted, which... meh.

^^ Thanks cc.

I bought a 16 spoke ritchey racing wheel, because it was light and cheap, i had it in my main street bike and positively hammered on it for two years before i sold it, never needed to true it.

Thanks for the info Kol - good to know they make a tough wheel.

I was looking more into the Wabi wheelset that cc700 mentioned - Jalco rims and JoyTech hubs - and they are pretty light at 1750g. The Ritchey's are noted to be 1980g (according to the Price Point specs). Perhaps the Wabi's would be more alive and the Ritchey's more tough?

I wouldn't buy those. The wheels are probably fine, but the origin of the parts are unknown and there is little if any feedback about them available from users. You can get better wheels at velomine, built from tried and true parts (e.g. formula hubs, velocity rims, etc), for less money.

yeah i have a cxp30 laced to a ritchey rear road hub and it's been fine, but it's WELL used and i'm a little afraid the hub will go. a friend's ritchey freehub bit the dust and the replacement parts were like, impossible to find and needed a tool or something that no one had. i guess velomine may have more at that price point but honestly, i don't think velocity rims are very high quality. compare them to mavic or dt swiss and they're almost as good but i mainly like them because they have so many options for style and color.

https://www.velomine.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=462

^ best for the money almost hands down, cept that you don't have dt swiss spokes. but honestly they're better than 180+ for machine built wheels, even if they're not quite as light.

i'd say the wabi are the best for compliant(not stiff), light climbing wheels. but... climbing wheels and fixed gear is an oxymoron.

i'd say the ritchey are the best for lightish stiff wheels... and i'd say the velomine are the best for serviceable and reliable quality for hardly any money.

The Ritchey wheels are 2000g.. these are not lightish wheels. The velomine wheels are going to weigh basically the same and have the same stiffness. All the wheels we are discussing have high flange bolt-on track hubs, high spoke counts, straight gauge spokes, and cheap rims. They are all going to be heavy.
If you want light wheels, get Kinlin rims, highly butted spokes, and a front road hub.

You can't build them for less than that, That's what i would buy.

Are the Wabi wheels still considered heavy at 1750g? I do alot of climbing and ride in single speed / freewheel mode 100% of the time.

The price of the CXP22's are very attractive...

@bfloyd6969...actually for pre-built wheels, especially lower priced ones like the mavics or your ritcheys, 2000g is not...heavyish - it is pretty typical. the wabis are not ultra-light but they are by far the lightest sub-$200 built wheelset you will find.

mihlbach gave you the right prescription for going as light as possible but unless you can lace your own (& my guess is that you can't), on top of parts cost you gotta pay the builder too so its not so cheap.

ok, back to the wabi wheels...i heartily disagree with any claims they are not stiff enough, in fact they are very strong. i am hard on wheels - curb, small platform & stair jumping, don't avoid many potholes, etc. i have even ridden them on mtb trails & mine are holding up like champs. i could not be more pleased, regard them as one of the better values i've gotten on bike stuff.

finally, after picking an ugly colored, not well-regarded bike like your madison because you could get it for a low price, why are you even contemplating immediately throwing more $ at it? add the couple hundy for new wheelset to what that bike cost & now you are in the price-range where you could have bought an exponentially better bike for the same money. does not make sense to me.

have fun & good luck...

1750g is sort of halfway between heavy and light.
Your standard overbuilt ss/fg wheelset (unbutted spokes, high spoke count, front bolt-on track hub) that are widely available are around 2000g. Fashionable deep heavy rims will make the wheelset considerably heavier still.
A light (but still reasonably strong) SS/FG clincher wheelset is between maybe between 1450-1550g. Its easy to achieve that weight range with strongly butted spokes, sub 100g road front hub, and Kinlin rims. Deeper Kinlin rims will give you a stronger, but slightly heavier wheel, but will allow you to reduce the spoke count and get you around 1500g. Shallower rims are slightly ligher, but you need more spokes to maintain durability, and will get you closer to 1400g. You can buy build kits for a couple hundred dollars that will give you a light low-cost wheel. Any lighter than ~1400g is going to cost you a lot and possibly compromise strength and durability.

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone. It is appreciated.

Markaitch - I understand why you are questioning my reason for getting the Madison. My reason for going with it was because I have read here that the frame is a rather good one being a good solid ride. True, it has been deemed a quite ugly bike, but I am more about the quality of the frame rather the color scheme. Agreed the color is surely not my first choice, but I live and ride in the boonies - alone - so no need for social circles to concern me

I figured the wheelset would be the first upgrade I would make as this and other $300 ~ $400 bikes do not have the best wheelsets. I do plan on riding the bike as is and get the wheelset in topic mid-summer. Then, at that time I will have a useable backup set of wheels when needed after the change. As usual, I am doing my research now to know what I am getting. The rest of the bike really doesn't seem all that bad and I plan to ride it as is until something needs to be replaced. I hope this clears things up some.