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recommendations for road wheels

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Mar 19, 2009
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Those Fulcrummys must have been a great deal, since they retail for about a grand.. So he got em for about $800 if he's being quoted $600 for a handspun set. For example; A Campy Record hubset laced to DT rims is about $605 msrp. If he got quoted any thing more he's being fed a line of bull. 200 bucks is only a couple weeks worth of groceries in my household. Oh well I tried. I'm confident in the fact that most people in-the-know don't ride racing wheels for "everyday use". Common sense has it's boundaries I guess.

Now that's thinking with your dipstick.....Jimmy!!!
 
Mar 11, 2009
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
Those Fulcrummys must have been a great deal, since they retail for about a grand.. So he got em for about $800 if he's being quoted $600 for a handspun set. For example; A Campy Record hubset laced to DT rims is about $605 msrp. If he got quoted any thing more he's being fed a line of bull. 200 bucks is only a couple weeks worth of groceries in my household. Oh well I tried. I'm confident in the fact that most people in-the-know don't ride racing wheels for "everyday use". Common sense has it's boundaries I guess.

Now that's thinking with your dipstick.....Jimmy!!!

I agree about handbuilts but 'MSRP', "Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price", if the wheelbuilder(Manufacturer) is worth his/her salt, they will charge for their labor. These hubs+rims+spokes are about $605, add $ for the approximate 1.5 hours to build=about $700 or so.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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The price I quoted was from the QBP catalog which pretty much every shop in the US has. The bike shop wouldn't have even had build to his wheels, just order them. Depending on the combination of Hub/rim/spoke, the final price would've been 600-650. They're not as sexy as those Fulcummys, but they would've saved him a little cash for a more comfortable ride, and lasted longer. I still have a set of QBP built wheels from about 8 years ago on my foul weather bike, with no problems whatsoever.

Like I had alluded to before, some people make their equipment purchases based on fashion, not practicality.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
The price I quoted was from the QBP catalog which pretty much every shop in the US has. The bike shop wouldn't have even had build to his wheels, just order them. Depending on the combination of Hub/rim/spoke, the final price would've been 600-650. They're not as sexy as those Fulcummys, but they would've saved him a little cash for a more comfortable ride, and lasted longer. I still have a set of QBP built wheels from about 8 years ago on my foul weather bike, with no problems whatsoever.

Like I had alluded to before, some people make their equipment purchases based on fashion, not practicality.

$600 wholesale? Makes these $1000 wheels, much more than any shop charges even WITH labor.
 
Apr 1, 2009
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Totally agree with RDV4Roubaix

If you want any sort of adventage, get your *** off the couch and train smartly.
Now, there is nothing wrong to sport some nice looking deep wheels if you have the money to buy those. They also make a nice noise when riding them.
It is also a lot easier and healthier to drop a couple pounds from your fat gut than waste thousands to save some grams.
Superman had his powers as either Superman or Clark Kent.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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Thanks Doc,

Yeah, it's really funny too that this thread got started with quite the conundrum.

"I don't need race wheels, but would like something that helps me get an aero advantage. For everyday long rides in a variety of conditions."

"I am considering: HED Ardennes, Shimano 7850, Mavic R-SYS, Fulcrum 1"

It spells volumes on how confused this guy was. If you don't need race wheels, why would you need an aero advantage? If you want everyday wheels for long rides and varied conditions, why are you only looking at race wheels?

I guess I'm the wrong person to give wheel advice, I have bias in respect to common sense when it comes to racing and training equipment.

RDV

Bicyclestreet said:
What would you say to running carbon tubulars for criteriums?

Best choice. There's a reason why 99.9% of pros ride them. Tubulars offer less rotational weight, with higher tire pressures, which equals unparalleled acceleration. I use the same set of Zipp 404 tubular rims laced to Record hubs for road races, crits, and cyclocross. And there is the safety factor as well. If you flat on a clincher in the middle of a crit, you're more likely to roll off your tire and damage your rim and/or crash. The last time most of our team used clinchers in a race one of our guys had a narrow miss. To avoid a crash at the bottom of a hill he locked up his rear wheel to the point where so much heat built up in the tire it exploded off his rim. He said that he must have slid on his bare rim about 70 ft. before coming to a stop into a barrier. I've never seen such a perfect flat spot ground into a rim like that. Looked like a machine did it. I'm sure there are horror stories with tubulars too, but it's usually the result of a poor glue and mount job.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Training wheels= hand built wheels, built on solid hubs with easy to replace parts.
If you must use pre-built buy the low end i.e. Mavic Askium, Shimano 540 stuff. Basically wheels that you can throw away if they're stuffed. They're for training so durability is far more important than weight and bling, therefore the handbuilt option being the best. Dont waste money on this level of wheel.

Race wheels= Deep carbon tubulars. They are better and lighter than clinchers. These are the wheels to save your money for. Dont waste it on some middle of the road, pre built, smartly marketed wheels that don't really achieve anything other than a lighter wallet. Save it until you can buy something that REALLY is better.

Now, if you don't race and want a nice set of do it all wheels that are fairly light then a nice set of handbuilts is still your best option. You can build a 1400-1450grm wheelset that will be as solid as a rock, completely re-buildable and as aero?? as any pre-built set. the beauty of these wheels will be that if you ever have any problem you can walk in to any bike shop and be back on the road in a few minutes. If you really must go with pre-built then go with wheels that are as close to a regular builds as possible. No thick aluminium spokes, no funny spoke keys. You could easily race on these wheels as well.

I do think that some pre-builts are quite nice, but I do think that a lot of people get sucked into the marketing of these companies and like the perceived bling factor.

But at the end of the day we are all different, and if people enjoy riding whatever wheels they own and ride them regularly then good on them. :)
 
Apr 1, 2009
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Adventage,
agreed, you can have nice wheels for 1500g. To go from 1500 to 1200 you will spend some good money. It is a lot easier to drop one entire pound from your gut and for less money. If you can leep that up, you will be a lot faster regardless of whatever wheel you ride.