Ultegra wheelset recommendations advice
 

I am looking to purchase a new wheelset and it seems the Shimano wh r500 tubeless ready is a good deal. After doing some searches I am still a little confused about the tubeless ready part. It seems that most manufacturers are going this route and replacing standard tube clinchers with tubeless ready versions. I don't really necessarily want to run tubeless and so these wh r500 claim you can run them with tubes. Does this mean I can set them up just as easily with tubes using standard tube and tire that I would normally use on a non tubeless ready wheel or is it more difficult and I need to use a certain kind of tire? Does anyone have these wheels and can give an opinion on them? Should I stay away from these if I am not planning on running tubeless? Any other wheelsets you recommend ? My most important criteria is light weight since I ride in a hilly area. Thanks in advance.

Tubeless ready mostly means that the internal profile between the bead seats has a shelf area for the beads to rest upon to ensure a good tight fit to prevent blow off. It's actually a good thing, just in general for tire fit.

You can run a tube in any tubeless combination of components & it'll be fine.
You need everything tubeless compatible to run tubeless. Since you have no intention of running tubeless, it doesn't matter, for you.

Fitting tubeless tires to may/may not be any more of a bother. But, not any more than any other kind of tire. It depends on manufacturer, the combination of components & most importantly your own personal technique.

If you are looking for light weight in aluminum, it's pretty tough to beat Stan's Alpha 340's (if you can find any), some double or triple butted spokes & DT180 hubs. You'd probably need to find a good wheel builder for this, though.

One advantage these wheels have for tubeless or regular clincher tires is that there is no need for a rim strip or rim tape since there are no spoke holes in the rim bed. This makes setting them up for tubeless much easier by eliminating problems associated with rim tape leaking. Shimano was the first company to develop wheels for road tubeless tires, However, these are not particularly light weight wheels if that is a big concern for you

Claimed weight is about 1650 g for the set and so ok in weight. Not super heavy or super light.

The claimed weight that I saw was 1884 g which is on the heavier side

that is not correct. The wh rs500 is 1649 g. See competitive cyclist tech specs. I just looked it up again.

When in doubt, go to the manufacturer. https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/produ...S500-TL-R.html The rear wheel is 944 grams and the front is 705.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/produ...S500-TL-F.html