Lamabb

Hi All,

I'm looking to upgrade my road bike wheels to a set that will help me the most in long distance riding. I'm training for a 400 mile ride and perhaps even longer in the future.

Several major carbon wheel manufacturers admitted that the difference between aluminum vs carbon wheelsets is only about a minute over a 100 mile ride, so I'd prefer to have aluminum for reliability. I've seen too many carbon wheels spontaneously explode, lol.

Could you guys recommend me a few wheelsets? I know there was one brand that was popular on this website (it had its own posts), but I can't remember which it was.

Homebrew01

I doubt there's a "best", but for long distance, get wheels with easy to repair spokes and hubs, not some goofy brand requiring special tools.

Marcus_Ti

White T11s, Archetype or Belgium+ or Pacenti rims, DT Swiss spokes.

TheRef

What's your weight (with the bike)? Your budget? climbing or flat lands? Are you touring and thus carrying extra weight?

Lamabb

I weigh 180 + 18 pound bike = 198 lbs. I was planning on spending $1000 -> $1500. I live in a flat area, but don't believe the "areo" marketing stuff so anything significantly deep just looks silly.

I only have a saddle bag and a small frame bag with a total of maybe 8 extra pounds of food and repair tools.

RollCNY

You don't need to spend anywhere near that much. Call a reliable wheel builder, tell them what you are looking to do, and have a set of wheels built. I use Tom at GVH Bikes, and a typical built wheel set is $5-600 for me. If you believe that aerodynamics is marketing, then you could spend a lot less than that, and have reliable wheels.

Trsnrtr

What he said. Wheel 'systems' seem to be the rage at the moment but traditional is the way to go for long distance. Any decent bike shop should be able to whip up a decent set of aluminum wheels.

bikemig 

If you want reliable wheels for long distance riding, you could do worse than pick up a pair of (relatively) cheap wheels like a wheelset from Velocity. The A23 rims are pretty sweet and strong and a wheel set will run you all of $400:

Velocity Wheels - Hand Made in USA

I'd "upgrade" to double butted spokes but don't get the alloy nipples.

You'll need to double check with Velocity but I'm fairly certain that their road hubs used sealed cartridge bearings which means you won't need to overhaul those hubs; simply replace when they go bad and it takes a long, long time, in my experience, for those to go bad.

Drew Eckhardt 

SON 28 front dynamo hub so you don't need to deal with light battery changes on long rides and auxilliary packs to keep your phone/GPS charged. The bearings are good for 50,000km. It has lower drag than other 3W hubs apart from the SON Delux, which it's preferable to because it makes more power at mountain climbing speeds.

Powertap rear. You want to train with power, it'll help you avoid burning matches that you'll be feeling over the next 100-200+ miles, and you can pace well with it when not using a heart rate monitor. They work with triple cranks for long rides where climbing mountains at an endurance pace keeps you fresh for what follows.They work with SPD pedals so stops like 24 hour grocery stores are trouble free.

Retro-reflective HALO powder coated Velocity Fusion rims (assuming 700C - you could use something like the Blunt for a 650B disc randonneuring wheel). You want to look like a Christmas tree when riding at night. Reflective tape on your favorite 25-30mm deep commodity rim would be fine too. With beam stiffness proportional to the cube of depth that's enough to limit bent rims, and in a sensible shape that depth will get you within a few Watts of a deep carbon rim. Get a third rim as a spare so when you wreck one you can rebuild it the same day and not be sans primary lighting system or power meter.

32 spokes. While spokes don't fail due to fatigue in properly built wheels, you can lose them for other reasons. With 32 you can ride with a brake release open when you're too time crunched to pull out your spoke wrench and make the wheel true enough to ride with it closed.

DT 2.0/1.5mm Revolutions. They'll let the wheel survive a bigger hit before going slack which allows the rim to move off center after which it collapses when the bump passes. Most if not all of the boutique wheels made without proprietary components use 2.0/1.5mm spokes ( lattened into an aero shape) where they work well for riders well into Clydestale territory when used in sufficient numbers. DT has a smoother transition between thick and thin sections which looks nicer than Sapim or Wheelsmith. DT now sells the Competition Race 2.0/1.6 if you think 1.5mm is too thin. Other butted spokes through 2.0/1.8mm will also work.

Your choice of nipples. I use alloy, but if you don't lubricate your threads properly (zinc anti-seize is ideal, although grease works fine) they will freeze up. If you are over ~1mm short of the slot bottom they will break. You will twist them into a trapezoidal shape if you don't seat a spoke wrench far enough even with proper lubrication. Brass is generally a better choice for those reasons. They do come in a rainbow of colors which is very important if silver and black don't agree with you.

Drew Eckhardt 

But most shops won't. With nearly all their customers buying pre-assembled wheels their mechanics don't get enough practice to build wheels both well and profitably, and when compromising they choose fast and profitable.

You should be building your own wheels. It's no harder than adjusting a front derailleur, but with tens of nipples to turn takes a lot longer. It means that when you damage or wear out a rim you can remove tension, tape the new one on in three spots, transfer spokes one at a time taking time to lubricate threads and rim sockets, cut the tape, then true and tension as you would on a new wheel. You can do that before your next scheduled ride.

If that's not practical find a reputable one-person operation where the hands that earned the reputation build your wheel.

Dealing with poorly built wheels that break spokes and/or don't stay true is a hassle, and it really sucks to collapse an under-tensioned wheel on a small bump. I started building my own wheels after that.

Marcus_Ti

Depends on the shop.

My fav LBS in town has been around for 11 years and has 150+ Chris King hub builds alone. Same small crew of guys wearing grimey jeans, and who can and will wrench anything, have been running it the whole time and they keep track. You ask them to build a wheel or fix someone else's build-they'll be glad to do it.

Versus

Shop on the other side of town I went to for a bit that is small but run with the corporate mentality, and everyone has their name tag and company shirt and khakis on...and you ask for wheels and they point to the Mavic Ks on the wall hangers covered with dust because they don't sell much beyond floor bikes and accessories.

dtrain

November

rpenmanparker 

The speed difference isn't in the material, it is in the depth of the rim profile.

TheRef

I'm about 10 pounds heavier than you and my bike weights 18.2lbs with accessories. I noticed many people recommending custom or semi-custom builds and I trust heir recommendations but I have no experience with any of those. If you are looking for off the shelf wheels I'd recommend these based on my somewhat limited experience and similar needs and wants.


Performance Bike - Product Comparison

Shimano WH-RS81-C24-CL Carbon Road Wheelset

Shimano Dura-Ace WH-9000-C24-TL Tubeless Clincher Wheelset

And if you don't need to spend a lot of money the ever so popular Vuelta Lite, I have a set and I've beat and abused them and they run smooth and stay true.
Vuelta Corsa Lite Road Wheelset

SirHustlerEsq

+2.

Trsnrtr

I must be lucky to live in an area where bike shops still know how to build wheels. Oh, I do, too. I built about 6 sets a year back in my racing days - criterium sets, training set, TT set, RR set, etc. Nowadays, wheels seem to last me a very long time so I don't bother anymore.

RR123

+3

Pirkaus

Alloy Wheels - Road hubs - Boyd Cycling

I have a set and love them

bikejrff

I have 2 sets of Boyd Altamonts, 2 Psimet (Pacenti S/L 23, White T11) builds and 1 November (Pacenti S/L 23, White T11). Also have Velocity A23 OC, White MI5 wheelset built by local wheel expert. I'd recommend all of them.

mtn.cyclist

Shimano 6800 Ultegra Wheels, $270. Can't beat that deal.

Shimano Ultegra 6800 Road Wheelset | Chain Reaction Cycles

Joeyseven

Lamabb
You might be interested in A 1000 KM Randonneur/Brevet ride about 621 miles

And 400 miles or more.Not for me,but I'm very interested in riders and events that do these ultra-distance bike events.

I like what Drew Eckhardt had to say about building up a set of long distance riding wheels.+1

allen254

Boyd wheels sets great, or fulcrum racing zeros

FBinNY 

+1

A conventional 32h hand built pair of wheels can be light, fast and serviceable. Pick any decent brand rims suitable for you weight and the tire width you prefer, have them built with DB spokes of appropriate gauge and you'll be set. Decent wheels will give you years and thousands o miles of service, and if you should have an unfortunae encounter with a crater they can be rebuilt at reasonable cost.

Mr IGH

Universal has the Shimano WH-RS81-C24-CL Clincher Wheelset for $489 shipped:
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...6&category=814

dtrain

Dang...share the wealth!