fitmiss

I have a Trek Pilot 5.0 with the Bontrager Race stock wheels. I love my bike but now it is time to start with the upgrades. I believe if you do something, you go for the "gusto" so am thinking about the Ksyrium ES wheels. They are light, good for climbing, fast, and great looking. I don't race but I do like to go fast!

Anyone using these wheels? My other consideration are Rolf Primo Elan Aeros. Both I believe are about the same price. The Mavics may be a little sexier.

Just so you know, I'm about 5'2, average weight so I don't have to deal with weight considerations in choosing a new wheelset.

What do you all think?

briscoelab

The Mavics do look nice. But they are way overpriced for the wheelset you're getting. They are pretty durable though.

fitmiss

Yes -- they are expensive. But, if you compare apples to apples, in terms of the quality, durability, weight, etc, what other wheelset would I consider? If I compare price (about 1K) what other wheelsets in that price range should I consider?

I'm not going to go the custom route.

EURO

Can't compare those wheels. The Elan Aeros (I have them) are super super light clinchers that I wouldn't ride on rough roads or use for general riding.

They really aren't that light (weight weenies has them down as only 60g lighter than stanrdard Ksyriums - which are too heavy for the price anyway). They aren't that stiff and lots of thw weight is in the rim, therefore they aren't that good for climbing. They look OK if you want to look like everyone else on the planet.

What aspect of performance are you looking to upgrade? Aero, weight, stiffness, hub bearings, durability?

Or do you just want to waste money on some new stuff for your toy?

Totally bizzare. Why?

ranger5oh

Seriously, you are spending $1000 on BICYCLE WHEELS... remember this. In my opinion, buy somethign durable.Nothing is worse than buying somthing nice, and seeing it shatter on the first ride.

Do tons of investigation before you purchase. Remember, opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one... so find somethign YOU really like, and go for it.

I like EURO's post above though, he addresses soem real considerations. You really need to think about what type of riding you do, and which wheels will be the best for YOU.

artsn

Not sure what your issue is with custom. They will be much easier to get parts for, especially spokes. Mavic spokes arent readily available everywhere and if you travel, good luck. Plus you really can't beat the durability and ride quality of a custom wheelset. For a grand you could get something really nice. Kings or Tune hubs laced to what ever you wanted. I looked at the ES's very closely because I still have a old set of Heliums I still use on my commuter but they are really just open pros laced to Mavic hubs. I ended up getting DTswiss 240's laced to there rim with Super Comp spokes on the rear drive side and Revolutions everywhere else. Really strong and easily serviced and about the same weight of the ES's. Plus you can take a 240 apart without any tools.

Coyote2

For considerably less than $1,000 you could get some killer custom wheels -- top of the line hubs, spokes, and rims put together by someone who knows what they're doing. The wheels wouldn't have the bling factor of the Ksyriums, but they would cost less, perform better, and last longer.

fmw

+1 on the hand built wheels. Below is a shot of mine. They cost $400 for the set. They weigh 1530 grams (lighter than the Mavic) they are durable, they never need truing and they provide a comfortable ride. Appearance? That's in the eye of the beholder, I guess. You can decide that for yourself.

cutters

I (in my opinion only) love Mavic wheels. They are sexy looking, very durable and light enough for all but the extreme weight weenie wiener. I have Mavic Ksyrium Elite's, that came on my bike, (they are bomb proof) and I have many friends that ride and race on Ksyrium SL's or ES's. If you go to any crit race in America, you will see that the majority of CAT 4's and 5's ride on Mavic. These men and women have to pay for their equipment just like the rest of us. So if it works for them....

Like bike manufacturers, wheels are a personal thing, and you will get a million different opinions here. But in my cycling experience, I've never heard anyone say they didn't like their Ksyrium's.

briscoelab

I really don't understand you not even entertaining the thought of custom wheels. You could get a REALLY nice set of wheels for $1000. They would be lighter, stronger, cheaper, and I would imagine better looking than a set of Ksyrium ES wheels. But of course you wouldn't get that sexy red spoke :-P Seriously, you could get some Tune hubs laced with CX-Ray spokes and take your pick of a rim for about $700... and they'd be under 1400 grams... prolly under 1300 depending on your rim choice. But, if you want to pay $1000 for a set of wheels that weigh over 1500 grams... go ahead.

If you want some prebuilt wheels, take a look at some of the Campy wheels. If you get them from one of the European shops you can get some GREAT deals. The Fulrum Racing wheels are decent too. 11speed.com has a great price on the Racing 1s.

shabbasuraj

Ksyriums are heavy....and expensive...

EURO

Cat 4 and 5 idiots who just follow trends are not the kind of people to pay attention to. I've ridden Ksyriums and they are totally overpriced.

DocRay

Personally, I would avoid any wheel that has a stated weight limit, and any full-carbon wheel unless its for racing only and you have a _lot_ of money.

Take a look at Campy wheels, the Zondas are aero and very durable. Mavics and Campy wheels are all handbuilt, so don't buy into that too much. Mavics are very well tested before they ever reach the market, which is more than I can say for some light wheel builders that have had infamous recalls.

patentcad

I have the Ksyrium SL's on one bike and the ES's on another. Got the ES's after my experience with the SL's - which is utter bombproofness. To me that kind of trumps everything else. To get much lighter than the ES's you'd have to go tubular. In which case you CAN save 250-300 grams. But unless Johan follows you around in a Subaru with replacement wheels on the roof (or unless you race all the time and the Zipps are your race wheels) what's the point?

Euro is an anti-Mavic know-it-all moron. God help us. "I've ridden Kysriums and they're totally overpriced." Yeah, OK. My LBS sells all that ******** high end bike weenie schwag - ALL of it - and they SWEAR by Mavics. Because THEY have to un-farkle all the bent out of true rims. And they do NOT have to do that to Mavics. Like virtually EVER. One or two wheel true jobs ANNUALLY out of the gazillion sets they have on the road.

I ride in the local NY amateur racer peloton most Sundays. There you can see everything from Zipps to Mavics to you-name-it. The word on the street is that Mavic is bomb-proof, Zipps a bit less so, but still very good and much lighter (if you go tubular). Oh yeah, 'overpriced'? - when I spoke to the dude with the $500 imitation Mavics he was riding and he was on the second set because the first broke. Oh well. Sometimes you GET what you pay for.

By the way I have weighed both the SL's and ES's and the weight difference is 80-100 grams on my postal scale. Mostly in the rims, you can feel it climbing. Or I THINK I can. And really, what's the difference?

Euro, shouldn't you be in the Tour of Italy this month?

nitropowered

I've got heavy (comparatively to other high-end hubs) DA-7800 hubs laced to Velocity Escape rims (24h radial w/wheelsmith 14/17 spokes, rear 28h 2x wheelsmith 14/17 non-drive, 3x DT 14/15 spokes, aluminum nipples on front and non-drive, brass drive side) and they weigh in at 1500g. How much did I pay? Less than $500.

If I had gone with DT Swiss or White Industries hubs, I could be in the 1300 range and still only pay around 700. Custom is the way to go.

But ES's look really nice, but imo, not worth the money and hassle of getting spokes if you break them.

patentcad

But this is all based on bike weenie weight estimates. Which is like Bush Administration pre-Iraq intelligence. In other words its veracity is incredibly shaky. At best. Another problem is wheel weights are sometimes quoted WITH QR skewers OR WITHOUT them.

Nothing is more maddening than Bike Forum tech advice based on alleged component weights. Not unlike shooting darts blind folded.

Go to Weight Weenies young man.

EURO

1. Try and find a more bombproof wheel than a standard 32 spoke, which is lighter, easier to maintain and cheaper than a Ksyrium.
2. You can go about 40% lighter than a Ksyrium and stay clincher.
,
Weird I ride MAVIC open pros and MAVIC Cosmic Carbones then, isn't it?

The use of the term 'Mavics' just shows what a brainless prick you are. Mavic make ultra light sprint rims and ultra heavy moutain bike rims.

Stop listening to this guy, he's just a herd-following no brain, trying to justify his stupid Ksyrium purchases.

briscoelab

Most Cat 4 and 5 guys have Mavic Ksyrium wheels on their bikes because the're bikes CAME with those wheels.....

You can go a LOT lighter than s Ksyrium and have a VERY durable clincher wheel... If you want to go tubular, you are in a whole other weight class and it is laughable to even compare. Bottom line is unless you get a KILLER deal, Ksyriums are durable, decent looking, overweight/overpriced wheels for the money.

patentcad

As usual, we can always count on Euro for an injection of class. Man, he's PERFECT for this place. No wonder he's so popular.

By the way, good observation above: of COURSE most cyclists riding Mavics are doing so because they were OEM with the bikes they purchased. I wonder why so many manufacturers spec them in the first place? And why bike shops like them so much? Maybe because they don't suck as bad as Euro says they do. Look at what's in front of you and make your own evaluation. You can believe companies like Giant, Cannondale, Jamis and a zillion others - or Euro.

All this great tech advice from the guy who's standing on his soapbox with a megaphone so we'll all know he's the equivalent of a Cat 2 or 3 US racer in the UK. Get a life you pathetic Brit weenie. Or spend more time answering your fan mail.

What more evidence could you possibly have of the overwhelming studity of half the particpants here than this idiot's popularity? It really is astonishing. And stop with the point by point rebuttals already. It's like some lame UK imitation of an American ambulance chasing lawyer.

linus

What a mess. I know EURO doesn't get much respect, but I do agree with him on some points.

FWIW, I've seen some incredible wheels around 1300g with 32 spokes priced well under ES wheels.
Take a look at this thread for an example.
https://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=59289

I know many people like the look of K's and I also like the look. However, as you can see you can customize the colours and have a true unique look. I'm sure either way you will be happy.
Good luck.

cydewaze

I was recently in the market for new wheels, and I was set on the Ksyrium SLs.

After some test-riding, I ended up with a pair of Bonty Race X Lites. $800 list, paid $640, and they came with tubes and tires. 1490g. Very smooth riding. I don't think many people here would have suggested them, but I'm happy with my choice.

EURO

Notice patentcad resorts to personal insults because he can't comeback on the wheels issue because he literally has no idea what he's talking about. What a joke.

Dude, you'd have to be pretty damn educationally subnormal to think that those companies choose wheel suppliers soley based on the performance of the wheel at normal retail prices...

patentcad

Let us know how bulletproof the Bontragers are. I've heard good things about them from other owners.

Another issue with wheel specs/weights (and this extends to the weight weenie website at times). Are they tubular or clincher? Crucial info often lacking in wheel discussions all over the place. Are the Bonty X Lites clincher rims?

cydewaze

I will, and I'm a fatso, so it should be a good test.



Mine are clincher. I think you have to get the Race XXX Lite to get a tubular.

Curiously, we hung my bike on the scale with the old wheels (Mavic Cosmos, Conti GP 3000's) and then with the Bontys after the swap.

Before: 18lb, 9oz
After: 17lb, 6oz

Someone is fibbing about their wheel weight, unless my tubes were 200g ea.

fishmel

I've had the Bonty X lites for about 1500 miles. Think they are a great wheel, nice climbers but a little flexible, not too bad, never have needed truing. Also have a set of Zonda, nice and stiff, hubs are very smooth and roll better than my X Lites, and have never needed truing.. Could just be the set I have. Have a set of Mavic Open Pro Ultegras and for what they are they spin extremely well, have been durable, and give a great ride. My bonty race lites, while not the lightest wheel, are stiff and have been great, never have needed truing. My new Niobium 30s w/ White H1 hubs are the best of the bunch, so far. Have only put about 300 miles on them so far, but just did a century w/ a crash on the railroad tracks and their still rolloing true. 20 spokes front, 24 spokes back, 1445grams + 32grams rim tape = 1477grams before skewers. Pretty light and very stiff for a Areo wheel, and the hubs are awsome!