Mike F

I like to think of it as the sound of a Yellowfin hitting a tuna feather on the troll Weather my hubs or my reel.. I love that sound!

halfspeed

If your LBS is a dealer, they can provide warranty service for free and they'll be a lot more willing to make sure you've got something to ride if they need to get parts.

I'm by no means anti-internet, it's just that there's a trade-off with low prices and that generally means more difficulty when things go wrong, unless you can do your own work.

jamesdak 

?? Why ?? Williams had my new wheels to me in like two days. Reviews over the years have shown very quick service from them, even replacement/loaner wheel sent out the minute they heard of a problem. Mine have been totally trouble free though.

pgjackson

I do. Why do you care that I like quiet hubs?

jamesdak 

Alright, I'll chime in on the Williams System 30s. First off the hub is the noisiest of all my hubs. I have Rolf, Bontrager, and Shimano hubs on my other sets and all are considerably quieter. That said about the only time I cost is when I spin out off a mountain and at those speeds the wind noise keeps me from hearing any hubs. Oh, the Systems 30s are rock solid at up to at least 46.1 mph.

I've run about 1200 miles on mine on less than perfect roads. Mainly chip seal with patches, cracks and occasional potholes. Had the bike serviced last week and the mechanic was impressed when he learned the wheels had 1000 miles on them. Needed no real adjustments at all according to him. These are my lightest wheels and seem to spin up just fine to me. They are on my CF bike and an important part of my climbing set. I weighed in over 180 when I got them but I now down to 168. So my weight is similar to yours.

Wheels were on hand and delivered to me very fast. When they arrived I weighed them on my simple home scale and got around 1640 for the set with the rim tape installed.

I am very happy with them. I am looking for a lighter climbing set and while I've got no concerns with my Williams I am looking at other options just so I don't put all my eggs in one basket.

Spookeay Bird

I have these wheels on some of my bikes.
I've put a lot of miles on them, they are very quite and have not had any truing problems for over 1000 miles and some rough roads.
https://www.crosslakesales.com/p-2065...heels-new.aspx
As a serious suggestion,
I fell they are a very very good wheel set for the money.
They are 2000g, that is the only part that will not fit what your looking for but they work great.
Look into them.

Jay-W

Because you limit your choices over something that isn't that important, much like blue spoke nipples.

halfspeed

If you're OK with shipping turn around time and cost, that's fine. If you've only got one set of wheels and something goes wrong on a Thursday night ride, you're SOL at least through the weekend. You might be OK with that. I wouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, if I hadn't given up on pre-built wheels I wouldn't hesitate to buy something like Williams. But I've got a backup bike, multiple wheelsets, and the skills to maintain them myself.

OP is relatively new, has been dealing with a poorly built wheel for a while, doesn't have a garage full of bike crap, needs to get back on the road and asked for recommendations. Given the circumstances, my suggestion is a sensible wheelset with normal parts that is serviced and supported by a competent LBS. No muss, no fuss.

Alternatively, he can get something blingy on the internet and get a new set of headaches if it isn't right out of the box.

DRietz

Halfspeed - the fact that you recommend Reynolds wheels as a set of reliable wheels shows me how lightly your opinion should be taken.

As a mechanic in a shop that was FORMERLY a Reynolds dealer, I can honestly say that Reynolds kind of just sucks. Their wheels suck - they come with "a new set of headaches" right of the box quite often, and to boot, their customer service sucks even worse than the product. It took Reynolds months to source replacement decals for us, they repeatedly sent us the wrong freehub bodies to replace the ones that broke after light use, and their unwillingness to warranty an obviously defective wheel was astonishing.

On the other hand, the only Boyd, Williams, and Soul wheels I've seen in our shop were on bikes getting drivetrain overhauls as well as with our shop's race club ride every Wednesday night. Every time, you either heard raving reviews about the wheels, or noticed how straight they were spinning through the brakes, even though it was obvious the drivetrain hadn't been serviced in thousands of miles.

I'm just saying - "respectable" companies aren't always respectable.

max5480

Agreed. Maybe you should buy the Boyds just so that they will train you not to coast as much.

wrr1020

I've also heard horror stories with Reynolds wheels and dealing with any warranty issues with them. I think OP would be better off with a set of handbuilts like any of the popular choices here on BF like Boyd, Williams, Soul, and Psimet.

flayz

hey guys, im looking for something around $300 for a wheelset

any suggestions?

criteria:
- around 1600g or less
- medium/high profile (the more the better)
- possibly bladed spokes
- ships to canada

wrr1020

I'd look into a set of Blackset race tens from bicycle wheel warehouse. You won't find too many wheelsets in the $300 range under 1600 grams. Blacksets are mid $300 range and should weigh in around 1450-1550 grams depending on configuration. Don't know if they ship to Canada though.

pgjackson

What is wrong with shopping around for something that is exactly what I want? I don't like loud hubs. The sound annoys me. Some people don't mind it...I do. Sometimes when I ride with my wife I end up coasting a lot because she doesn't like to go very fast. San Diego is VERY hilly, so I find myself going down hill quite often as well. Sometimes I just like to take it easy. My bike is blue. If I can customize the wheels with some blue, cool. It's not critical, but it would be nice. I'm not trying to start a bunch of drama. I have a few things I like in a set of wheels and want to make sure I get the best bang for my dollar.

jamesdak 

I understand the coasting thing with the wife. Normally take my 42 lb winter mountain bike out with her so I get something out of the ride.

Oh, and it's your money, get the wheels you want. I'm looking at some blingy blue hub wheels myself to match either my Madone 5.9 or my LeMond Zurich. I'll be keeping both bikes a long time unless I crash one.

halfspeed

What it actually demonstrates is that you can't take any individual experience, either on the internet or IRL as gospel. It's also a reason I suggested the OP go to his LBS. People like you have hundreds of wheelsets pass through their hands and know which of the products they sell get the best support and are most often right out of the box. You're also more likely to do a rush job for someone who actually bought the wheels from you rather than sourcing something blingy from halfway across the country or across the globe.

pgjackson

I've been thinking about this and believe you are correct. I think I will stick with universal black.

Kind of Blued

I've been on a similar search recently, and this thread revived my research. It'd be great if I could ride them all and form conclusions from there, but I can only really crunch numbers. I'm one of those ridiculous "put everything in an Excel spreadsheet" type of researchers, and I've come to a few conclusions. It really does come down to "Light, cheap, or fast (delivery), pick two":

Soul - Light, cheap, but overseas. If you're patient, you'll be happy.

Williams - Heavier, and more expensive, but readily available. Not an attractive option.

Bicycle Wheel Warehouse Blackset Race - Readily available and slightly cheaper than Soul. Generally, heavier than Soul, lighter than Nevation. The higher build levels save you weight in the hubs and spokes, not in the rims where you'll notice it most. Compared to Soul and Neuvation, these have a lower profile rim and higher spoke count, and more spoke type options. A good choice if you're more concerned with spoke type/count and durability than rim depth/aerodynamics.

Neuvation - Readily available, QUIET, supposedly good customer service, cheapest, and heaviest, but still reasonable (1520-1620g). Like BWW, different build levels save you weight in hubs and spokes, using the same rims. From what I can tell however, the website lists that SAME RIM as being 420g, 440g, and 480g in three different places on the website... If I noticed that perusing the website, you would really think they would notice that while BUILDING THEM. I would hope they give their wheels more attention to detail than their website. Nevertheless, they cater to a niche market, sort of the opposite of the Blackset Race wheels; lower spoke count, slightly deeper rim (27mm), aero spokes, slightly heavier and cheaper.

Boyd - LOUD. Like you, if there are other wheels that do the same thing without making noise, I'll take those. I'm also the type of person who keeps his phone on vibrate. Some are not.

Another note: I like the fact that Neuvation sells front and rear wheels seperately. Since they're the cheapest option, I'm considering the idea of buying three wheels, two of them rear wheels, with two different cassettes, an 11-26 from 80% of my rides, and an 11-32 for anything with a Cat 1 climb. I could even get a stronger front wheel since I'll use it 100% of the time, a strong, heavier, more aero rear wheel for the 11-26, and a lighter rear wheel for the "climber" since I'll use it less often. Just a thought...

pgjackson

Thanks for the gouge. Right now I'm down to PSIMET, SOUL and Neuvation in that order. Probably won't be buying anyting for a month or two (kind of got my butt kicked a little recently with some unexpected expenses).

Val23708

Williams uses stronger spokes, has ceramic bearings, and has nice flanges on their hubs. Also they support a lot of amateur racing. And they are local to CA. They are a bit loud though.

scoobydrew

I can't agree more with this build. It's decently light, VERY durable, and quiet. However, I don't believe Dura Ace hubs come in black. You can still build everything else black/blue though.

I have a similar build on my current road bike (Mavic Open Pros + Dura Ace 7700 Hubs + Wheelsmith DB14 Spokes) and it's really durable and super quiet. For example, if I'm just riding up and down my quiet street, I would have "trouble" hearing the hub while coasting. You really can't get more quiet than upper level Shimano hubs in my opinion.

pgjackson

That's about a $700 set of wheels. A little rich for my blood.

Beaker

One of the advantages with Williams is that they're built to allow your LBS to service them with no major issues/special tools. Another BF'r in the bay area ordered a set of 19s on Thursday morning and had them in his hands at the end of the day Friday.

gus6464

A guy at weight weenies suggested that if you want to quiet your hubs just use some high temp axle grease. It's cheap and works like a charm.

captnfantastic

https://www.gvhbikes.com/wheels.html

Read their pitch. Pretty good.

I ride handbuilt velocity aeroheads on dura ace hubs 32 spoke. Tough, not too heavy and all black (cept the hubs)

My black spokes were twice as much as the same spokes in silver something to keep in mind. 32 spokes per wheel $2/spoke is an extra $65