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Advice On Bike Rims/Wheels

Old 05-18-19, 05:57 PM
  #1  
Juggy_Gales
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Advice On Bike Rims/Wheels

I am looking to get newer wheels for my Toughroad SLR2 I hear often that the Giant wheels are decent but changing to a better set of wheels and tires really does improve the ride experience.. I do love the bike and I always look to improve on things..
I Am going to get Maxxis Rambler tires that will be sized 700x40C and I am definitely going to stay tubeless.. I do enjoy being tubeless.

The 700x50C tires def make bumps less noticeable but I am looking for slightly higher end tires than Giant's Brand and rims that would Compliment the bike and help improve ride performance while still being able to support a heavy rider like myself..


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Old 05-18-19, 08:53 PM
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The only way to get a better ride is to get wider rims, which allows you to lower pressure with a given tire. I built myself a front wheel with 30mm ID. I believe the stock wheels are 19mm. the rest of the wheel will not make much of a difference.

Better tires also will help. I went to to the Schwalbe Allmotion 2.15" front and love them. but the main reason is i wanted tubeless. tubeless also worked on the stock wheels. so my real reason for upgrade was the wider ID.

the new wheels also were a bit lighter, but it wasn't significant and could have been the hubs I used.

If you stay with the same or similar ID, nothing really will improve.
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Old 05-19-19, 09:04 AM
  #3  
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Velocity Blunt SS rims, 28F, 32R
Hope Pro 4 hubs
DT Swiss triple butted Alpine spokes
Best wheel builder you can find in your area.

Lightweight, strong, BOMBPROOF. Done.


-Kedosto
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Old 05-19-19, 02:00 PM
  #4  
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Originally Posted by HerrKaLeun
The only way to get a better ride is to get wider rims, which allows you to lower pressure with a given tire. I built myself a front wheel with 30mm ID. I believe the stock wheels are 19mm. the rest of the wheel will not make much of a difference.

Better tires also will help. I went to to the Schwalbe Allmotion 2.15" front and love them. but the main reason is i wanted tubeless. tubeless also worked on the stock wheels. so my real reason for upgrade was the wider ID.

the new wheels also were a bit lighter, but it wasn't significant and could have been the hubs I used.

If you stay with the same or similar ID, nothing really will improve.
When you say better did you mean more plush or rolling better?
I am looking for the wheels to be a bit lighter and the tires to roll better on the road.. Though have some traction in dirt/gravel

Originally Posted by Kedosto
Velocity Blunt SS rims, 28F, 32R
Hope Pro 4 hubs
DT Swiss triple butted Alpine spokes
Best wheel builder you can find in your area.

Lightweight, strong, BOMBPROOF. Done.


-Kedosto


Thank you both for your responses I will be researching these wheels now.
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Old 05-19-19, 02:27 PM
  #5  
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Consider Mavic tubeless if they fit your bike. I went to them after decades of clinchers. I won't be going back. Lighter, more comfortable and they roll much more easily.
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Old 05-19-19, 05:38 PM
  #6  
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If you’ve got the money, Rene Herse aka Compass tires make fat but very fast/comfortable tires. Might be worth looking into.

29er mtb rims are compatible with 700c road tires. Don’t be afraid to go with a very wide rim. Recently, we’ve been seeing very narrow tires on very wide rims, with no issues (as long as you run a reasonably low pressure). The only thing you’ll have to account for is tire clearance, since tires measure fatter on wider rims.
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Old 05-20-19, 01:08 AM
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HED Belgium Plus 25mm Rim 32h
Wide 25mm profile improves cornering grip and ride comfort, while reducing rolling resistance
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Old 05-20-19, 01:30 AM
  #8  
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Originally Posted by bruce19
Consider Mavic tubeless if they fit your bike. I went to them after decades of clinchers. I won't be going back. Lighter, more comfortable and they roll much more easily.
I was looking at Mavic wheels and wondered if they were any good.. They weren't priced too bad either.

Originally Posted by mike cb
HED Belgium Plus 25mm Rim 32h
Wide 25mm profile improves cornering grip and ride comfort, while reducing rolling resistance
I did consider HED brand but didnt know which.

What do you think a set would run?
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Old 05-20-19, 10:53 AM
  #9  
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Maybe go over to the Cyclocross sub-forum and see what the racers ride on?

Tubeless? Carbon semi-aero rims? Build your own? Are you ready to spend a bunch of money?
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Old 05-20-19, 11:37 AM
  #10  
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+1, Supple compliant, expensive , tires from Compass / Rene Herse cycles

https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...elope-hill-tc/


Last edited by fietsbob; 05-20-19 at 11:41 AM.
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Old 05-20-19, 11:42 AM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Juggy_Gales
I was looking at Mavic wheels and wondered if they were any good.. They weren't priced too bad either.


I did consider HED brand but didnt know which.


What do you think a set would run?

Brand new from HED you can get a set of Aluminum Belgium Rims laced up with a 4 pawl hub for around 800$ for a set. If you upgrade the hubs to the 545's it'll run you about 1000$ for the set.


There are 2 types of HED Belgium Rims. C2 and Plus. C2 are the 23mm external width (19 internal) rims typical for road and rim brakes and the Plus are the 25mm external width (21mm internal) rims available in disc brake and geared towards gravel and wider tires. Combined with a hubset from HED and they are called Ardennes. If the rim is 700mm C2 or 700mm Plus aluminum rims with the "aero box" shape they are Belgium rims.


The Belgium Rims with the lower quality hubs are "GP" and have a standard 4 pawl hub. They work fantastic and roll well. The LT's will have the HED 545j hub which is a step up. Typically the HED Belgian rims with either of these hubs is known as "Ardennes". (it seems they call all their entry level wheels Ardennes these days)


Some deals to look for out there - Diamondback used the "Tomcat" rim and the 3 pawl hub known as "Flanders" as stock wheels on some of their higher end bikes from 2013 - 2017. These rims were pinned instead of welded and weighed a little more but were great stock rims. You can sometimes find a pair of these for 200-300$ as take offs. Cervelo sold C5's with Ardennes GP Plus wheels as stock and you can often find these in closeouts or take offs from bike shops for around 400-500$. Its a great price to pay to get a 1600g pair of 25mm wheels with solid hubs.


-Sean
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Old 05-20-19, 11:51 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by Phil_gretz
Maybe go over to the Cyclocross sub-forum and see what the racers ride on?

Tubeless? Carbon semi-aero rims? Build your own? Are you ready to spend a bunch of money?
Im not going to Race and no Im not going to really spend a ton of money.. I am just looking for a couple grades above my stock wheels.
I've heard many sing praises of upgrading from the wheels that are on my bike.. so.. I want to buy smart..
But Yes, Tubeless is what I want. I want to but a good 700x40C tire on it.
I wouldn't know how to build my own wheel lol..

Im looking for something that is good for Road/Gravel..

My Current tire is a 700x50C and I am ok with going a bit less to a 40.. The Maxxis Ramblers look like they have a good enough bite on the tread for what I want to do while not killing me on roll resistance on the road
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Old 05-20-19, 12:11 PM
  #13  
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Hub is part of drivetrain compatibility,, lots of rims ,
drop by the bike shop and see what they can get..

hand built wheels are nice.., but ordering a wheel built
by the wholesale supplier to the shop, is made of parts at their prices.
which may get a built wheel for the price of the parts , retail..

I had built my own wheels , but My choices were different

from what the shopping public like now..

disc brakes allow the rim profile to eliminate the parallel brake track sides..







..

Last edited by fietsbob; 05-20-19 at 12:16 PM.
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Old 05-20-19, 12:26 PM
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Quick search - HED Belgium + Disc Rims

These look like a custom set with SRAM hubs. Will fit SRAM and Shimano cassettes.

(Now that I posted this it will probably be gone in an hour or so....)
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Old 05-20-19, 01:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Wilmingtech
Quick search - HED Belgium + Disc Rims

These look like a custom set with SRAM hubs. Will fit SRAM and Shimano cassettes.

(Now that I posted this it will probably be gone in an hour or so....)
why will it be gone?

I am glad to see that they can be made into Tubeless..

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Old 05-20-19, 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by fietsbob
Hub is part of drivetrain compatibility,, lots of rims ,
drop by the bike shop and see what they can get..

hand built wheels are nice.., but ordering a wheel built
by the wholesale supplier to the shop, is made of parts at their prices.
which may get a built wheel for the price of the parts , retail..

I had built my own wheels , but My choices were different

from what the shopping public like now..

disc brakes allow the rim profile to eliminate the parallel brake track sides..







..
I must say I am a lover of disc brakes..
My bike years ago had Cantilever brakes and they did stop me pretty decent.. until I rode in wet.. then it was questionable.. My Hydraulic disc brakes on my toughroad blow me away with how good they are.. They are only limited by me and the tire traction.. whereas my old bike years ago seemed to have a few more variables that I feel made them less efficient.

As I progress back into riding.. I may get some high end custom built wheels.. But If I can get a set of good nice rolling and a step or 2 up from what I currently have I'll be happy.. as long as they take disc brakes and are tubeless compatible.
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Old 05-20-19, 01:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Juggy_Gales
...But If I can get a set of good nice rolling and a step or 2 up from what I currently have I'll be happy.. as long as they take disc brakes and are tubeless compatible.
How much do you expect to spend to take "a step or 2 up" from stock on your bike, including tires? $450? Maybe Chinese carbon wheels?
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Old 05-20-19, 02:06 PM
  #18  
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No offense intended but... HED Belgiums and Rene Herse tires for a guy who rides a hybrid with a kickstand while not wearing a helmet?
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Old 05-20-19, 02:07 PM
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Ok. So what you have is not a road bike with skinny 23 tires. I mention this because how much improvement there is depends on where you are starting from.

If you were in an aero tuck pushing high teens/low 20's deep dish aero would definitely make sense. As would low spoke count and uber light weight carbon.

That is not your case. You are largely upright, on fat tires intended for rough (or "not smooth" as will likely be pointed out) terrain.

While it is true lighter wheels "feel" faster and more responsive than heavier wheels. Heavier wheels tend to act like a flywheel and after taking effort to spin up, tend to hold momentum.

Rim & tire are seperate things. A rim is expensive to change. A tire & tube actually has a larger effect because it accounts for more more mass further out on the gyroscope. Furthermore inflation pressure & sidewall stiffness/flexability effect rolling resistance. Then there is actual friction between the tread pattern (or lack thete of) and the terrain.

My thoughts are: Before going the whole hog, sit down and really think about what your requirements are. Aero? Durable? Light? Strong? Are you going to be doing high speed downhills on washboard logging roads with loaded panniers? Are you going to do do spirited club rides to the local bakery?

If it were me, before buying new wheelset, I'd get some lighter weight tires & experiment with a range of inflation pressures. If the bike is still a dog, then new wheels always come up around November-January at a discount. AND you already have decenr rubber to make good use of their potential.

Used wheels are always available at the usual want-ad messege board places.

The hardest thing to swallow though is new wheels, tires, etc...almost never live up to the performance hype unless you are going from one extreme to another or talking extremes of minutia like single digits of watts or seconds over 10's of kilometers.

That being said: New tires/wheels will almost universally make the bike more enjoyable to ride. So on that, I say go enjoy!
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Old 05-20-19, 03:40 PM
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My favorite rims are HED Belgiums, Velocity (just about anything from them) and H+Sons (Archetypes and TB-14s are what I tend to use). I would also give a shout out to WTB but they also did stop making a great rim the ChrisCross. Get a good competent wheel builder and some decent quality parts and you will have a good long lasting set of wheels. You don't have to go super expensive but you do want something of quality, for MUSA stuff White Industries is pretty reasonably priced and very high quality hubs (and other components) all in Petaluma, CA. My road bike wheels are WI T11 hubs laced to H+Son archetypes with Sapim force spokes and secure lock nipples and haven't touched them as far as truing is concerned they are dead straight and I am not a light person.
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Old 05-20-19, 05:36 PM
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I wouldn't upgrade those wheels.

I bet they'll take on Maxxis Ramblers just fine and they roll great. It's hard not to like them. They'll also lighten up your bike some.

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Old 05-21-19, 09:43 AM
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Another decent buy for wheels... 15mm front / 12mm rear
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Old 05-21-19, 10:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Hiro11
No offense intended but... HED Belgiums and Rene Herse tires for a guy who rides a hybrid with a kickstand while not wearing a helmet?
I think offense is exactly what was intended with that statement.. haha
I am not offended but I will entertain the comment... Yes I have an Adventure Bike/Hybrid/Flatbar Road Bike.. Whatever people would like to label it.
No I wasn't wearing a helmet in the image..
Do I own one? Yes. Should I wear it? Yes. Have I fallen and hit my head while not wearing it? Yes. Did I learn? No.
Yes, I have a kick stand, Yes, I use it often.. I got sick of laying it on things or trying to find somewhere to prop it up..
So I bought and installed a horrid taboo kickstand that no true bicycle rider should ever put on their bike.

And yes.. That very same guy would like quality wheels and tires on his hybrid bike that is sporting a kickstand and cheap ibera rack

Eventually I will buy an uber expensive Big Boy Bike or an ultra retro hipster steel frame real bike.. But for now.. I will be tooling around on my aluminum big manufacturer Taiwan made Hybrid and upgrading it because I find it to be fun to do.

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Old 05-21-19, 10:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Juggy_Gales
I think offense is exactly what was intended with that statement.. haha
I am not offended but I will entertain the comment... Yes I have an Adventure Bike/Hybrid/Flatbar Road Bike.. Whatever people would like to label it.
No I wasn't wearing a helmet in the image..
Do I own one? Yes. Should I wear it? Yes. Have I fallen and hit my head while not wearing it? Yes. Did I learn? No.
Yes, I have a kick stand, Yes, I use it often.. I got sick of laying it on things or trying to find somewhere to prop it up..
So I bought and installed a horrid taboo kickstand that no true bicycle rider should ever put on their bike.

And yes.. That very same guy would like quality wheels and tires on his hybrid bike that is sporting a kickstand and cheap ibera rack

Eventually I will buy an ultra expensive Big Boy Bike or an ultra retro hipster steel frame real bike.. But for now.. I will be tooling around on my aluminum big manufacturer Taiwan made Hybrid and upgrading it because I find it to be fun to do.
Hell yeah, you do you


On the question of wheels, Light Bicycle recently released their new Falcon Pro series, I really like the BlackTek finish, they come out of the mold like this, no sanding. I have a set of their 46mm road wheels and love them. I'm currently shopping for a gravel bike, and when I make up my mind (leaning towards a Giant at the moment, the Revolt Advanced), I'll be putting a set of these on it. DT350 hubs and the spoke count you need and you'll have a bombproof wheelset that won't break the bank, while still getting great QC and customer service.

https://www.lightbicycle.com/700C-ro...available.html
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Old 05-21-19, 10:42 AM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by base2
Ok. So what you have is not a road bike with skinny 23 tires. I mention this because how much improvement there is depends on where you are starting from.

If you were in an aero tuck pushing high teens/low 20's deep dish aero would definitely make sense. As would low spoke count and uber light weight carbon.

That is not your case. You are largely upright, on fat tires intended for rough (or "not smooth" as will likely be pointed out) terrain.

While it is true lighter wheels "feel" faster and more responsive than heavier wheels. Heavier wheels tend to act like a flywheel and after taking effort to spin up, tend to hold momentum.

Rim & tire are seperate things. A rim is expensive to change. A tire & tube actually has a larger effect because it accounts for more more mass further out on the gyroscope. Furthermore inflation pressure & sidewall stiffness/flexability effect rolling resistance. Then there is actual friction between the tread pattern (or lack thete of) and the terrain.

My thoughts are: Before going the whole hog, sit down and really think about what your requirements are. Aero? Durable? Light? Strong? Are you going to be doing high speed downhills on washboard logging roads with loaded panniers? Are you going to do do spirited club rides to the local bakery?

If it were me, before buying new wheelset, I'd get some lighter weight tires & experiment with a range of inflation pressures. If the bike is still a dog, then new wheels always come up around November-January at a discount. AND you already have decenr rubber to make good use of their potential.

Used wheels are always available at the usual want-ad messege board places.

The hardest thing to swallow though is new wheels, tires, etc...almost never live up to the performance hype unless you are going from one extreme to another or talking extremes of minutia like single digits of watts or seconds over 10's of kilometers.

That being said: New tires/wheels will almost universally make the bike more enjoyable to ride. So on that, I say go enjoy!
Thank you for this.
My main riding is either riding 2-10 miles around to stores instead of driving.
and when I ride with friends we normally ride 20-50 miles to various places including.. one of the beaches.. a pub.. etc.

The terrain is pretty flat and either paved or dirt/gravel.
My bike is set up tubeless and would like to stay with that set up.. Generally because many of the paths are paved I keep them pressured high for less rolling resistance on the paved trails I could always let some air out if I hit gravel.
My reasoning for wanting new tires is.. sometimes I feel that the bike isn't holding the momentum I think it should be.. and my brakes aren't rubbing or anything like that. I heard that Tires and wheels will help that.. Plus the 700x50C stock Giant Sycamore tires are decent and seem to be wearing well.. Sometimes I feel they are not as grippy as they could be or maybe the 700x50C tire being so thick from rim to tread may be a factor.. Which is why I was considering a slightly smaller sized tire like a 700X40C which sure may reduce my plushness a bit with absorbing bumps.. But may be a bit more compliant with what I want from a tire..
I really like what I have seen with Maxxis Rambler tires at that 700x40C size. They are Tubeless like I like and seem like a quality tire.

Thoughts?
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