theoddone

I don't think I need to explain this, but anyway will do so.. I never pay the sticker price on a $5000 bike, instead wait for it to go on sale during off season and then bargain a deal, the money saved thus will be then used to buy a nicer set of wheels, as most cyclists know every bike manufacturer put lower quality stock wheels to keep the price in check, and to allow cyclists to get the wheels they really want from a wide selection based on the type of riding they prefer.

In my case, I am an endurance rider who puts on 100-200 miles per week, and 3-5 organized centuries a year. I ride with a club that has riders ranging from 16mph to 22+mph. I am at around 18 mph currently and improving my power to weight ratio slowly. I rode my bike with stock wheels all this year, and now ready to have something more nicer having built up good endurance, stamina, and power by riding with a strong group that challenges all the time.

I like the Dura Ace wheels even with all the negativity people have said about it regarding the C40, and I am not really sold on full on carbon wheels for two reasons (1) they are much more expensive, and (2) they may have problems. C40s are selling around $1000 and I am probably going buy them. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

theoddone

I have never heard of that first logic before

Assaults look nice, but I am not sold on their durability, carbon wheels can do funny things that you mostly won't hear from reviews.

I can never buy Bontrager wheels because they never go on a deep discount, Trek does go on sale though in November for select models, and sometimes there are Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals. They just allow retailers to take 40% or more profits on full priced Bontrager wheels, which is all good if you are in the retailer business and I appreciate that part, but not with my money.

kingston 

Half the fun for me is putting together and riding bikes I think look cool. The diminishing returns start kicking in way below your budget.

fietsbob

If you go Shimano Hubs , you will always be able to access new parts..

theoddone

Who am I to argue with someone that owns several cool bikes? oh yeah, read your blog

mstateglfr 

- $1200 isnt 10%.
- the reason(s) for wanting to change wasnt mentioned and i find that to be important when discussing and deciding what to get as replacement. If the OP wanted a stiffer wheelset because the stock one feels flexy and multiple posters felt the Shimano DA wheels were flexy, then thatd be a good reason to not choose em.
-yeah, i expect wheels on $5k bikes to be good enough for talented amateurs to use without issue. High expectations, perhaps.
- i dont know what your reference to $400 wheelsets comes from.

nycphotography

20 seconds on google and ebay...

Trek Emonda SLR 6 comes with "Bontrager Paradigm Comp" wheels. 1585 grams. porky.

$299 for the set, new, on ebay, plus or minus a few depending on location, etc.

$299 is much less than 10% of $4500.

Mid level bikes tend to go lower end on the wheels and higher end on the group, mostly because people want all different kinds of wheels depending on how and where they ride, plus aesthetic factors, and the mfr can't possible cover them all, so they basically punt, and put on workable, basic, low end wheels.

Capiche?

And you weren't giving inputs on what wheels might work under what circumstances. You were just throwing shade on the desire to upgrade wheels on a $5000 bike in general. Quote: "maybe I missed it- but why the need to change the wheelset on your $5000 bike?...the wheels that came on it for that cost arent working out? Condolences if thats the case."

GuitarBob

Reasonable expectation, but not always met because manufacturers often can't know what type of wheels we might want given the wide range of functional alternatives (e.g., climbing, aero, all-around, etc.). So they often spec an 'okay' set of wheels, knowing that many of us have a clear idea of what we want, and they can never please everyone with a single option.

mstateglfr 

Sure, its like a saddle or demo pedals- people swap em out so dont put much money into them. I get that thinking, but also expect the price to be lower.
Really, im just cheap.

JonnyV

Sgt. Hulka and his big toe would approve

Doge

I'm a wheel nut. I want the high end bike to have cheap wheels, or none, because I don't want to have a halfway nice set just sitting around and I don't want to bother to sell them.

My wife had a flat and I'm outta tubes for her. So I borrowed kids carbon latex tube for her to rid Sat. She said she didn't really notice the difference, but that she could have stayed with the break...

nycphotography

This is why its hard for me to by a bike instead of picking up a frame set and starting to accumulate the parts to build it out. That said, Trek and Specialized are starting to make reasonable enough wheels that I wouldn't automatically have to trash them. Unfortunately, only at the $9500 price point. So I'm still building from frame sets.

Doge

Other than the recent cross bikes, I do the same. Often team/club deals have wheel options and bikes are kitted (so buy the bike, all parts together, but still build from scratch). A kitted deal is much easier to swap out stuff on as the parts you don't want are new in box. I wish that was a more common option. Typically it is not the skill level of a car mechanic - building bikes. I don't trust builds from HS students in their summer jobs.

Edit Add:
If you can't have a beer with your choice, it is the right choice?
GoodThings.jpg

emvp84

Has someone tested and has some opinions on the FSE wheels? Considering the 55CT

bruce19

Mavic Ksyrium Elite USTs...tubeless & come with tires. Roughly $800.

Kimmo 

Almost all Mavic freehubs have a bushing for the inboard cassette body bearing; pretty half-arsed.