mstateglfr 

Just call prowheelbuilder and speak with them. They have a house build that will work fine for you. Yes you may need to discuss 'drillings', but dont worry because it isnt nearly as scary as you have made it to be. Just tell them your weight and intended use and they will figure it out.
You will wait a few weeks, but you will then have a handbuilt set of wheels that is set to proper tension.
Their house brand hubs are good, you can get quality jbend double butted spokes which makes servicing easy if its ever needed, and their house rim is good for what you want.

The Mason Hunt wheels are fine- its just some generic components and really ultimately depends on how well the components have been put together.

GBK233

So are you saying that I’m likely to get a better set of wheels thru them for around the same price? Or am I likely going to end up spending more?

surak

Having a spare wheelset is a fine idea. My point is that you shouldn't expect any noticeable upgrade (that word that's in your title) at your self-imposed price point. Nor will saving weight, which you emphasized, actually make any real difference. In terms of money better spent, you could probably find some take-offs on Craigslist for under $200.
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zandoval 

Wow... What allot of information in this thread, and great leads. My advice is to be selective and get what you want. I have wheel sets that are over 40 years old and still serviceable. So think of spreading that money out over the next decade of ridding and maybe that wheel set you want is not so expensive...

GBK233

ya…you make a good point. I’d really hate to spend $600 and feel kinda “meh” about the new wheels.

mstateglfr 

I am not saying you will get a better set of wheels thru them vs Hunt or a Fulcrum option. Its possible you get a better set though. 'Better' is subjective as it means different things to each of us.
You should be able to spend under $500 at prowheelbuilder and get a disc wheelset that weighs about 1650g.

I suggested PWB as I have 2 sets of their wheels. I dont have fulcrum, so I wouldnt suggest them for that single reason of I dont have experience.

As for if you will notice 400g less weight...Yeah I think its reasonable to say that will be noticed on a wheelset. Will you be faster over 40mi because of that difference?...no. But I think itll be noticed at times. Who knows if you feel that difference is worthwhile in the end.

GBK233

I’ll contact them to see what they can build at a reasonable price.
Been perusing Facebook marketplace for take-offs etc….and ran across some DT Swiss C1850s and a set of DT Swiss R470s take-offs for $300.

pgjackson

You are unlikely to get a "WOW!" feeling from any set of wheels.

bruce19

About 3 yrs ago I bought Mavic Ksyrium Elite USTs for under $600. That included tires as a part of the package. I bought 3 wheelsets. I don't know if you can still get that deal but I got mine at Competitive Cyclist.

terrymorse 

Another option is a custom wheel set from coloradocyclist.com.

If you select Shimano 105 hubs, there are several configurations for less than $600.

SoSmellyAir

How heavy are these wheels?

At the end of 2017, I upgraded from the stock Mavic Aksium to Mavic Ksyrium Elite WTS (the predecessor to the tubeless UST version) for $475 with Mavic tires from Colorado Cyclist. According to their respective specifications that was a 300 g weight reduction, which I definitely felt.

Kimmo 

Try my 1080g 49mm Caden tubulars. Super light while being aero is pretty wow, and the non-textured brake tracks grab harder than ally, which is even more wow. Haven't ridden em in the wet though.

GBK233

Found a set of brand new takeoffs off a Specialized Tarmac on FB.
DT Swiss r470. Shimano hubs. Seller wants $350.
These wheels any good?

Second Mouse

fwiw, I ordered a set with pretty basic DT Swiss hubs and rims and double-butted spokes from prowheelbuilder on 7/8. They anticipated having the wheels ready to ship on 8/8, but (the theory is) they're being delivered tomorrow, 7/23. $578.00. I forget what they weigh - maybe 1800g - but they're 28 spokes and I'm fine with a little extra weight in favor of something sturdy.

When specifying the parts, I got a notice if anything was on backorder, so it sounds like they had everything they needed when they started to build the wheels.

zandoval 

Ha... This is true in his case because he is starting out with a pretty good set to begin with. There have been a few wheel sets I was glad to get rid of at replacement. Then again, when I DX a wheel set its a gonner...

Its always nice to have a wheel set you can go to when that inevitable wheel failure occurs. So if you do replace your wheel set ya know your old one is always there as a backup...

Also... I still have a hard time getting familiar with the cost of a wheel set being more than a few hundred USD, but that's just me...

aliasfox

Just a comment about how a 1lbs difference in wheel weight is only 0.5% of system weight:

I fully agree on the physics, and how the lighter wheel won't necessarily make a huge impact on overall performance. However, going from my 2005 era Ksyrium Equipes (1700g claimed) to my 2019 Vision Team 30 discs (1920g claimed), I can definitely feel a big difference in initial acceleration. The shallower, lighter Ksyriums feel livelier and spin up faster. I'm pretty sure I'm faster on the bike with the Visions, but that by itself doesn't make them more 'fun.'

If you're planning on upgrading wheels, I'd add a bit to your budget and spring for entry level carbon wheels, which you can probably find in the $700-800 range. I'm thinking Hunt, Prime (on Chain Reaction Cycles), or some of the less expensive options at Light Bicycle Wheel. With carbon, you'll get both the ~1lbs weight reduction (if not a bit more), as well as a 30-35mm profile rim for aero. With even the best alloy wheels out there, you're looking at either lightweight _or_ aero. The biggest downside of carbon that I'm aware of is that they don't do well in wet weather braking, but it sounds like you're on disc brakes anyway, so that's moot.

I picked up a pair of Campy Zonda (rim) for a Cannondale build that I'm putting together. ~$400, reasonably lightweight (~1540 claimed, about 1740g actual with skewers, so a bit of a fudge there I think), and look slick with the tri-spoke design. Looking forward to completing the build and doing some direct comparisons on the same paths as my other bike.

pgjackson

Not sure why the OP wants to get an "upgrade" wheel as a backup. A better plan might be to up the price to around $1000 and use them as the primary wheels and use the OEM wheels as the backup.

Bulette

A spare wheelset is more useful when it includes a spare cassette, rotors, and tires. You can always add these things later, but I'd be budgeting for them now (if you weren't already).

Kimmo 

I've read that anything under a 3:1 aspect ratio isn't worth a damn, which means you want at least 50mm for a 25mm tyre. That agrees with my experience; never noticed much of an aero boon on anything less.

aliasfox

So you’re saying a 30-35mm rim is the worst of both worlds? Heavier than a shallow 23mm and no more aero? Would love to see the source - not that I doubt you, but I would find it interesting.

GBK233

Well, my search went sideways and I ended up finding a new set of takeoff DT Swiss R470 wheels that included tires….for $325.
Wheelset and tires came of a Specialized Aethos.

These are the specsT Swiss R470 rim, 20mm internal width, tubeless ready, 24h, Specialized full sealed bearing thru axle hub, centerlock disc, DT Swiss Champion 14G stainless steel spokes, DT Swiss brass nipples, XDR driver. Comes with tubeless valve stems and Tires are Specialized Turbo Pro, 60 TPI, folding bead, BlackBelt protection, 700x26mm.

The wheelset seems to get get pretty good reviews, so I’d imagine they’ll work just fine for me. They should be about 200+ grams lighter than my OEM P-R2s…so I’ll probably end up using them as my primary wheels. I ordered a set of center lock adapters since my OEM rotors are 6-bolt.
Now I’ll have some money leftover to find a decent set of of used rims for my Felt AR5. Those rims are 9 years old…and the spoke nipples are brittle and have had a few snap off. I’m def not going to put anymore time/effort into replacing spokes on the Felt wheels.

aliasfox

Nice find. Though if you're going to have backup wheels, I'd suggest you just get centerlock rotors for them (and a cassette while you're at it). That way, you don't have to futz with a bunch of things every time you change wheels. It would also give you the option of different gearing - have one cassette for hilly days (wide range), another for flat days (narrow range).

GBK233

Crap….Just noticed the words “XDR driver” in the description. That’s SRAM, correct? Which means I now have to convert the wheel to Shimano correct? Smh.

Kimmo 

It might be a tad more aero, but I think there's supposed to be quite a threshold at 3:1, like you can't get laminar flow around anything below that or something. IIRC truncated Kamm profiles are a way around that, but not really an option when it has to also work backwards with a round tyre.

I probably read it in Road Bike Action mag in the 90s, learnt a lot of stuff reading that.

chaadster

It all depends on the shape of the reference shallow rim, of course, but a properly designed toroidal 30mm aero rim (e.g. in contrast to the old deep V shape) will post very substantial gains against a shallow, box section rim.

Flo Cycling did a lot of wind tunnel work, field testing, and CFD modeling to prove it, which you can read about HERE. Of course, all the serious wheel manufacturers design aero rims like that now as well, being concerned primarily with low yaw angles, so the science is well established now.