Random11

My son is looking for new carbon wheels for his Tarmac with rim brakes. He asked me whether it is worth it to buy a premium brand like Zipp or Enve, or if he'd do well to save some money and buy less expensive wheels. I have no idea whether it's worth the premium price to get those premium brand wheels. For those of you who are more knowledgeable, what would you tell him?

guachi

I'd tell him that generally you can find wheels with the same aero shape from the same with the only difference being weight, such as Trek with their Pro and RSL wheels. Wheels are more than just weight, much more. And I trust a premium brand to have wheels that are more aerodynamic than some lesser brand, regardless of weight differences.

So if it were me, I'd go with some premium brand.

mihlbach

If you're looking for deep aero rims, consider November's Rail 55. The hubs are your choice. You can save some money by going with Bitex or Boyd hubs or spend more on White Industries or Chris King. Either way you will get the same aero rim and cx ray spokes. I have owned numerous November wheelsets and as far as I am concerned are 99% as good (or better) as the premium stuff (e.g. Zipp).
https://novemberbicycles.com/collections/rail-2-0

Phil_gretz

What is his budget? By setting the price ceiling, he can then select the best wheel for the money. Some have good success with no-name Chinese wheelsets built on name-brand hubs. Again, budget?

tomato coupe

There are a lot of really good wheels on the market -- you can usually find something top tier at a good price.

($10 says someone will suggest Zondas. Any takers?)

msu2001la

Zipp and Enve are great, but I don't think they're putting a lot of R&D into rim brake wheels these days. I also would caution against investing that kind of money on a rim brake bike unless he's totally committed to keeping it for many years. I definitely wouldn't be buying fancy rim brake hubs at this point.

Those November Rail 55 wheels look pretty good. With Bitex hubs they're $930. This is comparable to something you'd get from Light Bicycle. This is the price range I'd probably shoot for.

Bald Paul

How about these?
(1) 700C Road Bike Wheels 50mm Clincher/Tubeless Ready Novatec Hub Road Wheelsets | ICAN Cycling

msu2001la

Sure, but if you're going to go down the cheap Chinese carbon rabbit hole, are these any better than the $350 Superteams on Amazon?

I have a set of Superteam rim brake carbon wheels that I purchased a few years ago. They're fine. I haven't had any problems with mine. My only complaint is that the rear hub is ridiculously loud and the wet weather braking is really bad. They are low spoke count, so it would be worth checking weight limits. The front and rear non-drive side are all radial lacing which seems kind of silly to me - I'd much prefer 2x or 3x lacing. That said, my wheels arrived true out of the box, and still work like new after 1500-2000 miles of riding. They threw in a few extra spokes and some brake pads.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend these, but for $350 they've definitely met my expectations.

Also... lol:

Random11

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will pass them along. Meanwhile, he has texted me with a link to Hunt 62 Carbon Aerodynamicist wheelset, priced at $1239. Does anybody know about these? I'm guessing he'll be just as open to your suggestions. He just wants new wheels to use on the Tarmac he has while he's saving to get a new bike.

Badger6

Has he checked Light Bicycle Random11 ?

Inusuit

Just me, but I would put the $1239 in the savings account for a new bike.

jaxgtr

I recently got my Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 (50mm) rim brakes wheels and they are nice and use DT Swiss 340 internals in the hubs. Spin really nice. They replaced an older non-TLR version Aeolus 5's I had. Picked up the set for 1300.

But at the same time, if he is saving for a new bike, that new bike would most likely not have rim brakes, so I would save the cash for new wheels for the new bike if they new bike does not have good wheels.

mihlbach

I was in the same boat last fall. My road bike is a high-end rim-brake bike, still perfectly functional except for worn out hubs and rims. I had to make a choice...new bike or just get some fresh rim-brake wheels. Given the bike shortages and long waits, I decided to invest in some November Rail 55s and put off buying a new bike for a few more years.

tomato coupe

After a year it will grow to $1240 and be worth … less.

Inusuit

$1239 worth of wheels and hubs will be worth more in a year?

tomato coupe

Probably not, but you get to ride new wheels for the next year.

Inusuit

If your investments are making similar gains over the course of a year, you may need a new financial advisor. Or you should just put your money into wheels.

tomato coupe

You’re the one who suggested putting the money in a savings account - maybe you need a new financial advisor.

Bald Paul

You tell me. Here's a review by a pro wheel builder. Sure, they're not perfect, but the issues are easily remedied.
FWIW, I bought an ICAN carbon frameset and built my bike around it. LBS helped with cutting the steerer tube to length, and checked the entire frame over. He was pretty impressed with it for the money.

Inusuit

Nah, you convinced me to put my money into wheels.

tomato coupe

Perfect. You get new wheels, you help stimulate the economy, and you keep people employed. Win, win, win.

Inusuit

Indeed, and we can still be friends.

tomato coupe

I don't presently have any openings, but I'll put your name on the waiting list.

GlennR

There's more to wheels than price and aero.

First is the budget, a 20 year old might not have the disposable income of a 50 year old.

I've only owned 2 sets of carbon wheels. I has Easton for 3 years and they constantly need to be trued. Eventually my front wheel was send back under warranty and they replaced all the spokes and nipples... it took 6 months.

When I purchased my "dream" bike I went with Zipp 303s. Budget was not an issue and since I don't race, aero was not the most important. What I did get was a set of wheels that are relatively light, pretty aero and rock solid reliable. I have 30,000 miles and they are still perfectly straight.

To me that's better than money in the bank.

cyclezen

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bald Paul View Post
How about these?
(1) 700C Road Bike Wheels 50mm Clincher/Tubeless Ready Novatec Hub Road Wheelsets | ICAN Cycling

... so I was considering getting some CF wheels to get updated... actually, I've always been about wheels/tires ever since I got my first set of Campy/Super Champ Record Du Monde and put CLement Setas on them - A whole different world from what I had been riding, back in '71...
so, since I'm still (and will continue with...) Rim Brake, I started looking and comparing...
I'm also not into needing a $2K wheelset, being old and on death's door... LOL! you can't take it with you...
so comparing to some decent/good alu wheels, like my HED kermesse from 2009.... 26mm depth, 23 ext width, 19 internal width. 'aero' for then, certainly less so now.
but what a difference in ride - 19mm internal means a real 'aero' profile to the tire and rim combo, way lower tire pressure which also makes it faster on regular varying road surfaces.
so I started at the low end - Chinese wheels - 38mm to 50 mm profile, most of the stuff below $600 were 23 external & 16 MM INTERNAL WIDTH !!! WHAT ???
we had that back in the 1990s ! put a 25 mm or larger width tire on that and you again get the 'bulb' profile - forget aero !
Chinese over $600 all seem to be 25mm Ext & 18 Internal width - What I already have with my ancient HED Kermesse and Ardennes wheels, and they're bulletproof and fast - so no real advantage to getting Chinese CF, except for pre and post ride cred... (pull the decals off...) LOL!
Now most of the known better Label Stuff, ZIPP, HED, ENVE, REYNOLDS, HUNT, etc... at the $1200 ish price range are 27mm Ext and 19mm Internal Width - a big improvement over what the chinese stuff gives... HED Jets are in fact 27mm EXT with 21mm , a nice set for using 28mm tires - if you want that...
Some further snooping on the web found this:
'Testing to Find the Fastest Bicycle Wheels' - a real eye-opening read... a ton of info, from an engineer who's NOT in the Wheel Business - so no hidden agendas...
A lot to read, but if you skip to the bottom, you'll come up with a fairly extensive aero/power chart of a slew of wheels tested at a 2 different simulated velocities - 30 kph and 50 kph.
Very Interesting comparison at 30 KPH, SUPER INTERESTING at 50 KPH !!! Mavic and Hunt are off my list... LOL!
Now it's comparison of price/performance and reputation for durability... Those ZIPP 404s are looking pretty interesting... for the $1200 price point area...
but then it all comes down to what happens when the rubber meets the road...
Ride On
Yuri
OP - If your son is gonna get a new bike - Almost certainly Disc Brake - why's he spending now ??? If he's 'saving', as you noted... he might consider to continue 'saving' and put it all into the new 'ride'... I do get it - we all want Kool Stuff... Kool Threads are a lot less than a $1200 wheelset, and will migrate nicely to the new 'ride' - no conversion necessary... good rubber - is also money well spent ... LOL!