[Closed] Road wheels (rim) for around £400 - recommendations wanted

I would be tempted for these;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/prime-rr-28-carbon-clincher-road-wheelset/rp-prod142955

I've just bought these:

https://www.cycledivision.co.uk/cero-ar30-evo-wheelset-8760

Not had a chance to use them yet as they're still on the van and due to be delivered today. Reviews looked good and it was reassuring that they had no rider weight limit.

I recently bought the Prime RR38's for my Supersix to replace aksiums. Cost about £550.

I'm surprised the difference they make.  Noticeably lighter and stiffer - accelerating out o corners and climbing feels mech better. Also with the wider rims it makes a much more comfy ride. Braking is very good (rim brakes) even in the wet with the supplied pads.

They went up tubeless easily with schwalbe pro ones. Install the supplied valve, tapes already there, I used a luggage strap round the circumference of the tyre, a few quick pumps and snap! Then deflate and add Stans.

Only problem I have is clearance on the chain stays with the Supersix. With the wider rims 25mm tyres measure at 28mm and only leave about 1mm each side, which has rubbed on the frame. I've just ordered a 23mm pro one for the back which should equal a real world 25mm. Front is fine!

I’ve got the 105 version of he same Caad12 as you. Came with some heavy / not very reliable wheels (not even as good as Aksiums). The bike shop accepted them (unused) as a trade in against some Hunt wheels I fancied (they could source Hunt / Mavic / Hope).

For £300 I went for Hunt 4Season Road wheels which were cheaper than the Mavic Ksyiums or the Hope equivalent for north of £400.

There were some Hunt ones for £399 that were another 100g or so lighter but I couldn’t justify the extra for the amount I use the bike.

They look pretty nice and roll quickly - also came with tubeless tape fitted and tubeless valves. Although there tyres I had on the Cannondale aren’t tubeless ready so I’m running with tubes for now. Once these tyres wear out / start cutting up I think I’ll go road tubeless.

Just to add I mashed the rear rim through a huge crater in the road I didn’t see until too late - as a crash replacement scheme Hunt provides a replacement rim for 30% off the rrp. Arrived within 2 days of ordering which I thought was pretty good.

I'd be inclined to go with lighter aluminium rims, aero gains with aluminium rims at a sensible weight are going to be slim at best, and carbon rims aren't brilliant braking in the wet.

In the spirit of recommending what I own, Stans Alpha give the tyre a wide profile without actually being wide (they add ~2mm to all the tyres I've tried on them). Downside is they're not particularly thick so won't last long if ridden in the wet.

If I was building something new, I'd go with the new Mavic Open Pro UST rims, a set of those with 24/28 DT Rev spokes and brass nipples on Novatec hubs should be around 1400g.

Hubs £72 off ebay

Rims £82 off CRC

Spokes £25

Sheldon Brown wheelbuilding guide - free (or pay a shop £50-£80)

Spend the change on bling.

Cheers, i've seen those RR21's and they do look good. Probably shouldn't matter but I would prefer the dark logos which are out of stock.

The AR30 evos get great reviews and seem really light.

Cheers for the recommendations, I think any of those would be good so I should probably just go with the ones that I like the look of best !

I mean Prime RR28's sorry....

The wide rim thing is a croc, zero benefits at road pressures for average riders (possible tiny aero benefits)

I have the AR30's on one bike and some Hunts on another. Both sets are great and I can't see any reason why I'd need to spend silly money to get something else. Both sets are light and appear well made. I used the AR30's to ride The Tour of the Black Country a couple of weeks ago which had plenty of off road sections and cobbles. They handled that route without complaint and are still as true as the day I got them.

The wide rim thing is a croc, zero benefits at road pressures for average riders (possible tiny aero benefits)

<Monty python mode>

Aside from being more aero because the tyre and rim form a continuous shape rather than a lightbulb.

Aside from  wider tyres offering lower rolling resistance even on a smooth laboratory drum.

Aside from wider tyres offering a faster and smoother ride in the real world because they stop the bike being shaken about so much.

Aside from being more comfortable.

I mean, aside from all that*, what have wider rims ever done for us?

</monty python mode>

*which is all either proven in lab tests or just plain obvious.

I was in the same position and picked up a nice pair of Ksyrium Pro SL for around £350 in a sale. The Fulcrums racing 5 or 3s seem to offer good value in the low hundreds too. I’ve since picked up a pair of 50mm chinese carbon clinchers for around £250 that I use for fun flat blasts when its dry. For racing and the alps I’ll stick to Alu for now.

Aside from being more aero because the tyre and rim form a continuous shape rather than a lightbulb.

Aside from wider tyres offering lower rolling resistance even on a smooth laboratory drum.

Aside from wider tyres offering a faster and smoother ride in the real world because they stop the bike being shaken about so much.

Aside from being more comfortable.

1. worth a watt or 2?

2-4. Wider tyres offer these benefits of course, but not wider rims.

1. worth a watt or 2?

Dunno about figures, but ultimately any upgrade boils down to "a watt or two".

2-4. Wider tyres offer these benefits of course, but not wider rims.

Wider rims give you a wider tyre.

And putting wide tyres on a narrow rim takes you back to point 1, you lose any aero benefits.

And I forgot to mention handling, if you drop the pressure down from 100psi to say 80 psi to get all those benefits, the wider rims stops it squirming in corners.

Aero is a bit of a moot point though as the OP 's budget is for nice alloy wheels not deep carbon ones. But I'd say better handling, lower rolling resistance, more suspension, and more comfort and potentially saving a few watts is still good enough argument in their favour.

I'd look at Hunt (their pre builts are getting good reviews and seem great value) or for something just generally a bit better (lighter, repairable, rugged) I can't fault my spokesman.co.uk builds of H Plus Son Archetypes on Novatech hubs as all rounders.

Damn those Ceros are light if thats accurate.

Have a look at Strada wheels, have a chat with Darren he’s a top bloke and top notch wheelbuilder.

TINAS, wider rims give you wider tyres? Well I suppose they do, every 3mm wider gives you a whole 1mm wider tyre. Definitely worth a £400 wheelset.

But there's another way of getting a wider tyre. It's cheaper. Just buy a wider tyre.

I guess I'm no riding God, and I'm only 75kg, bit I ride at less than 80psi and I've no issues with squirming tyres.

But I don't believe the marketing crap.

You've bought into it, I can't change that.

f I was building something new, I’d go with the new Mavic Open Pro UST rims,

Please don't, they're bloody terrible.

They're a really nice idea, but they're made of cheese! They're floppy, they're flexy, they don't last well at all (we had one customer ride them through the winter and within 4 months they were worn from 1.3mm initial braking surface thickness to 0.6-0.7mm thickness, which was enough to cause them to flex when you inflated the tyre).

They _should_ be awesome, the original Open Pro is a reference rim, but the Open Pro UST are awful, they may be light and wide and tubeless-compatible, but they're simply too flimsy.

Cero AR24’s, cheaper still at £189, light and fast. Slightly noisy free hub.

I would be looking at Zondas too because they look good.

I can’t see the point of Hunts not the lightest sand not that cheap

Just built a lovely set of velocity a23 rims, dt spokes and novatec hubs. Well within your price range and easily serviceable unlike most factory built wheels.

Come on the Al, what's the benefit of buying a narrow rim then?

On the Hunt rims, for £300 they were the lightest option I found - to clarify I’m talking about disc compatible road wheels, not rim brake ones.

The closest available wheels I could find at the time were the Hope and Mavic equivalents - and if I went with what my local lbs could get they were happy to take the new standard wheels that came on my bike in part ex. They could then supply Mavic, Hope or Hunt.

<div class="bbp-reply-author">thisisnotaspoon
<div class="bbp-author-role">
<div class="">Member</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="bbp-reply-content">

Come on the Al, what’s the benefit of buying a narrow rim then?

</div>

Have I said there was one? (there is: weight). My point is that wider road rims are a pointless upgrade and a triumph of marketing.

I'd be looking at the Prime range at CRC/Wiggle, seem very good value to me and get some excellent reviews,

I was in exactly the same situation a week ago and after way to much deliberation I went for some campy zonda c17’s. Saved over 500g and early indications are good.

Have I said there was one? (there is: weight). My point is that wider road rims are a pointless upgrade and a triumph of marketing.

Considering rims are still consumables until disk brakes completely take over, its hardly an issue though is it? £40 on 17mm rims or £40 on 21mm rims. Either way you're going to be buying a new set in 12months (YMMV).

Worst marketing gimmick ever seeing as you can't have both, the rim producing maffia shot themselves in the foot ruining the market for narrow rims.

FunkyDunk: Where are you getting £189 for the Cero AR24? Look to be over £200 to me. They seem very good value!

TINAS how many people (1) wear out rims at all, let alone in 12 months, especially on  wheels like this which are likely going on summer bikes, then, (2) then get a rebuild instead of new wheels?

The market is for wheels, and wideness seems to be a reason to upgrade for many who might not otherwise.

I'm sure a minority might upgrade for the sake of it, but most roadies seem to either be club members doing fairly big mileages (even just doing club runs will be ~5000miles annually) or mtbers with n+1 (or triathletes, or people who only ride in the month after the tdf) who do very low mileages and never change anything (apart from triathletes who change everything to the most garish component/clothing item available).

I'm going to bow out and agree to disagree now.

In regards to wider rims, it was my understanding that thisisnotaspoon is correct, in that fitting a tyre wider than the rim negates any aero benefits the wheel offers?

Which means a wide tyre renders any expensive aero rims useless.

If you're only concerned about weight however, it's not an issue.

C'mon cynic-al, the OP stated he wanted to buy new wheels and asked for recommendations.  Your recommendation is don't buy new wheels you don't need them.  Fair point but not in the spirit of a what shiny shall I buy thread

butcher - it's relative, not all or nothing. We're not nec talking about aero rims anyway.

RB the OP might prefer to realise some wheels aren't worth the £, I know I do!

(Alright then, Stans Alpha on 105/cheap light front hub)

butcher – it’s relative, not all or nothing.

You may be right. I'd be interested in seeing some good factual data on the subject, because I'm in the same boat as the OP.

From what little I've read however, I do understand it to be close to all or nothing, as the tyre is imperative to the aero assistance of the wheel.

I’d be interested in seeing some good factual data on the subject, because I’m in the same boat as the OP.

From what little I’ve read however, I do understand it to be close to all or nothing, as the tyre is imperative to the aero assistance of the wheel.

What you've read can't be worth much if it's not based on factual data...(insert usual bike-journalism insult here)

I assume it was based on factual data. My understanding came from an interview with an aerodynamicist in the field.

I generally don't take one source as speaking the Gospel truth however, so I'd like to hear more.

If you are buying new wheels, there's no harm in wider rims...

I've gone for the Cero AR24 evo's - with the wider rims 😉 I should get them tomorrow! They just seemed good value for how much they weigh (important when riding in hilly west yorkshire!).

Cheers for the help.