Corks
Posts 16
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**** … tough question. With the number of wheelsets out there unfortunately there is no right answer to this. If there was, I suppose all the trade teams would have found out by now and be using the same wheels. Fact of the matter is, like almost all manufactured products, you will get what you pay for. The more you are prepared to pay (to an extent), the higher the quality. No different when it comes to wheels for a bicycle. Paying over a certain point, however, will get you no more quality, but more specialist/specific wheels. And when I say quality, I mean a wheel that is going to allow you to ride a significant number of kilometres on it without failure or defects. Regular servicing and wear/tear checks are still required for all wheels though.
There’s been some recent forum debate on here regarding wheels - I’d recommend checking out some of the thread. U will soon see its way too difficult to come to a consensus on what wheel is better - its almost always the case that a recommendation is purely someone’s own experience of riding a particular wheel and whether they’ve had good or bad experiences, or they may be sponsored and of course need to pump out endorsements.
So you’re going off the rack at ~$7k - no doubt you will get a very good frame and groupset at this range, but on the wheel front you will prob find they are middle-of-the-road, good hearty training wheels only. Which are completely fine and will serve useful in getting out on the road and logging training miles. Most frame manufacturers strike alliances with wheel manufacturers and off the racks will emphasise frame quality over wheels (hence my point to prioritise spending on wheels) in a bid to get the punter to upgrade to their higher-end range of wheels. Consider reallocating your spend from frame to wheels. Can you get the next frame down and use the savings to upgrade the wheels? I know not always easy to do as retailers tend to be locked in to the way they configure their stock, but def worth trying. When I said prioritise wheels I said this as you indicated getting into racing. Well racing means riding miles and pushing the machinery and its components to points of stress (including your body!), so you are going to need durable wheels that can handle this. As I said, the $7k mark is going to get you wheels that start to meet this criteria.
Terrain: are you going to race season-long covering crits and open road or just crits? This will dictate where you may go as regards wheels. Flat crits may lead you to think about some of the more aero wheelsets - here is where you can really go crazy and delve into the decision of carbon wheels over aluminium or even a mix, clincher or tubular rims, depth of rim etc. Or are you going to race open road - you mention you love the hills - well this takes you into weight and strength factors, and undoubtedly shallower rim options.
So Shano - get out there and research! All wheel makers have good websites now with all the specs listed. Compare and contrast. Talk to the guys at bike shops, arm yourself with all the information so as they can’t do a number on you. They will push certain wheels on you to ensure they maintain their quotas with the suppliers. Really ask yourself what is YOUR criteria for the wheels? Is it price only, or particular riding style or terrain, or racing aspirations?
Above all, remember: when it comes to a road bike (like anything) you can spend infinitum and have all the best and lightest and stiffest components in the world on it … but when you race, you are racing other riders, not other bikes …
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