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Wheelset for around 40.000yen? (Stories of the Noob)

One other thing check to make sure that you fit within the maximum weight limits for the wheels - not all of them have it but many brands do now.
 
One other thing check to make sure that you fit within the maximum weight limits for the wheels - not all of them have it but many brands do now.

After having a quick look at the specs on shimano's web page, nothing really came up regarding maximum weight! Am I missing something?
 
3 months ago I would have agreed completely that these are a good set of wheels. For 18 months they were straight and needed absolutely no truing.

Then I noticed a little bit of out of trueness, and found that the rim had cracked in 2 separate places, where the special nipples enter the rim. I continued to ride for a bit more and the wheel became unrideable/unserviceable. i.e. the nipple pulled out of the rim.

The other thing about these wheels is that you need a special mavic spokewrench, and the plastic one they give you with the wheelset is basically useless. At least in my case it stripped out the first time I used it. You can fork out for a metal one from Park, but I would think carefully about ordering something that requires proprietary tools to true/service.


Same here. Crack on the rear near the nipple. But they must have had about 30000k on them, as I got them used
 
Another option is the RS-80`s. I think Chain Reaction have them for a good price at the mo. For the Soul Wheels, there are threads on weightweenies and BikeForums (I think) about them.
 
Ordered the simano stuff

Eventually I stuck with the wh-6700s, with a pair of evo corsa cx 2s! :) I cant wait to ride this stuff! Thank you people for all your recommendations, I'll be back with first impressions as soon as everything gets delivered!

Cheers!
 
BTW - Y's had some great discounts on SOYO tubeless tires. For those of you who don't know - SOYO is brand made by Daiwabo Rubber and the only tire allowed for Japanese Keirin (NJS Tubular). They developed and patented the seamless construction of bicycle tires and their top line tires use this. The roll out is incredible. The tubeless tire was made under license by Hutchinson and has very high reviews. Unfortunately take -up in general of tubeless road is a bit weak, and the SOYO brand, being very strong in Keirin, is not so known in the road world. So - result is there is a bit of glut on these tires in Japan, hence the op for a very good deal at about 5500 yen! Remember, when you buy a tubeless tire - you don't buy the tube - which easily adds another 600yen or so. I still think the Vittoria's are hard to beat - but if I was riding tubeless - I'd be looking strongly at the Soyo or Maxxis.
 
Nice one on taking the plunge on a nice new set of premium wheels.

You are going to love them. Will totally transform you bike.

Where did you order them from in the end, and what price did you get on it all?
 
Nice one on taking the plunge on a nice new set of premium wheels.

You are going to love them. Will totally transform you bike.

Where did you order them from in the end, and what price did you get on it all?

I'm really looking forward to the transformation! :D If it makes me want to ride more, makes the whole thing even more fun, then it's money well spent...

...all 44.500yen of them. From amazon, surprisingly. 2 tires, the wheels and 3 michellin tubes, just to be on the safe side :eek:.
 
So this is what it's all about!

First day out with the new wheels, and the difference with the old ones is night and day.

The most striking thing was that it felt as if the top speed cap just... magically disappeared. Suddenly speeds around 30km/h are not only achievable but sustainable. With the old wheels, it'd be something more like 22~24km/h. This is huge.

Secondly, the acceleration. They just spin up to speed so much easier. With the old wheels I remember that whenever I lost some speed I'd have to downshift quite a bit, in an effort to bring them back up to speed. With the new ones, heavier gears where suddenly so much easier to push!

The third thing I noticed was quite surprising: they're comfortable! I run the vittorias with a 110/120psi (front/rear) which was higher than the what I used with the previous tires, but still it was slightly cushy, in a very nice way!

All in all, I'm pretty stocked. I think I got hooked on cycling for good this time, now I think I get it. :) And it's awesome. Cheers!
 
First day out with the new wheels, and the difference with the old ones is night and day.

The most striking thing was that it felt as if the top speed cap just... magically disappeared. Suddenly speeds around 30km/h are not only achievable but sustainable. With the old wheels, it'd be something more like 22~24km/h. This is huge.

Secondly, the acceleration. They just spin up to speed so much easier. With the old wheels I remember that whenever I lost some speed I'd have to downshift quite a bit, in an effort to bring them back up to speed. With the new ones, heavier gears where suddenly so much easier to push!

The third thing I noticed was quite surprising: they're comfortable! I run the vittorias with a 110/120psi (front/rear) which was higher than the what I used with the previous tires, but still it was slightly cushy, in a very nice way!

All in all, I'm pretty stocked. I think I got hooked on cycling for good this time, now I think I get it. :) And it's awesome. Cheers!

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new wheels! Just out of curiosity how much do you weigh?
 
Always good to hear someone happy with their cycling.

What were your old wheels? From the dramatic difference perhaps they were not circular...?
 
Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new wheels! Just out of curiosity how much do you weigh?

80~81kg right now, with plans of dropping about 4-5kg until autumn.

Always good to hear someone happy with their cycling.

What were your old wheels? From the dramatic difference perhaps they were not circular...?

Mike, the previous wheels where the stock wheels coming with the Defy 3, some sort of Giant branded wheel. I was running them with vittoria's rigid zaffiros. Compared to the new stuff, they now feel quite cumbersome, with the top end speeds completely dampened. I guess the bearings and hubs are to blame for the huge difference!
 
Makes alot of sense - the main difference is the rolling resistance of the hubs. The Ultegras use precision ground loose ball bearings which have very low static loading and low overall rolling resistance.

Cheaper hubs will not be as rigid lending to deflection on the axle which deflects the bearing out of alignment causing increase in resistance. Same thing goes for the cheaper bearings - all becomes apparant with more load / speed.
 
No it doesn't - it clearly says for riders OVER 180lb then inflate to max indicated on sidewall. Extreme tire pressure will not necessairly result or affect the rider weight. That is determined also by the overall profile, rim dimensions and tire construction. The total system is designed to carry specific loads at varying forces, nothing more or less. If you add weight above the recommended usage , then you need to adjust the whole system - not just one aspect of it. As it stands, the common bicycle wheel has a very broad operating range in terms of weight capacity and speed.

Most 700x23C Tires will have recommended weight capacity of 200lb (Combined)
25C - up to 250
28C - up to 275lb

This isn't really linear - so you'd have to check with the tire /wheel mfg to determine the best operating range for your bike / wheelset in question.

The funny thing is that when I advise (or advocate) wider rims / wheels to customers they laugh at me - when - for quite a few reasons , a slightly wider tire is better all around - at least compared with the 18C or 20C that had become so popular among the MAMILs out there.

I'm at about 62kg and much prefer a 23C over a 20C tire. As for pressure - I adjust it according to the road compliance I'm after. Which will be somewhere between 90 -110 psi. Or much lower if I'm riding on rougher / mixed roads. For CX, I generally run 50-60psi (700x32) and for tubulars I run lower than clinchers overall unless some specific tire type or event justifies it (Like Tufo HP - they don't really 'sing' until you get them over 150psi)

MIke, I want you to test ride the new 25mm rim/wheels we have - since you are a good candidate given not only your weight, but also your aggressiveness in descending. In fact, at least we could a power tap experiment with just changing the front wheel ... hmmm
 
MIke, I want you to test ride the new 25mm rim/wheels we have - since you are a good candidate given not only your weight, but also your aggressiveness in descending. In fact, at least we could a power tap experiment with just changing the front wheel ... hmmm
Any time... although I'm guessing you would want a baseline power measurement first, and I haven't ridden that bike much. Yet.
 
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