Have a wheel itch

[cadenceblur]

27 minutes ago, splat said:

38mm. Maybe 45mm if you are heavy (like I am)
I wouldn't go more than 50mm unless you had a 2nd set of wheels for windy days.

Your current Mavic wheels are light.
What are you looking to achieve with new wheels ?
Carbon for the sake of carbon (which I support)
Upgrades for the sake of it ? (which everyone here supports)
Aero gains (which dont REALLY make that much difference for us bigger boyz)

Edit: No harm in getting rims that can be run tubeless. You may want to dabble later.

And then, what is your budget?
Good alu is probably better than bad carbon (hubs and braking performance)

Some sound advice and good questions to ponder there!

Budget is around R17k thereabouts, 

You're right my current wheels are great...

Have no intention of changing to disk anytime soon

was thinking of aero benefits / improved rolling 

I am eyeing the darkhorse 38/50 combo

 

[Sloth1987]

16 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Hi All

I have a small itch that I am not sure I want to scratch.

I am contemplating changing my wheelset to a carbon set with a deeper profile.

My bike currently has a set of Mavic R Sys wheels which have given me great service for the 7 or years that I have had them - they are quite light and stiff.

Should I bite the bullet and go down this route? 

Will need to be for a rim brakes and I would prefer to stay with tubes for now.

Or should I just ignore this itch and move on !

I have scouted a few options 2nd hand in the classifieds already 

It depends on the cause of the itch. Is it for the looks, bragging rights or gains? The gain will be marginal and mostly beneficial in racing. Yes,they do sound nicer and makes your bike look awesome but they do cost a small fortune. You also need to look at higher end/priced models to experience gains as some of the cheaper alternatives could even been slower than your current hoops. The design of the wheel will also impact the handling in crosswinds on deeper section wheels. Consider the braking aspect of carbon as well on rim brake bikes. Riding hilly routes with steep descents wear them out and they can even fail if you overcook them. If you have a lot of money, I would say buy a set but always have a set of training wheels to ride as well when the conditions get rough. 

[Popit]

Nike ... sorry I mean  JUST DO IT 

[David Marshall]

I'm with Nick here.  

I am not brand bashing but if you look at the pics of the hand built wheels you don't see straight pull spokes.  My advice is that whatever you choose keep it that way!

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

6 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Some sound advice and good questions to ponder there!

Budget is around R17k thereabouts, 

You're right my current wheels are great...

Have no intention of changing to disk anytime soon

was thinking of aero benefits / improved rolling 

I am eyeing the darkhorse 38/50 combo

 

Darkhorse is a good option if your budget is R17k.
I wouldn't consider the Bitex hubs an upgrade though, compared to the Mavics, if I'm honest.

If you stretch your budget to R25k you can get premium hubs with superb tubeless ready rims that handle great in crosswinds, hand-built with bladed spokes and brass nipples.

If it was my money, I'd get DT Swiss 350 hubs with Nextie 45RX rims.
I can't express strongly enough how awesome these rims are from a quality point of view. They're impeccable.

Their rim cross-section shape makes them very stable in cross winds.
 

[buckstopper]

25 minutes ago, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:

Darkhorse is a good option if your budget is R17k.
I wouldn't consider the Bitex hubs an upgrade though, compared to the Mavics, if I'm honest.

If you stretch your budget to R25k you can get premium hubs with superb tubeless ready rims that handle great in crosswinds, hand-built with bladed spokes and brass nipples.

If it was my money, I'd get DT Swiss 350 hubs with Nextie 45RX rims.
I can't express strongly enough how awesome these rims are from a quality point of view. They're impeccable.

Their rim cross-section shape makes them very stable in cross winds.
 

What size tyres you ride? That profile looks optimised for 23/24mm tyres

[Spinnekop]

17 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Recommended profile for Cape Town riding?

60-80mm

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

12 minutes ago, buckstopper said:

What size tyres you ride? That profile looks optimised for 23/24mm tyres

The Nextie RX rims have a 25mm outer width hat the bead area, so is ideal for 25 or 28c tyres.

[nick_the_wheelbuilder]

17 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Recommended profile for Cape Town riding?

Whatever works in the conditions.
Personally I'd not go deeper than 50mm on the front, but up to 60mm at the rear is cool.

45/45 or 45/55 would be my choice.

Shallower than 45 and you lose aero advantage.

[Spinnekop]

On the Dark horse jobbies..........just test a set out before you buy.
I have two friends that are unable to fix a puncture next to the road...........tyres are very hard to get on and off.

[cadenceblur]

Some great insight shared and advice given, lots to consider on what is not a cheap purchase decision , thank you for all the input - appreciated 

[Mtree]

42 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

60-80mm

I want some of the courage you have when riding 60mm+ rims in 40km/h cross winds

[cadenceblur]

2 minutes ago, Mtree said:

I want some of the courage you have when riding 60mm+ rims in 40km/h cross winds

He needs to show us his I reckon 👀

[Mtree]

13 minutes ago, cadenceblur said:

He needs to show us his I reckon 👀

I agree! 60mm deep wheels (404 FCs) are a bit much at times up Durbanville way.
The front moving so much is a bit unnerving.

If I were to do it again, I would do a 45/60mm combo... 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Mtree

[Jono]

I know there's always that one guy so sorry for this...

If I had R17k to spend on a wheelset for a rim brake bike I'd sell the bike, add cash from the sale to the 17k and get a disc brake bike. This is coming from someone who feels going to carbon wheels was the single biggest upgrade I made to my road bike. The reason I think it felt like such a big improvement was the ability to go wider tyres with lower pressure, something that might not be possible on a rim brake set up. 

For reference I'm on 40mm rims, 24mm internal width, 30mm tubeless tyres which inflate to 33mm.

[Murrob]

On 8/16/2023 at 9:44 PM, cadenceblur said:

Recommended profile for Cape Town riding?

I actually fairly recently went from Mavic Rsys rim brake bike to a 45mm carbon disc brake bike. I was super ambivalent about the expected braking improvements as the braking with exalith mavic rim brake was just super, could lock a wheel up super easily (Which you would know) The rim profile however is a different discussion, the bike just wants to fly, being based in the cape, I would not do any more than 45’s, would not like the bike to be any more twitchy in windy/gusty descent and have not found the wheels to be more difficult to climb with, maybe a bit more effort to get going, but once you are going, your going…