which wheels?

[jeza]

hi , been riding about a year & a half.love it .stopped smoking at 40 started riding,now 42.got bianchi 928L with mavic ksyrium equipes.i'm 5ft7in & about 70kg.i can keep an average of 17-18 over 50 miles on the rare[at the moment] occasions i get out with the club without too much strain!!!
question: will better wheels really make a difference to my riding especially hills?
if so which ones? i've read as many reviews i can and have sort of a short list.
campag eurus
campag neutrons
fulcrum racing 1
mavic ksyrium SL
harry rowlands hand built[not sure what spec though!]
budget deffinately can't go over £550.
so there you go .all sensible suggestions very welcome.
cheers
jeza

[Dominic]

I have only ever had one pair of factory built wheels and they were cheap Campag. I had a replacement set built by Harry Rowland. The basis of the decision being the price I was quoted to replace a rim on the factory built wheel after it had worn out after a year.

I have to admit to being slightly biased towards handbuilt and for the money you have mentioned I would imagine that Harry Rowland could build you a fantastic pair of wheels for less than that. With advantages of easier replacement of spokes, truing etc.

The main reason I chose Harry was that of all the people I spoke to about new wheels he was more than willing to talk about it, to go through various options etc and seemed enthusiastic about the whole thing.

I would go to Harry Rowland.

[Marek]

I weigh in a bit more than you so you may not have the same problems that I do, but I don't agree with people when they say that Ksyriums are bombproof. I have had two rims go on my back wheel, I am quite hard on my wheels though as I say I weigh in a hefty 85kgs.

If a rim does go it costs quite a lot to get replaced, but that is the same with most factory built wheels. I am currently riding on Campag Eurus which I bought off Richard Viney, I have had to have a rim replaced on the back as I hit every hole in Charlwood in a race mid season, 1 week after I bought the wheels off Richard. It almost cost me the same as the wheels to get a new rim put on.

The advantage of the factory built wheels are that they don't seem to need truing very often. I have had normal spoked wheels in the past and they can go out of line quite easily and means have to get the old spoke key out which is a bit of a pain.

So after all that I think I would still go for factory built wheels, from your list I think they are all pretty good, taking into account your weight I would just go for the lightest wheels that you can get. I have heard great things about the Fulcrums and they look quite good as well.

Cheers

Marek....

[Marek]

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/P ... 094e5088b4

Here you go, I found them for under £550.

Cheers

Marek...

[jeza]

thanks guys .think it'll be the fulcrums.get them for next season!!