Wheels every time!

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Money are better spent on the wheels IMO. There are tons of options, but possibly I'd look at the Bontrager Aeolus', since they are likely optimised for the Emonda's

Wheels for sure.

The move to Force AXS will be expensive for the little performance gain - as you would be doing the whole system, including brakes. Its a real nice upgrade but $$ vs wheels its a not good value

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Regards, Richard

The new 105 is so good, I'd go with wheels

Wheels, and I'd look at light bicycle's offerings. I'm quite happy with my wheels I got from them earlier this year

Which wheels did you get from them?

I have a rim brake bike, so I got the falcon pro AR55 rim brake wheels with the grooved graphine brake track and DR swiss 240s hubs. Mounting tubeless tires has been a breeze, and I'm really impressed with the braking, while I've never used something like a jet black wheelset, I've used other quality non-textured aluminum and these seem equivalent in both wet and dry. A little under 1500g for a 55mm deep wheelset is pretty good for $1000, and they seem to be quite fast. Am planning on buying more from them in the future.

Only potential complaint is just timeline. Be aware that it might be a couple months between when you order them and when they arrive.

Do you have a link to those silky wheels?

Wheels, but make sure you keep in mind moving to AXS might require a XDR free hub swap unless you want to try to run a Shimano 12sp cassette.
So whatever wheels you get, make sure there are readily available XDR free hubs and end caps if applicable.

I would look at premier wheels or hyper wheels. Not sure what ppl here think of the hyper wheels, but they seem to get good reviews overall.

Was looking at the Hunt 44 Aerodynamicist. Good balance for me as I ride a lot of hills but also live in quite a windy area on the coast. I will check out the others mentioned as well.

Any other suggestions for wheels that climb well (read: are light) and don’t break the bank?

Electronics shifting is so choice. If you have the means, I’d highly recommend you picking it up and stalk the forums here for a deal on second hand wheels

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

It's nice to have, but it's definitely NOT all that. if anything goes wrong, it's often way more expensive and a royal pain in the rear to deal with, almost dealbreakingly so. Of course, this usually happens when you are shipping or traveling with your bike, get somewhere new, and realize something's not working properly - and then all of a sudden electronic shifting sucks. Ask me how I know!

Yeah cool. I’ve had di2 for 10 years and never had a hitch

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

Here’s a question, will the electronic shifting make a noticeable difference in my ability to climb effectively and efficiently? Relative to the difference light wheels would make ?

Probably not. But it makes riding in general more enjoyable

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I don't find it more enjoyable. I actually miss the tactile sensation of the manual pulls when I use the electronic shifting.

There are 2 undeniable benefits though. First, you can put shifters on a TT bike on both the bar ends as well as the bullhorns, so you can shift from 2 positions. The other is that you can run some super-clean cable-free front ends, without the hassle of internal cable routing.

On the whole, I do think electronic shifting is better. Def a luxury item that doesn't make you faster, but it's nice on a TT bike. It is however, annoying when something does go wrong as I mentioned - you'll have to take it to the shop in most cases to have it plugged into the diagonstic checker if it's not something obvious. And I'm not joking at all when I say this preferentially happens when you ship/pack your bike, so you're in a new place and often have limited time, and don't know if the local shops will have the expertise or parts. A few well known pros have run into Di2 issues that probably wouldn't have been an issue at all on mechanical (I'm not saying they should have ridden mechanical though!)

Funny you mention - I'm surprisingly in the same camp after trying it on a road bike. No doubt it shifts smoothly, and setup no doubt is easier, but with the SRAM stuff, I found shifting the cassette constantly with my left hand a bit annoying (used to the less frequent front shifts), and the battery stuck in the downtube on the shimano didn't seem to me like a tech that would likely remain for long.

Sticking with cables for now. I'm looking forward to the 105 mech 12spd.

if you want performance gains, wheels.

if you want gains in terms of the "luxury" and feel of your riding, groupset.

if you want additional factors to split hairs, the wheels will definitely be a huge aesthetic upgrade, too. i think they do also have some "luxury" feel to them as well, in terms of how they sound rolling along and freewheeling. electronic groupsets are a whole new universe in terms of installation and service (if needed). your wrenching abilities could be a factor as well if that matters to you. if you're 100% self sufficeint home mechanic with mechanical gears, that could be a reason to stick to that and go wheels. if you're going to LBS for everything anyways, probably a wash. but who knows, if you want to have the challenge to learn the new skills that come along with electronic groups, that could be a plus for you too.

i'd perhaps say that 105 is so good nowadays that wheels may be the upgrade which gets you the most in terms of difference vs how the bike came. if the emonda came with those affinity wheels, yeah if you swapped those for some hunt aerodynamicst 44s as you describe above, that would be an amazing upgrade.

Shifting all the way. Wheels are the most overblown, overpriced item on your bike. And it is not that hard to quantify. For about 3500 feet of climbing, you save about 14 seconds per pound. So if you saved two pounds on a wheelset, which is a lot, you gain roughly a minute to 1:30 on a really big climbing day (like 10,000 feet). That could be 90 seconds out of 5-7 hours of riding, depending on how fast you climb. Upgrading to carbon wheels might look sexy, but is ridiculously expensive.

If you have not tried electronic shifting then think of it this way. Remember the way the bike shifted right out of the store when it was perfectly tuned? Electronic shifting is better and never needs any maintenance and never stops shifting perfectly.
In a way, always being in the right gear will make you a more efficient rider and shifting is practically effortless.
On a ride where your average speed is over 15 mph, then aero wheels will start to matter more, but for climbing, the gain is very small.

I def disagree with this.

Most tri courses are not mountain courses, they are flattish. Where carbon wheels greatly excel.

Carbon wheels are also almost required if you're a FOP triathlete cyclist trying to still improve, because going from like 23-24mph or 24-25, etc. has incredibly huge power requirement gains at this point (as compared to going from 13-14mph, for example). Like 40+ watts/mph and upwards from there.

I fell into the 'wheels don't matter it's all power' advice for a long time, as that's advice given to beginners. I think that's fine for beginners and casual triathletes who aren't trying to push their max, but once you're in this sport as a regular and really trying to push your limits, carbon wheels and aero helmet are crucial for that last 1mph on the bike. And the stronger/faster you get, the more important the aero becomes because of the exponential power requirements of going faster at higher speeds.

On bike mountain climb courses, yes, aero gains are heavily neutralized, so don't expect a huge gain if you enter like a cyclist hillfest grand fondo with 10k+ of climbing.

Well, he did not really mention tri and the bike is an Emonda, which is not a tri bike at all. For tri, then yes, front deep wheel, rear disc (wheel cover for the budget conscious).

I would make a small argument than electronic shifting is super helpful in tri because it shifts so fast and effortlessly that I shift two or three times as often as with manual so I am always spinning in the most efficient gear. Unless your course is super flat and you never need to shift.

I'm assuming that since we're on a triathlon forum, the focus isn't on hilly road races/fondos, but on triathlons. Even if he's got a road bike.

The shifting is a bit easier/faster in tri, but nobody ever claimed they rode faster in a race from swapping their mech to electronic. Which is something considering people say they save watts by removing a straw on their BTS bottle. (Or in my case, going from jammers to briefs, but I'm still standing by that one! Big gain there for me!)

I vote for wheels as they transfer to another bike pretty easily 😊. I like the electronic shifting on my bikes but I could easily live with mechanical as well. My 10+ year old road bike with 6600 series 10 speed Ultegra still shifts just fine. It has recently been relegated to being the indoor bike connected to a TacX trainer but I have not had to make any cable adjustments in several years and it shifts just fine. In fact, I kind of miss the multi gear downshift that is possible.