I need some advice from the Clydes out there. What are the best aero wheelsets for the price out there that will hold us up? I am right at 200lbs and hopefully losing more. I don’t want to have to worry about trueing wheels every few weeks. I plan on purchasing a 2005 Felt S32 that has the Alex 220 rims which are their lowest rims in their lineup. I am sure i am looking at heartache and frustration down the road so I figured I would start looking now. Something I can race and train on if these wheels go bad. Thanks.
I am going on a limb and claim there are no cheap aero rims that are going to work for a Clydesdale. I use Velocity Deep V’s but I would hesitate to recommend them to you since they don’t have eyelets and could be prone to cracking at the spoke holes but I only weigh 71 kilos.
I would contend that the concern over the lack of eyelets on the Velocity Deep V is much ado about nothing. The reason I believe this is that I built up a set for our tandem 3 1/2 years ago. Our all-up weight including the bike is 155 kilos. I tensioned the spokes on those mofos until they tacoed, backed them off 1/2 turn and then retensioned 1/4 turn. They are the most straight, most round wheels I have ever seen or built. They have not required any truing or tensioning and to this day are still dead-ass perfect true and round! These rims replaced Mavic T217’s which had eyelets. Within 6 months of new, those rims started cracking around the eyelets and then, ultimately, the eyelets started pulling out.
Oh yeah, I built them with alloy nips, another sacred cow not to be touched and live to tell the story.
Not sure what “fairly cheap” means to you, but I agree with the previous poster on the Velocity’s. You can get a set of Velocity Spartacus wheels for about $270. They come in a 20/24 spokecount model for riders over 180lbs.
I had a set of these wheels in the lower spokecount version, they were quite sturdy and I’m sure would handle 200 lbs with no problem. They aren’t a super deep “aero” wheelset, but they aren’t bad; definately faster than some much more expensive wheels I own.
Buy these wheels with a CH Aero Disc cover to slap on for racing and I think you have a pretty fast and sturdy set-up for under $350.
Why? Because I finally a group of people whom I could understand - geek to geek. Dave, Chris, Alex, et al., all explained the ins and outs in simple English. And I was 276# at the start. I’m 225 today.
Ask for Dave or just read my other posts lauding XLAB, Nytro blah blah blah until people blew me off because I raved so much about the companies. If you’re going to go cheap, don’t go with these guys. (yea… THIS IS a another plug) Buy quality. After all, would you want a spoke to pop and bite you in your ass?
I didn’t think so…
’ nuff said. Now go and have fun after you’ve done your due diligence.
I just bought a set of black Mavic CXP-33 (32 hole) with DT Revolution spokes and Ultegra hubs. I bought them after reviewing this site ad nauseum re: trainign wheels for clydes. They must have been mentioned twice as much as other setups. They were 350 bucks shipped from Excel Sports in Boulder. They are semi-aero - but fine for training and racing (ubtil you start worrying about winning hardware, I guess). Thay are also as light as most of the way more expensive wheelsets out there. The CXP-33 is a bit stronger and is more aero than the Open Pro 32-hole. It weighs just a touch more though.
The Velocity Fusion rim is also a rim designed for heavier riders.
Frankly, I had really good luck with the Ritchey DS wheels that were stock on my Cervelo Dual also.
I weigh about 215. I had Velocity Deep V’s when I had a 650 bike. When I went 700, I found a Velocity Spartacus set for $160. 30mm rims, no problems, fairly light, and I like the way they look.
I also recommend on the Velocity deep V’s. I am no clydesdale but weigh around 170. I’ve bounced my Velocitys over pot-holed roads for about 5 years now with only minor truing required. I don’t know about the Sparticus wheel though. Mine are 32 spokes rear and 28 front both laced 3 cross with brass nipples.
check out the Pro-Lites on Nytro.com. I use a pro-lite front wheel and am 190-195 lbs and have had zero problems with it. They are light weight, carbon, come in tubular or clincher and the front wheel is around $350-$400 versus the $500 to $800 for zipps, hed, corima, etc.
