Clifton CC

I need a new back wheel for my summer bike. Anyone got a very strong preference for anything? Fulcrum Racing 3s seem well rated and about in my price range from Ribble at £360 for the pair.

Fulcrum 3's are a definite middle of the road wheelset. I race on a set broomy. I bought them early last year - they are ok but not the fastest wheels I've ever had. I bust a spoke in the front and nearly went over the handlebars it went so far out of true - that just shouldnt happen with factory built wheels & Nigel had a right job trying to fit a new spoke because they are a tub/tube rim section with no eyelets through the rim - a ridiculous concept!
If you can run campag I would go for Neutrons in that price range - fast and light and absolutely bombproof.

Have you considered a set of handbuilt wheels? Strong, serviceable and can be custom made to any budget.

Build your own. It isn't the dark art it once was, all the information is out there.
Dt swiss hubs, mavic open pro rims, and dt or sapim spokes 32 hole 3 cross. properly tensioned they will last until the rims wear out.

Having said that I've just bought some factory built carbon DT jobs, but they have spokes I can buy from a local bike shop and hubs I can service. Some of these factory built wheels are so ugly and heavy, and it's a nightmare getting spare parts.

Echo Skymoos. Its also a really satisfying job. Allow an evening per wheel, lay it all out out on the carpet in front of the fire, with a glass of your favourite and enjoy!

I've got a set of racing 3s - can't be far short of 15,000 miles on them and absolutely no problems at all, except rear rim is wearing thin now and I'm in the market for a new set as well as you Mr B.

I watch suggestions with interest.

Tempting to have a crack at building my own, plenty of videos on Youtube & I can do a reasonable job of truing wheels by eye on the brake blocks - but if I was to build a wheel, I'd want the proper jig (do you chaps do it without one?) - I'd guess I could borrow one? With cycling stuff though and an eye for a bargain, often it seems, building your own can turn out more expensive than buying ready built.

Perhaps, if I come and see you at the shop, Ben, I might get something built up professionally for not a lot more money than sourcing my own parts. I'm looking for something that's an upgrade from the Bontrager Racelights, I'm still using and have been utterly bomb proof.

Though if someone spots something on the web that's a serious bargain, but it would have to be 9 speed Shimano compatible.

I have a very nice jig now but I built my first out of a few pieces of wood and I made a dishing tool from scrap bits of metal at work. You dont have to spend a lot.

No brainer here. Shimano RS80, carbon dura ace clincher rim 380g with slightly lower quality hubs. Get a pair for 330ish. 1500g pair - Ksyrium SL weight. Spin up quickly with light inertia, robust for a light race wheel. Best performance for the budget.

What about American Classic Sprint 350 wheels? Lightweight at 1410g a pair. If you shop around you can get them for about £350ish.

I've just picked up a pair of ebay brand new for £200

Not got them yet but the reviews I've read rate them.

AM Classic also an excellent choice. Very light and fairly robust with good reviews. Big bang for bucks. Almost too much choice. 2010 onwards for Mavic Ksyrium Elite also as light and robust as old Ksyrium SLs so also a good buy if you can get a pair around 350.

Andy, coincidence you should mention Shimano RS80s. I was getting hacked off with trying to decide what to get and bought a pair almost on a whim from Ribble for £321 including postage. I couldn't find any reviews where people didn't like them.

They arrived yesterday. They look a bit ordinary (not that that's necessarily a bad thing) but feel light. Be interesting to see what they're like once they're on the bike.

+1 for build your own. For my winter bike I built a pair using DuraAce 7900 hubs, dt 2/1.8/2 double butted spokes laced 3x into 32h mavic open pro rims using 12mm dt brass nipples. My thinking here was to use v high quality parts with the exception of the rims cos they're sort of sacrificial. So far so good; I've already re rimmed them once getting a "new" set of quality wheels for approx £30 each (I re-use both the spokes and the nipples (I wouldn't be too keen on re-using aluminium nipples).

Although I'm on 2nd rim for each wheel I haven't had to touch the DA 7900 hub bearings. This is the highest quality hub Shimano makes AFAIK and it contains cup and cone bearings - hurrah!

Only downside is that the wheels don't feel that fast and come in without skewers or rim tape at 830g front and 960g rear, which is not impressive considering how much the total parts cost was!

On my summer bike I have dura ace carbon boutiques and boy they seem to fly in comparison! So I like both home built and boutique!

...and then I got back from a ride and found I could hardly wheel my bike through the gate, the back wheel was rubbing so badly. On closer inspection, a spoke had torn loose, taking a chunk of rim with it; which looks pretty final (it was from a set of Planet-X basic aero wheels costing 120 quid but they've only done one season, strictly fair weather.)

I've been thinking about upgrading for a while, but now my hand has been forced as I'm meant to be racing on Sunday. Has to be a campy freehub; Campy Zondas looked nice but I realised they are pretty much Fulcrum 3s (see above). So I've taken Muzzy's advice and a new set of Neutrons are on the way. Here's hoping they feel quick anyway...