Are new wheels worth it?

yes they are worth it, keep the original wheels for training and use a better set for races or club rides. Im unsure about how much you should spend for a 1200 GBP bike though, it doesn't sound right to spend on wheels almost the same value as your complete bike. I would look into the 500 GBP range

Do you race?

No: It's not worth it.

Yes: Maybe. In the lower division races you aren't really going fast enough to reap the benefits of having nice wheels. Once you get good, however, the faster you go, the better the benefits of the wheels.

genedan said:

Do you race?

No: It's not worth it.

Yes: Maybe. In the lower division races you aren't really going fast enough to reap the benefits of having nice wheels. Once you get good, however, the faster you go, the better the benefits of the wheels.

This.

$1000lbs could be put to much better use though. I'd get a power meter. In your position, you'll reap greater rewards in fitness and performance from measurably tracking your training progress versus buying a piece of equipment...

If you can afford the expense then yes. Lighter wheels is one of few purchaces that will get you up a climb faster or provide substantial gains in acceleration. That being said wheels also play a huge part in the ride characteristics of your bike which can be good or bad. If your ride doesn't feel perfect you can make it better if it is perfect you could push it over the line towards too stiff or not stiff enough.

Since you're an English bloke, there's only one thing you need to know about upgrading wheels - Paul Hewitt (at Paul Hewitt cycles, funnily enough). An unbelievably good wheelbuilder (pro team, national team, olympic teams yada yada yada, been building for decades) that can build wheels to suit your needs given your weight and type of riding. He's a fun guy to talk too as well... so many stories about funny cycling sh1t that you could be there all weekend and he'd still be talking. All of the wheels that Paul built for me have remained arrow straight - even the really lightweight ones (mavic gel280s - 28 spoke) ridden on flat tubulars on rough roads up in t' hills.

But, hell hath frozen over and for once I agree with Tony Z...

A power meter should help you train better and therefore should allow you to go faster over time. Of course you still have to go out and pedal and you still have to come up with a good training plan.

A few benefits from using a PM too:

-Better pacing in time trials
-Slightly easier to test if a new position is faster
-Downloading the data onto a PC creates the mother of all brutally honest training diaries
-Test whether pacing and feeding stategies work sufficiently in longer events.

I wouldn't think too much about the "my bike is only worth 'x' amount - how much should I spend" because stuff like wheels and power meters can easily be moved to the next bike should you ever change your ride.

Use the power meter to help with training then if needs be a flash set of wheels is only a visit to the bike store (or a phonecall to a friend to blagg a set for the weekend) away.

If you go for a PowerTap wheel - I'm sure Paul could build one of those :P

You will definitely feel the benefit of a wheel upgrade, better wheels will not only be lighter but stiffer and will roll better.
I don't think that you need to spend as much as £1000, £5-600 on new wheels and tyres will provide you with a very tangible benefit.
There are many to choose from, I have Fulcrum Racing 3 with Shwalbe Ultremo R1 tyres.
There is no other part of the bike that you can change that will give a better return than better wheels and tyres.

Thanks all for your replies - really appreciated

I still don't feel any closer to getting an answer to my underlying question.
I'm fairly mathematical (well I am a mathematician!), and I like to see things quantified. Your responses have provided much detail, but really what I'm after is just some figures. I know its not a precise subject and there are many factors, but I'd just like a broad understanding of how much faster I could be for the same effort. Can I expect to be 1% faster, 20% faster? At the moment all I have is "its an improvement", but without understanding the extent of that improvement.

I got in to cycling last year and its quickly becoming an obsession, so despite £1000 being a lot for wheels on the bike I have, my question is just much more general and I could easily ask the same question of the improvement I can expect when riding a £4000 bike compared to a £1000 bike.

change your thread title then...

robhallyork said:

Thanks all for your replies - really appreciated

I still don't feel any closer to getting an answer to my underlying question.
I'm fairly mathematical (well I am a mathematician!), and I like to see things quantified. Your responses have provided much detail, but really what I'm after is just some figures. I know its not a precise subject and there are many factors, but I'd just like a broad understanding of how much faster I could be for the same effort. Can I expect to be 1% faster, 20% faster? At the moment all I have is "its an improvement", but without understanding the extent of that improvement.

I got in to cycling last year and its quickly becoming an obsession, so despite £1000 being a lot for wheels on the bike I have, my question is just much more general and I could easily ask the same question of the improvement I can expect when riding a £4000 bike compared to a £1000 bike.

It all depends on where you want the improvements.

A deep rimmed set of aero wheels will help on the flat, a really lightweight set of wheels will help in the hills... and needless to say, a mid depth set of reasonably lightweight wheels will help pretty much everywhere except the really steep stuff.

Choose your poison.

But if you end up with a flash set of wheels and can only ride at 15mph you'll look a bit of a [censored]...

Since your weight is constantly shifting over the center of the bike, I'd say that you will have a 5% easier time of it with Dura-Ace hubs or wheels, than with any other.

Your original question was, "Should I get new wheels?".

Depends what you have now.

Wheels effect all of your rides, whether you're racing or riding to the corner store for a newspaper.

If you do upgraydd, I would get Dura-Ace wheels or at least DA hubs; because, all other bearing sets displace part of the bearant force onto one of the sides of the bearing set as the force shifts. Especially through turns.

Dura - Ace uses pin bearings instead of ball bearings so the force remains distributed over the entire surface of the bearing, even when you are cornering.

robhallyork said:

Thanks all for your replies - really appreciated

I still don't feel any closer to getting an answer to my underlying question.
I'm fairly mathematical (well I am a mathematician!), and I like to see things quantified. Your responses have provided much detail, but really what I'm after is just some figures. I know its not a precise subject and there are many factors, but I'd just like a broad understanding of how much faster I could be for the same effort. Can I expect to be 1% faster, 20% faster? At the moment all I have is "its an improvement", but without understanding the extent of that improvement.

I got in to cycling last year and its quickly becoming an obsession, so despite £1000 being a lot for wheels on the bike I have, my question is just much more general and I could easily ask the same question of the improvement I can expect when riding a £4000 bike compared to a £1000 bike.

I agree with the recommendation of the power meter over new wheels, and you will have lots of data to improve your training......

Cool so I've been given the figure of 5% improvement. That has provided a number big enough to suggest that an upgrade would be worth it. I know of course there are many factors, but I can only base decisions on numbers and having this one is better than nothing at all. Thanks for this.

Interesting the comments about power meters. Its honestly something I would never have thought of buying above upgrading my bike so I'll look into this a lot more. Thanks for posting.

I reckon I'll keep everything as it is for the moment, and might just leave the purchases for a while until I have studied it all a bit more.

robhallyork said:

Cool so I've been given the figure of 5% improvement. That has provided a number big enough to suggest that an upgrade would be worth it.

I disagree. Your asking the wrong question.

Don't ask the % improvement you'll get. What you should be asking (mainly yourself) is, how good am I now?

If: You're averaging 17-18 mph, on a regular non-racing ride, you're better off with a power meter.

IMO, if you're concerned so much about gaining speed, then a power meter should always come before a wheelset. The better you are, the bigger the the improvement with a new wheelset. But first you should work on getting better.

I had the same dilema/question. I decided to use the $ for the power meter, and then new wheels, after I improve myself enough for them to make a difference.

Let me leave you with this example.
A guy on one of my regular club rides just bought a set of Cosmic Carbone's for $1,200 US. He averaged the same speeds before as he does now. The biggest difference was the looks. He even said that changing a tube is much harder.

Hi.
You can get up to 20% increase in speed and stabillity when you get new more expensive wheels.

However you need to improve on your fitness first before you invest in new wheels. I would recoment an investment of two years on your fitness first before you go out a buy new wheels.

[email hidden]

I want to join in since I'm thinking about getting something lighter and more aero if possible (and cheap at the same time).

My current wheels are aksiums and they are both heavy (1940g) and non aero although they stay true under my 80 kilos and abuse (I'm a seasoned MTBer actually) and I think that any ligher and probably more aero wheels are able to bring some benefits. Am I right?

PS And my avg. speed for a training ride is more than 18 mph 😄 Most of the time it's above 30km/h and I practically never leave city bounds.

Hi.

Aero Wheels will help greatly,But, only use them for racing.

Regards taxired00

Since I ride mostly for fitness, on my off days because I am a runner, I cannot justify a new set of expensive wheels. On group runs I have no problems staying in the group, so clearly a new lighter set of wheels would not help me there. I could only justify a lighter set if I raced.

I always prefer to invest in knowledge on how to improve my fitness, before getting expensive gear.

are running and cycling compatible ?
i mean for a serious runner

I'm averaging around 17mph over 100 miles with some hilly sections so I think there is room for improvement. I guess buying new wheels was a plan of mine to get an improvement without an increase in my ability. I understand the points about the power meter now. Will help improve my ability and make the eventual purchase of new wheels much more worthwhile.