going on a giant tcr, i like the mavics, they look cooler, but the neuvations are a bit cheaper. i am about 90kg and kept snapping spokes on the stock dt wheels that came with the bike, i’m no maniac but do ride hills, prefer alloy clinchers, and in keeping with chunky carbon frame, medium depth rims
get a set of Dura Ace C24’s. i paid $800 for mine from bike24, but would pay a little extra for decent shipping if i was to do it again. chain reaction has them for $865 but out of stock until mid august.
search around for the best price obviously, but use bike24 as a guide.
I agree that custom wheels can get expensive, but have you considered buying a pre-made hand-built wheelset like they sell on Wiggle/ebay etc- you can usually get a decent Open Pro/Ultegra hub combo 32H for much cheaper than if you bought the individual components separately and paid for them to be built up.
Sounds like durability is a priority given your weight and spoke snapping history. High spoke count hand built wheels will always be superior in this area.
For that kind of money you can get CRC to build you a wheelset. Shimano ultegra/105 level hubs, DT swiss Rxxx rims depending on what you want and dt champ spokes. Nice solid wheelset which last you long time.
Alternatively try Greg @ TWE and see what he can do. He, from all accounts, are awesome.
Yeah I’d go 28h hand built wheels What’s the budget? $400-500 ish for about $700 you could build white industries I know you think the hubs look retro but you won’t break them lace them to hed belgiums with DT comps boom
Or go the circus monkey hubs for cheap
I think they do A23s as well, either option would be comparable price-wise to the neuvations. I don’t see the point in spending an extra $100+ on the mavic cosmics. Or any wheelset in the $400-$700 range for that matter. They’ll be just a hair lighter than open pros and most likely much weaker. If you want some bling, go all out and get the c24s or something.
I’ve been looking at Hed Ardennes wheelset lately - few good sales around atm. 18/24h badboys are what I’ve been sussing out but surely they offer greater spoke options too???
Yes they are meant to be awesome wheels. But I reckon the OP needs something more bomb proof especially since these are 16H low spoke count.
The Achilles heal of factory wheels are when you need to maintain and replace parts- spokes are often difficult to order in, are always expensive and you’ll probably find in a year or two the manufacturer discontinues the model making spares even harder to get. Dent a rim and want to replace it- fagetaboutit. Personally this is why I only ride ‘standard’ hand built wheels these days.
I have those exact Mavics in the original post.
I love them. They are bomb proof (I’m 88kgs).
I also have the Dura Ace, but the C50’s, waaaay better wheels, but not double the price or more better than the Mavics IMO.
