Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

Have Shimano sorted their shit out and increased the rim width of their wheels yet?

C24 and C35 clinchers are 20.9mm which is up from the previous version and the C50 22.7mm. The tubular DA C50 and C75 are 24mm

I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether the Mavic Aksium's are actually crap enough to warrant the upgrade in the first place...

They are not crap at all. But if losing weight is your priority then yeah they are porky.

I can recommend the DA C24s on the strength of the lovely quiet hum they make alone.

I've owned a pair for a couple of years (they're 7850s) and they really are excellent.

silent freehubs FTW

Hope Pro 3 chainsaw noise FTW

Aksiums aren't the worst, but they're a bit heavy at the edges and not very aerodynamic. You can make small improvements for not a lot of money (Amey's wheels as an example), but as Tester has pointed out, you need to be spending over a grand to make a serious difference to aerodynamics etc.

Aren't C24's just a carbon wrapped alloy rim? My mate Josh has had two pairs and swears by them, but I will not be purchasing a sub 23mm rim again.

Hope Pro 3 chainsaw noise FTW

DT Swiss and Chris King too.

Personally I'm a silent hub noise bro, but I road to Bright with a friend who has SES 6.4's to Chris Kings and they were the loudest things I've ever head. When he accelerated it sounded like a chopper going past, and then the classic Chris King noise when coasting...

Bezzin's hubs give me a headache.

they are good to make other road users aware of your presence though*

*in a quite-ish environment

they are good to make other road users aware of your presence though*

*in a quite-ish environment

loud pipes save lives

my hopes are the equivalent of an air horn when it comes to peds wandering out

wait till you try the Hope trials SS hub

^^^^^^ Been discussed alot upthread but the C24 and C35 CL rims are alu extrusions that are drawn so thin they are structurally unsound and then carbon is laminated to them to give them back rigidity. Weight of carbon added is less than the alu removed.

C50 CL are a full carbon rim with a brake track only added.

I was under the (probably erroneous) impression that the new C50's were full crabs?

Shimano don't (won't?) do full carbon clinchers for rim braking.

Bezzin's hubs give me a headache.

Please.

Try accelerating so I don't have to coast next to you?

There is a disc brake RX830 road wheelset coming which is fully carbon wrapped but has no brake track.

Please.

Try accelerating so I don't have to coast next to you?

:(

I think my desire for lighter wheels is just to avoid moar HTFU

Shimano R501 Clincher Wheelset Features:

Wheels: Front / Rear
Rims: 20 holes / 24 holes
Rim Height: 24mm / 30mm
Rim Size: 700c (622 x 15c)
Weight: 822g / 1078g

is that correct and for both wheels?

Sound about right, standard weight for budget wheels.

ah, ok, it's not, that's the rear weight. correct according to wiggle is

Weight: front approx. 822g/rear approx 1078g

No. It's Front: 822g, Rear: 1078g.

People will get confused...

The extra 500g over some 'light' wheels will be swamped by the extra spoke drag if those light wheels are 20/24 rather than the 16/20 of RS31s. Unless you're building a hill climb bike.

What is sp

The extra 500g over some 'light' wheels will be swamped by the extra spoke drag if those light wheels are 20/24 rather than the 16/20 of RS31s. Unless you're building a hill climb bike.

What is spoke drag?

More spokes = more time for them to hit the right tension and get going?