Well, while thinking about tubular clincher tires, I am also thinking of just mounting a set of tubulars. Anyone know of a solid, not to heavy, cheaper, set of tubular wheels? (I know, I know, alot to ask .....) I like the idea of trying them but I'm not racing on a 2000.00set of Zipp wheels. Unattached means low financing. Any ideas would be great.

Thanks.

Your LBS (or any number of online places) will build you a reasonable set of wheels - Seen Ultegra/Mavic Reflex for ~$300 or so. That's what I'm hoping to do for next season, although I want to find someplace that has the Velocity Deep V tubular rims (Pro Elite or something like that)///

There's also ebay, but most of those seem to be high-zoot $$$ wheels...

Although they may be a bit on the pricey side (around $700, I think) the Mavic Ksyruim SL wheels are available in tubular and they are really well suited to the rigors of cross.

They're not super super light, but the weight is respectable and they're really tough. I've used lots of carbon tubulars and I've just decided that they're not worth the trouble- I broke a bunch in the last few years and I'm over it!

Ksyriums are really easy to work on if they do go out of true or if a spoke gets broken and they come with all the tools you need for service. The bearings are actually adjustable and switching the freehub body from campy to shimano takes about 3 minutes and all you need for that is a couple of 5mm allens.

Anyone know of a solid, not to heavy, cheaper, set of tubular wheels? (I know, I know, alot to ask .....) I like the idea of trying them but I'm not racing on a 2000.00set of Zipp wheels. Unattached means low financing. Any ideas would be great.

I bought two sets of used tubular wheels. DA hubs with Reflex rims. I've got $220 plus a seatpost as trade into them. They work great. I just trolled Ebay and there's nothing like that on there now but wheels like that come up occasionally for cheap.

Are you looking for 9 speed or 10 speed? If it's 9, then the used market is probably your best bet. If it's 10, then check out coloradocyclist.com or other reputable wheel builder and have them make you a set of DA or Ultegra hubbed wheels laced x3 to Reflex rims with 14/15 spokes and you'll be good to go. With the DA hubs, the wheels will be pretty light and have better seals to keep out mud. You can repack the hubs to keep them spinning smooth for many year. Also, they are easy to tweak when you knock them out of true.

Mavic reflex tubular rims, your favorite hubs and 32 spokes per wheel.

Up up up!

Morgan

Although they may be a bit on the pricey side (around $700, I think) the Mavic Ksyruim SL wheels are available in tubular and they are really well suited to the rigors of cross.

They're not super super light, but the weight is respectable and they're really tough. I've used lots of carbon tubulars and I've just decided that they're not worth the trouble- I broke a bunch in the last few years and I'm over it!

Ksyriums are really easy to work on if they do go out of true or if a spoke gets broken and they come with all the tools you need for service. The bearings are actually adjustable and switching the freehub body from campy to shimano takes about 3 minutes and all you need for that is a couple of 5mm allens.

one thing nice about the Ksyriums is you can replace a spoke without removing the tire. Heck, you can replace it while it's still on the bike. With that said. I have two sets of tubular cross wheels. One set is CK hubs, really light spokes with Mavic Reflex rims. The other is DA hubs, thick spokes, same rims. The CK wheel set, is about 100 grams lighter than my set of Ksyriums on the road bike and cost about $200 less.

Sorry to repeat what others have said, but....

Best option; Ebay. You can get nice wheels for $150 a pair. Usually there are 2-3 sets that are in this range per week. I've purchased several pairs this fall via this route.

2nd best option: have your lbs or local builder build you some (probably in the $300 a pair range).
Ultegra or Centaur hubs, ambrosio crono f20 rims (or Mavic Reflex, Velocity Escape, Velocity Pro Elite, or Fir), double butted spokes.

Here's where I will start a firestorm.
For under 150#s I'd go 28 hole front, 32 rear, radial front and non-drive, 3 cross drive.
For 150-170, 32 front and rear, 2 cross front, 3 cross rear
For above 175# 32 front, 36 rear, 3 cross all around.
above 200# 36 hole front and rear, 3 cross front, 4 cross rear

I've got a set of the following coming from ergottWheels (http://www.ergottwheels.com/)
Reflex Ceramic rims
Sapim Laser Spokes
DT 240s hubs

Light, serviceable and much less $$$ than carbon wonder hoops. Although I did ask him to check into DT 190 hubs for me. But that is more of a pipe dream than anything else. They will probably be big money.

I run hand built Velocity Aerohead tubular rims on Dura Ace hubs. It is a fairly lightweight setup, and the hubs are totally bomb proof. Mount a pair of Tufo Flexus with stans inside, and you'll have a really smooth race day wheelset!

Cheers,
Brian

great deals are easily had.
Ksyriums are nice but tweak the rim and it's 200 plus $ and many weeks wait. tweak any regular rim and you are back in action in a day or 2.

Not necessarily. My lbs rebuilt my K's for $125 w/ new rim/spokes. Turned them around in less than 1 week. I was happier than a pig in sheit. (Just the rear wheel.)

great deals are easily had.
Ksyriums are nice but tweak the rim and it's 200 plus $ and many weeks wait. tweak any regular rim and you are back in action in a day or 2.

ksyrium rims are regularly stocked at the lbs these days. the rims are $200 though. that's why i use the reflex

I like the idea of being able to replace a Ksyrium spoke w/ a tire glued on still. That makes a lot of sense. I also like having all my wheels matching up in width, to eliminate a need to adjust the brakes during swaps. Makes for simple wheel changes. With my brand new tubular wheels (DT Swiss240/Mavic Reflex), I have to adjust the brakes a bit as they are wider than my Ritcheys and Ksyriums. That kind of burned me up, as well as the fact that the price I paid for the wheels wasn't much less than a set of tubular ksyriums. Of course if I weren't a doofus, I'd just put inline cable adjusters on and take up/release the cable slack that way. Some day, some day...

I like the idea of being able to replace a Ksyrium spoke w/ a tire glued on still. That makes a lot of sense. I also like having all my wheels matching up in width, to eliminate a need to adjust the brakes during swaps. Makes for simple wheel changes. With my brand new tubular wheels (DT Swiss240/Mavic Reflex), I have to adjust the brakes a bit as they are wider than my Ritcheys and Ksyriums. That kind of burned me up, as well as the fact that the price I paid for the wheels wasn't much less than a set of tubular ksyriums. Of course if I weren't a doofus, I'd just put inline cable adjusters on and take up/release the cable slack that way. Some day, some day...

what? you don't have inline adjusters. get with the program man, you're doing the A race.

I've seen (and sold) bargain wheels on ebay. Personally, I like Velocity Escape rims better'n the Mavics.

Old Mach2CD2s work fairly well too. Deeper profile...

I'm gonna fine tune the wheelset recommendation and say 175-205-ish can get away with 32/32 3x if you're not 'hard on yer wheels.' I'm in that category and so's my triathlete buddy and we basically both ride the same wheels (that I built) with no problems.

M

I like the idea of being able to replace a Ksyrium spoke w/ a tire glued on still. That makes a lot of sense. I also like having all my wheels matching up in width, to eliminate a need to adjust the brakes during swaps. Makes for simple wheel changes. With my brand new tubular wheels (DT Swiss240/Mavic Reflex), I have to adjust the brakes a bit as they are wider than my Ritcheys and Ksyriums. That kind of burned me up, as well as the fact that the price I paid for the wheels wasn't much less than a set of tubular ksyriums. Of course if I weren't a doofus, I'd just put inline cable adjusters on and take up/release the cable slack that way. Some day, some day...

If you are running Spookys or Empellas, check out this link.
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21013

With my brand new tubular wheels (DT Swiss240/Mavic Reflex), I have to adjust the brakes a bit as they are wider than my Ritcheys and Ksyriums. That kind of burned me up, as well as the fact that the price I paid for the wheels wasn't much less than a set of tubular ksyriums. Of course if I weren't a doofus, I'd just put inline cable adjusters on and take up/release the cable slack that way. Some day, some day...

Nix the inlines, they vibrate closed after half a race anyways.

You are complaining about 1-2 mm. The whole idea of cantilever brakes is to have wide pad clearance for mud & crud. Changing your wheels should have zero impact. If changing wheels causes problems, your pads are too close to the rims.

You are complaining about 1-2 mm. The whole idea of cantilever brakes is to have wide pad clearance for mud & crud. Changing your wheels should have zero impact. If changing wheels causes problems, your pads are too close to the rims.

Whatever dude. Reflex rims are wide. Last week I set up my Reflex rimmed tubies on my two bikes. Had the brakes set up with good modulation and medium fast actuation. It was perfect for racing. It's showered a little here this week so I stuck my wet weather wheels on my pit bike which I also use for wet weather commuting -- old Reflex clincher on the back and an Open 4 CD clincher on the front. The Open 4 CD was just wide enough to be able to give adequate braking when the brake lever was fully against the handlebar. I had to use my barrel adjuster on the rear (lenghtening the housing length 3-4mm) to get braking remotely that good.

As for the race bike, I just set that up last night with training clinchers (beater Rolf Vector Comps -- a narrow rim) for some cross practice today. I've got no adjusters on that bike. Anyway, before adjusting anything, I was able to spin the wheel when I had the brake levers against the handlebar. I had to adjust the straddle to get reasonable braking.

On the other hand, I like that the Reflex rims are wide. That means a better contact patch with the backing tape.

So there.

After reading all the answers, this is the conclusion I make: Any wheelset will do. Some people like X and others Y, depends on your priorities, but most any wheelset will roll the way you want it to.

Ebay is FULL of great rims and wheelsets that would work for cross right now. A quick scan showed CXP 30s, GP4s, Velocity Deep Vs, 330s (for light folks only), etc.
Stay away from 280s, and steer clear of 330s if you are over 145.

So how long you think my 330s will last under my 205#!

Sounds like I should have done more research be for I bid!

So how long you think my 330s will last under my 205#!

Sounds like I should have done more research be for I bid!I was having to true my GL330 wheelset after every ride. Its what made me head for the Velocity rims.

M