I just picked up a Specialized Allez Comp CrMo with the Shimano 540 wheelset. After reading the reviews of these wheels I'm not so keen on them. Also my front wheel is out of round and terribly out of true. I am going to head back to the LBS and see if they will swap me for a different set. How are the Cosmos and Ksyrium Equipe wheelsets? It looks like the Equipes are fitted to the Allez Comp Al bikes. Aftermarket wise it looks like the 540s and Cosmos are priced the same. Basically I want a durable wheel. I'm not concerned about weight.

I just picked up a Specialized Allez Comp CrMo with the Shimano 540 wheelset. After reading the reviews of these wheels I'm not so keen on them. Also my front wheel is out of round and terribly out of true. I am going to head back to the LBS and see if they will swap me for a different set. How are the Cosmos and Ksyrium Equipe wheelsets? It looks like the Equipes are fitted to the Allez Comp Al bikes. Aftermarket wise it looks like the 540s and Cosmos are priced the same. Basically I want a durable wheel. I'm not concerned about weight.
both are not the lightest but durable, you could go for a set of custom wheels open pros/ultegra hubs

I have an older set on one bike and they are good wheels for the money. No major difference between these and a set of handbuilt wheels though. And at least on the handbuilt wheel getting a replacement spoke won't be a problem (Cosmos use straight pull spokes, which are not typically in LBS inventory).

But to answer the original question, the Cosmos wheels have held up well under my 215 lbs on my crit bike.

I'm really looking for something of equal value that they would have in stock. I want to get on the road ASAP. Thanks for the reply!

Don't know if my experience is representative, but I find that the Equipe wheels that came stock with my Specialized are quite robust. Round, True, and stay that way after the ocasional uneven manhole cover or pothole sized road cracks. I've only got about 600mi on them so far, but so far, so good.

Remeber that ALL wheels should be trued for FREE on your first free tune up that CAME with the bike upon purchase. Spokes WILL losen for the first 100 miles or so... this is a known factor. Take the wheels to your LBS when you go in for your tune-up, and if you didn't get atleast two FREE tune-ups.... you were screwed.

Tail Wind <--- bike shop employee.

PS: I recently (two weeks ago purchased a Roubaix Comp, and it came with 540's as opposed to the Mavic Ksyrium Equipe that were advertised. I weight 235lbs and they are in great shape after 136 miles.

Either mavic wheelset would be a good upgrade over the 540s, which have two major disadvantages over the mavics:

1) Both mavics have sealed cartridge bearings in the hubs as opposed to cone and loose ball arrangement in the shimano 105 hubs. If you are like me, you dont like to crack your hubs open twice a year to replace pitted cones, or bearings, regrease and repack everything, and then retighten your hubs back together. Neither does anyone at your LBS. With the mavic bearings, just take it to your shop if they ever get crunchy (not likely) and they will likely have the right tools to easily swap the old crusty cartridge bearings with new smooth ones pretty quickly.

2) Shimano's "paired spoke" system is bogus. Their method of hooking the spoke through the rim like a fish hook, then putting the nipples at funky angles at the hub is not the best design, and they know it, but they had to do it that way from the beginning to get around patent infringement of Rolf. The whole point of paired spoking is to reduce spoke count so the wheel is lighter and more aerodynamic. You can accomplish this best when the spokes are routed straight into the rim. Shimano has to use heavier rims to accomodate their fishhook routing so the wheel winds up being a lot heavier than a normally laced equivalent. Shimano uses this bad design anyway only to get a piece of lowend paired spoke wheel market share. Notice on the new 7800 dura ace wheels shimano is not using the paired spokes anymore... because their design sucked and the old DA wheels couldn't compete at their pricepoint.

So my suggestion is to go with the mavic cosmos. Bear in mind though, that both the mavics and the shimano wheels use propietary spokes and nipples instead of standard, over the counter j-bends, so you will probably have to rely on a dealer to replace any broken spokes, not sure if that matters to you or not...

Good luck with whatever you get... you made the right decision already going with the CrMo allez, that is a fantastic bike for the money.


I just picked up a Specialized Allez Comp CrMo with the Shimano 540 wheelset. After reading the reviews of these wheels I'm not so keen on them. Also my front wheel is out of round and terribly out of true. I am going to head back to the LBS and see if they will swap me for a different set. How are the Cosmos and Ksyrium Equipe wheelsets? It looks like the Equipes are fitted to the Allez Comp Al bikes. Aftermarket wise it looks like the 540s and Cosmos are priced the same. Basically I want a durable wheel. I'm not concerned about weight.