Wheels for winter bike

Wheels, Tires, Tubes, Tubeless, Tubs, Spokes, Hookless, Hubs, and more!

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parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

I need an advice. My winter bike is a Caad13 kitted with full length mudguards Portland Design and mechanical Ultegra. It weighs a ton.

Bike feels super heavy and slow, like riding in fresh tarmac! Position is good, my experienced bike fitter helped me with that.

The wheels are Hope 20Five hub RS4, tyres tubeless Pirelli Cinturato 28mm.

I have ordered a pair of tubeless Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Weather 11Storm 28mm which hopefully should improve how the thing rides.

But how about the wheels? They need new bearings and are 3 years old, didn't pay much for them so am exploring all options.

Is it worth replacing them with something better? Was looking at these

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products ... 27wide-999

Or the Hope are fine albeit with new bearings? Am not joking, the thing rides like my wife's city bike, I absolutely detest it.

I am 67kg if that helps.

spartacus
Posts: 1049
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:53 pm

by spartacus

I would recommend DT swiss P1800 or PR1600 for winter.

by Weenie


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CampagYOLO
Posts: 705
Joined: Thu May 06, 2021 3:58 pm

by CampagYOLO

As it's a winter bike I'd look for brass nipples, not alloy ones such as on the Hunt wheels.

If you want to keep the weight down how about getting some light carbon rims from Light Bicycle and get a builder to rebuild the wheels using the Hope hubs and brass nipples?

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

Thanks both, does that mean that my current wheels are actually better than the Hunt, which seems to be good at marketing more than engineering, based on what I read online? Pity as for £700 they look good and are light

CampagYOLO
Posts: 705
Joined: Thu May 06, 2021 3:58 pm

by CampagYOLO

The Hunts are probably decent wheels and are good value but you specifically asked for winter wheels.

Hope hubs are usually very well sealed, probably better than the Hunt ones and brass nipples won't corrode from all the standing water and salt laid onto the roads.

Rims like these built onto the exisiting Hope hubs with brass nipples would probably be just as light as the Hunt wheels:

https://www.lightbicycle.com/AR25-Disc- ... -Deep.html

Bigger Gear
Posts: 560
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Wet coast, Canada

by Bigger Gear

My winter wheel setup that sees a LOT of rain is HED Belgium+ (or Belgium R now) w/ DT240S center-lock hubs (old version) and Sapim CX-Ray spokes with brass nipples, built by Sugar Wheelworks in Portland. Apart from cleaning and lubing the star ratchet I've done nothing else, bearings still spin like new. I replace the rotors before every winter, or at least rotate rear to front and put a new rotor on the front depending on thickness.

IMO the DT hubs have the best sealing for winter riding. Some will likely chime in about flange geometry and bracing angles being less than optimal on the rear, but with the HED rims they have been bomber on a mixed terrain of good roads, rough roads, gravel roads and dirt trails.

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

tbh, I think the bracing argument was more of a thing in 10 speed (and certainly rim brake) days.

The geometry of the Centrelock DT240/350 (old version included) are solidly within the bell curve on modern 12sp drivetrains.

When you factor in the design, reliability, sealing, serviceability and availability of freehubs and end-caps to suit basically every kind of bike out there they're really a no-brainer for most builds, especially winter/training wheels.

Lakal
Posts: 192
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:20 pm

by Lakal

I have a wheelset from farsports on my winter bike. This is the third winter season with them in Denmark and the dt swiss 240s hubs are fine. I still havent replaced the bearings.

User avatar
Nohands83
Posts: 259
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:41 am
Location: Leeds, UK

by Nohands83

Definitely Hope or DT hubs - they're the only hubs that I've found can that stand up to the UK winter (I'm in Leeds). I've killed Hunt hubs in one season of winter riding.
I'm riding Corsa Next this winter and they're holding up well. You could look at those as well rather than a full winter tyre.

spartacus
Posts: 1049
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:53 pm

by spartacus

The DT 1600 I suggested and was totally ignored has 350 hubs, DT swiss rims and spokesn and is built by DT swiss, literally what more can you ask for I'm genuinely curious?

User avatar
jekyll man
Posts: 1570
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:23 am
Location: Pack filler

by jekyll man

parajba wrote:
Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:21 pm
I need an advice. My winter bike is a Caad13 kitted with full length mudguards Portland Design and mechanical Ultegra. It weighs a ton.

Bike feels super heavy and slow, like riding in fresh tarmac! Position is good, my experienced bike fitter helped me with that.

The wheels are Hope 20Five hub RS4, tyres tubeless Pirelli Cinturato 28mm.

I have ordered a pair of tubeless Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Weather 11Storm 28mm which hopefully should improve how the thing rides.

But how about the wheels? They need new bearings and are 3 years old, didn't pay much for them so am exploring all options.

Is it worth replacing them with something better? Was looking at these

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products ... 27wide-999

Or the Hope are fine albeit with new bearings? Am not joking, the thing rides like my wife's city bike, I absolutely detest it.

I am 67kg if that helps.
Unlikely it's your wheels, and hunts are a triumph of marketing over substance for the uk, so I'd stick with what you've got. Hope hubs whole not perfect are very user friendly and you are never far from anywhere that stocks spares. Decent seals make them feel a little draggy in the hand but I'll take that for longevity.

The few people I know that have run cinturatos have said they are painfully slow tyres.
The Hutchinson's will be better but it's still a hack tyre, and not something with a race feel to it.
Official cafe stop tester

Dronfield
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2020 9:43 pm
Location: London, UK

by Dronfield

I bought some 28mm Cinturatos to run on Shimnano RS770 wheels for my winter commuter bike on the back of the endless positive reviews on retailer websites.

I hated them. They felt heavy and sluggish. I had more punctures than with other winter tyres I've used. All sealed to be fair, but presme that was more due to the Orange Seal.

parajba
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:00 pm
Location: London, United Kingdom

by parajba

Thanks all! I decided to keep the Hope wheels, and try new tyres. Today I received my new Hutchinson Fusion 5 All weather, will mount them on Sunday and report back. Maybe it is the Cinturato, I hope it is as I don't want to buy new wheels. Thanks all for the precious inputs!

Different topic, but what can I buy as better winter tyres then? With clinchers it was easier, the Conti 4 Seasons are awesome.

Lakal
Posts: 192
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:20 pm

by Lakal

I think Cinturato is a fine tyre for the winter.

This winter, I mounted tubeless vittoria n.ext on the front wheel and gp5000 on the rear wheel. No punctures so far (500km). Vittoria n.ext is a pain to unmount but the grip is better than the gp5000.

qickslvr2
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2022 2:52 pm

by qickslvr2

spartacus wrote:The DT 1600 I suggested and was totally ignored has 350 hubs, DT swiss rims and spokesn and is built by DT swiss, literally what more can you ask for I'm genuinely curious?
I have ER1600s and one winter annoyance is water can get in through the spokes to the rim internals.

The only way to drain out is remove the valve entirely. This was confirmed by dt swiss customer support as a normal issue with wheels that do not have a drainage hole (usually deeper carbon wheels have this).

I’ve only have water ingress twice, and I don’t avoid puddles because of it. I only wipe clean the wheels (no hosing/power washing).

All that said I think they’re great wheels and no regrets.

by Weenie


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