Modern Road Wheels - Help!

I know nuffink about road bikes so need some advice, please. I would like to buy some lighter wheels to replace my existing ones. I have a desire to go to ~1500g which is easily achievable:

Superstar £195 ~1510g http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/e ... t-2024.htm

Planet X £150 ~1620g http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WPPAL30LA/ ... c-wheelset

Pro Lite Bracciano A27 1412g!!! £270 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/pro-lite-bracci ... -wheelset/

Shimano RS81-C24 1502g £340 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-wh-rs81 ... -wheelset/

I am 75kg ride a lot of hilly stuff on an alloy frame (Giant Defy 1) and am a sit-and-spin person rather than stand and stomp. I am quite fit and looking to do plenty of miles so want something durable that can be used in all weathers without giving up. I'm quite cable on the downhills and like going quick - around here the roads are crap though so need something tough for the inevitable 'didn't see the pothole' moment.

My gut tells me that the Shimano ones are probably the strongest with the most longevity, though the Pro Lites look excellent value for money. The Superstar and Planet X have achieved such low weight at that price point it makes me wonder, as Keith Bontrager would say "strong, light, cheap - pick two".

SP

Re:

The Superstars and Planet X wheels are very similar, entirely sourced from China / Taiwan with lightweight parts and low spoke count. I would suspect that the wheel bearings would be the weakness in both, and also spare parts, will be hard / impossible to find.

The Prolite's look good and without reading them, had lots of positive reviews, so that's always a good sign.

The Shimano wheels will be good, but don't assume they will be bomb proof. I have a set of Dura-Ace 1380's and they really are not suitable for winter use.

An alternative to all the above would be some hand built wheels. I have a set of 1500g wheels, built for me by Malcolm at the Cycle Clinic (a site sponsor) and they came to £300 posted about a year and a half ago. They are 24 / 28 spoke as I wanted something robust, and I spent a week last summer hammering them half to death in the Highlands of Scotland, which they shrugged off.

I'm around the same weight as you (a little more at present ) and my bike is a Rourke I built that weighs 8.2kgs all up.

Also, don't forget to look at Merlin Cycles, I have bought several sets of mtb wheels from them, as their prices are usually very keen.

Re:

I was looking for some wheels a while back and looked at Superstar, I couldn't find any reviews on the model I was looking at, but I couldn't find anything particularly bad said about their other models: http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?tab=ww&am ... eel+review

In the end I didn't get any wheels, but Superstar offer a 2 year warranty - so they must be fairly confident in them, have SKF bearings - about as good as you can get and readily available, and are built in the UK.

Might be worth a try.

Re:

I got a set of mavic ksryium (or something like that) for my last road bike for about £300. They looked nice and were light but tbh I don't think they made that much difference. Now on my mountain bike I've got a pair of hope pro 2 hubs with mavic rims and they are a really nice set of wheels they are! I'm quite sure there is a road version available with hope hubs and some form of 700c mavic rim. I think they're actually made at the hope factory but I could be wrong there. But yeah that's what id go for.

Re:

As far as I'm aware, some of the Superstar stuff (mountain bike wise) is the same setup as the Nukeproof hubs, so in theory should be running sealed bearings.

Although personally, when I looked at some Mavic Aksium wheels while I was riding road, I wasn't too impressed with them. My personal views, I'd go towards these --> http://www.wiggle.co.uk/hope-hoops-mono ... -wheelset/ Bein Hope hubbed, you know what you're getting.

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I went for the Superstar Elite 24s in the end, for the following reasons.

1/2 the price of the Shimano ones
Excellent reviews
UK built (made in the Far East)
Very helpful advice on the phone
SKF bearings
2 year warranty

I'll let you know what they're like!

SP