Please suggest a nice light fast wheelset for the road

[Croydian]

I'm doing the Caledonian Etape on the 'dale next May. 81 miles around Pitlochry with 2000 roadies on their carbon bone-shakers. I will be surprising a few of them by tootling alongside on my M900!!
Can anyone suggest a good rim hub combo (or even wheel deal currently available) as an upgrade to my Deore hub/Sunn CR18's. Obviously I'll be buying a 1 inch pair of tyres but wouldn't mind splashing a bit of cash on a nice light pair of wheels (non disc)

 

[Tallpaul]

I quite fancy these at £112.98 for the pair (if you buy them seperately :roll: ):

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=23823

 

[hamster]

My experience is that 25mm / 1" tyres run far too harshly on standard mtb rims, and 1.2-1.3 is both more comfortable and faster. The 1" tyre doesn't form the correct shape on the rim and therefore the contact patch is too long and narrow.

If you have disc brakes, consider fitting 700c wheels and 23c tyres. If not a light XC rim and Conti Sport Contact 1.2s should work well. The most important thing to get speed is to get lower and more aero. A lower stem and barends is a big help.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

My mtb road wheels are respaced Ultegra 6500 hubs, Mavic X517 28h front, X618 32h rear. I put titanium axles in, front and rear, and used aluminium nipples for the front wheel. They're pretty light, and strong enough for XC, and the seals are better than on most retro (pre-parallax) mtb hubs. You've got plenty of time before the event to scour eBay for parts if that takes your fancy.

Don't expect any real performance benefit over your current wheels, but I think you know that already.

 

[cce]

get yourself some first-gen crossmax if you can find them. floaty light, colossal acceleration

 

[Croydian]

Thanks for all the great advice, especially Hamster, I've never tried less than 1.3 and am please I didn't have to learn the ride gets worse not better though bitter experience Thanks for the reality check too the wheels alone won't get me round!
The 20 spokers on chainreaction certainly look the part too. All in all just the response I was hoping for. Cheers Guys.