shimano wh-r550 wheels

[Parrott]

Just had to pull out of a race today when a spoke on the rear wheel broke and the wheel buckled. Had stood on the pedals and put in aburst when I heard a ping and was told my wheel had buckled. The brakes were backed off and it was still rubbing badly so I pulled out. One of the guys in the club told me he started racing using these wheels but stopped using them because he was always breaking spokes. Is there an issue with these wheels? Should I get some new wheels sooner rather than later?

[alchemist]

Certainly you don't hear too many favourable comments about these wheels. I had a set on my cyclo-cross bike which I gave an absolute hammering to, rims are still straight, no broken spokes but bearings need replacing after about 6 months of use (commuting and mtb racing).

[Parrott]

Not sure we're talking about the same wheels here Alchemist. The ones I'm using are road wheels, 16 spoke front and 20 spoke rear.

[LuckyPierre]

Not many people say nice things about the 550's (or the 500's) - strangely, there's a sh*tload of bikes sold that have them.
The older 540 wheels are a totally different beast and seem to be really good.

[Aushiker]

Not many people say nice things about the 550's (or the 500's) - strangely, there's a sh*tload of bikes sold that have them.

Yeah including my new CRX 1 apparently

Andrew

[sogood]

550? Isn't that the model that at one stage had a series of bad spokes?

[Bnej]

Pretty sure I have 550s and have had no probs so far (~900km). I've run over potholes at speed on them and everything.

[alchemist]

Not sure we're talking about the same wheels here Alchemist. The ones I'm using are road wheels, 16 spoke front and 20 spoke rear.

Believe it or not we are talking about the same wheels.

[Halfanewb]

R550's are a decent wheel but they wont carry weight very well.

The cous uses them and has not had any problems but then he is only 80 odd kilos. Mine would be out of true at the end of every ride but then i was 110 kilos at the time, so i upgraded to a set of velocity deep v's 32 3x spoke which have copped a hammering and are as true as the day i bought them.

[Parrott]

[quote/]Believe it or not we are talking about the same wheels. [/quote]

I didn't think they'd cop that. I can feel mine flex when sprinting up hill. Change to older wheels with a higher spoke count and the flex is gone. They feel easier to maintain a higher speed on though. It's just that with only 20 spokes to begin with they must have higher stress on the spokes and when one goes they dont like it?

[Mulger bill]

*coming back in from the shed*

500's, 80kg, 800+km and still true

EVERYONE I've spoken to has bagged 500 and 550's, to the stage where I started looking around... I don't ride light and am still learning to spin rather than mash, am I lucky or on borrowed time?

[mikesbytes]

The 500 is a completely different wheel to the 550.

[Kev365428]

The 500 is a completely different wheel to the 550.

Is the 500 better or worse? (say better, say better, say better, say better - guess which wheel I have? )

Kev.

[Bnej]

Is the 500 better or worse?

Think it's heavier. Cheaper. Better or worse is subjective.

[mikesbytes]

The 500 is a completely different wheel to the 550.

Is the 500 better or worse? (say better, say better, say better, say better - guess which wheel I have? )

Kev.

500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance

[sogood]

500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance

Ehhh... I think there's some contradictions here. One would have to assume that broken spokes and performance don't really equate.

[mikesbytes]

500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance

Ehhh... I think there's some contradictions here. One would have to assume that broken spokes and performance don't really equate.

When the 550 spokes don't break, the wheels perform better than the 500

[Mulger bill]

500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance

Phew, that'll do me then

[Parrott]

500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance

Ehhh... I think there's some contradictions here. One would have to assume that broken spokes and performance don't really equate.

When the 550 spokes don't break, the wheels perform better than the 500

So they are known to break spokes, I've heard a few people say they are a good training wheel. Which is another way of saying they're not a good race wheel I guess.