shimano wh-r550 wheels

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Parrott
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shimano wh-r550 wheels

Postby Parrott » Sat Jun 16, 2007 8:42 pm

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?

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Postby alchemist » Sat Jun 16, 2007 8:51 pm

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).

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Parrott
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Postby Parrott » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:09 pm

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.

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LuckyPierre
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Postby LuckyPierre » Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:25 pm

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. :?

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Postby Aushiker » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:09 am

LuckyPierre wrote: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 :cry:

Andrew

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sogood
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Postby sogood » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:33 am

550? Isn't that the model that at one stage had a series of bad spokes?
Bianchi, Ridley, Tern, Montague and All things Apple :)
RK wrote:And that is Wikipedia - I can write my own definition.

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Bnej
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Postby Bnej » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:56 am

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

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Postby alchemist » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:53 am

Parrott wrote: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.

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Postby Halfanewb » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:03 am

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.

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Parrott
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Postby Parrott » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:58 pm

[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?

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Postby Mulger bill » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:20 pm

*coming back in from the shed*

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

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?

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Postby mikesbytes » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:21 pm

The 500 is a completely different wheel to the 550.
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Kev365428
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Postby Kev365428 » Sun Jun 17, 2007 5:52 pm

mikesbytes wrote: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? :D )

Kev.

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Bnej
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Postby Bnej » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:01 pm

Kev365428 wrote:Is the 500 better or worse?
Think it's heavier. Cheaper. Better or worse is subjective. ;)

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Postby mikesbytes » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:47 pm

Kev365428 wrote:
mikesbytes wrote: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? :D )

Kev.
500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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sogood
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Postby sogood » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:47 pm

mikesbytes wrote: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.
Bianchi, Ridley, Tern, Montague and All things Apple :)
RK wrote:And that is Wikipedia - I can write my own definition.

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Postby mikesbytes » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:43 pm

sogood wrote:
mikesbytes wrote: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
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Postby Mulger bill » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:56 pm

mikesbytes wrote:500 doesn't have the spoke problems, 550 has better performance
Phew, that'll do me then :)

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Parrott
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Postby Parrott » Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:05 pm

mikesbytes wrote:
sogood wrote:
mikesbytes wrote: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.

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