Shimano r500 vs Ksyrium Elites

[Giantrider1997]

Is it a worthy upgrade if im doing only D grade crits?

[toppity]

Wheels are always worth upgrading if you can afford it. Who cares what grade you race, good wheels are awesome. R500 are entry levels and the Ksyrium elites would be a step up. I've had the Shimano RS80's for a couple of years now and love them. Similar price to the elites as well.

[Giantrider1997]

Would i be better off with pro-lite braccianos or ksyrium elites, not considering price at all?

[R12RT]

Braccianos are better than Mavic Equipes IMO.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Giantrider1997]

What about compared to the ksyrium elites?

[usernameforme]

similar, Pro-Lites probably have better aero than the box section Ksyrium. I'd go for a custom set, or semi-custom if you are on a budget. Something like the BWW blackset race would be a great upgrade to the r500. If you want to go factory, have a look at the RS80, very light rim (380g vs 445g for the Ksyrium) and shows to be fairly aero in 3rd party testing.

If you want to go faster, there is some merit in wheels, but I would save my money for training equipment. Don't buy upgrades, ride up grades

[Giantrider1997]

What should my priorities be in terms of stiffness, weight and aero for criteriums

[antipodean]

What should my priorities be in terms of stiffness, weight and aero for criteriums

Fitness, strength and experience will provide far better results than new wheels.

[boss]

What should my priorities be in terms of stiffness, weight and aero for criteriums

Fitness, strength and experience will provide far better results than new wheels.

I'd probably argue that if the OP spent an extra 10 hours (at a cost of $50 p/hour) riding his bike, the gains would be less noticeable than if he bought a set of wheels for $500.

[antipodean]

I'd probably argue the OP is an inexperienced cyclist who would see more improvement in his performance by riding/training than wasting money on wheels.

[boss]

While I agree with your sentiments, and I gotta admit I made no effort to say I agreed, 10 hours (two weekend 100km rides for an inexperienced cyclist?) wouldn't net the performance benefit of a new set of light wheels (couple of extra kays p/h average speed?)

And just like my silly analogy comparing the cost/benefit of time vs wheels, the OP is hardly going to buy a set of wheels and then say stuff it, I don't need to train now, I'm a sure bet to win now.

Either way if you're going to buy wheels at some point in the future anyway, the money isn't a 'waste'. We aren't talking outlandish amounts of money here.

[Chris249]

It seems that going from a standard box-section alloy wheel to deep carbons saves something like 14 seconds over about 20km distance (depending on what tests you look at). As a rough guide, at the 22km NSW state masters championships time trial, there was about 3 minutes difference between the winner and the 10th placed (ie mid pack) guy in the larger divisions.

So in reality, the effect of getting better wheels is completely swamped by the effect of being a better rider. Even if you are a mid-pack state level age racer (ie front end of club B or C, probably, so pretty competent) you are on average only going to improve one place from moving all the way from box section alloy to deep dish.

TTs are not a perfect test for crits, of course, but it's an interesting way to look at how much wheels affect performance. As a 48 year old novice I was B Grade in crits using second-hand 500s, because I kept my old (fourth hand?) Zipps for TTs.

One old aero test on a French site showed that Aksiums were less aero than R550s by some way. I know the 550s are not 500s, but Alex here referred to the 500s as quite aero for the buck, IIRC, sop maybe there is not much aero difference.

[jules21]

the performance benefit of a new set of light wheels (couple of extra kays p/h average speed?)

2 km/h extra? i highly doubt it. we're talking much smaller differences that that.