How much difference does a new wheelset make?

[Jiffer]

The right wheels could lighten your bike considerably. There are wheels design to help you climb better (which is why DH chose mine for me) and wheels designed to help you go better on the flat (which is why DH chose his), etc. The right wheel can make a big difference, depending on what you are going from and to. You need to figure out your goals and see if you can find a wheel that helps with that and is within your budget. It's a good way to upgrade your bike without replacing it.

You can always upgrade other parts as well a little at a time, including your frame. This is a great way to get a sweet bike without a big one time expense. DH got my Cannondale SuperSix frame super cheap on ebay, cause it has a small blemish, which I can't even find ... not that I'm really looking! I told him not to tell me. It took him and his friend a long time to find it too. My bike was an evolution, which started with my husband's first bike. He started with a lower end used Cannondale and slowly bought parts to upgrade it. He found deals and saved a lot of money and was able to spread out the expense over time. Eventually he had a really nice bike with DuraAce components and an upgraded frame. It was a completely different bike from the one he started with. When I was ready to transition from the tandem we rode to my own bike, he was also dying to get an even better bike. So, he bought an already built new bike, bought me a frame and put all his parts from his previous bike on it. Nice parts, like DuraAce components, so I got to start out with a pretty nice bike from the get go. Eventually, some of those parts were changed out to better suit me (handlebars for my smaller hands and crank set for better climbing) and then he surprised me one day. I had been dying to get the new Cannondale SuperSix frame, which he beat me to cause he crashed and bent his frame. I was SO frustrated. However, little did I know that he had, over a period of several months secretly bought me a SupeSix frame, SRAM Red components and something else I can't remember. He told me he was taking our bikes to his friend's house to take them apart, clean them really good and put them back together. I was in bed when he came back. He turned on the light in the bedroom and I squinted in the light to see him holding up my newly evolved SuperSix bike all put together! He had redeemed himself.

His riding buddy very patiently bought parts for his dream MTB on ebay just recently. He bid over and over again on parts he wanted, but wouldn't budge on his low price. He lost tons of bids, but won some here and there and, with patience, he got all the parts for his dream bike and is now riding it. He saved a ton of money.

So there's some food for thought. You might want to start with wheels and move on to other components a little at a time to get your dream bike.

[zoom-zoom]

Jiffer, I love this story. I am totally smitten with my own SuperSix, but the wheels are the lowest-end thing on it (Mavic Aksium) and I could see eventually wanting to upgrade the components from a mix of Rival and Force to all Force, as well. Hubby recently built a wheel for a fixed hub that he put on his CX bike (cobbled from an old road bike of his dad's). I'm thinking someday I might have fun building my own wheels, too...this thread has been really inspirational.

[Becky]

I'm thinking someday I might have fun building my own wheels, too...this thread has been really inspirational.

Do it....it's really not that hard, I've managed to save some money building my own, and it's a lot of fun!

[Aggie_Ama]

In Austin (granted a hot bed of cycling), we have several custom wheel builders and the cost they have thrown out isn't extravagant. Buidling up wheels really taught me a lot of about bike parts, I didn't have one of the local guys do it but I still had a lot of input before ordering. I understand how hubs work better, benefits of different ways they are laced and how much difference stiffness can be. It was really fun and I feel smarter!