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Description
Road Tubeless On A Budget
The durable Ultegra-level WH-RS500 Tubeless Wheelset adds to Shimano's current lineup and brings road tubeless to the masses, weighing in at just 1649 grams and built for rim brake use.
The ability to run lower pressures and the increased flat prevention gravel and MTB riders enjoy has not gone unnoticed. While it's been a little bit slower to catch on with the road set, more road tubeless tires are currently available, and the technology, materials, and reliability have vastly improved. Shimano has been on the forefront of road tubeless know-how from the get-go and the Japanese bicycle component manufacturer has been delivering tubeless road wheel options for over a decade.
Features:
- One of the best all-around wheelsets for racers on a budget
- Aluminum rims offer great braking performance
- Tubeless-ready design alloys for more plush traction
- Steel freehub is durable and prevents cogs from digging in
- Cup-and-cone bearings are user friendly to maintain
- Compatible with 11-speed drivetrains, or 9- and 10-speed with included spacer
- Rim material: aluminum
- 700 tubeless clincher
- Rim depth: 24mm
- 15mm internal width, 20.8mm external
- Rim brake compatibility
- Machined anodized aluminum hubs, cup and cone bearings
- 9 x 100mm QR front axle
- 10 x 130mm QR rear axle
- Stainless steel straight-pull spokes
- 100mm/130mm QR skewers
- Spoke count: 16F, 20R
- Weight: 1690g
FREE Cassette Installation - Order a cassette along with a wheelset and we can install the cassette for free. Cassette installation requires special tools that not all our customers have. The cassette will be professionally installed and torqued to spec. Just add "Please install cassette" to your order notes at checkout and we'll take care of you.
Returns: This product is overweight and/or oversize and does not qualify for our fixed rate return shipping label. If you need to return this item, we can offer a return shipping label at our discounted shipping rates, or you can arrange for your own return shipping.
B-Stock - This product has one or more B-Stock units available. These units can be purchased at a discount (see option select). B-Stock units were returned from other customers and may have missing or damaged packaging materials. These units are otherwise as new. The full manufacturer warranty applies. Click Here for more information.
Specifications
Rim Diameter: 622 | |
Wheel Features: Tubeless Ready | |
Axles: Quick-Release | |
Brake Compatibility: Rim Brake | |
Tire Compatibility: Clincher - Hooked | |
Mfg PartNum: EWHRS500FRM | |
Wheel Size: 700C/29 (ISO 622) | |
Shimano 11spd - Quick Release | Cassette Type: Shimano 11 |
Reviews
I assume that these are pretty much exactly the same as the WH-6800's. They are such a good solid wheel!! The first 15,000 miles I didn't even have to true them but started having a little issue with the wheels coming out of true but I just replaced the 2 spokes that kept getting lose and I haven't had to true them for the last 10,000 miles. I mostly ride mountain roads that are pretty rough, bunny hope over big cracks and huge pot holes, I also ride quite a bit of gravel and these wheels hold up much better than any wheel I've ever had. I mostly run tubeless tires on these wheels and I love that you don't even have to prep them with tubeless tape because the wheel is already sealed. You just need the tubeless valve, tubeless tire, air, and sealant. Oh and I've never broken a spoke, I can't say that about any other wheelset that I've had. If you are on a low budget, these are the wheels to get. I've always wanted to get some nice carbon wheels for racing but I've trained and raced with these on the last 2 bikes I've owned and for me, they're fast enough. I'm not sure how much faster I could go with better wheels but these have done me well.
I picked these up to replace a set of DT Swiss wheels that came with the bike; I'm looking to upgrade to a 2x11 setup and my old wheels were not compatible. I would rate them as being about the same; the weights of the two wheelsets were virtually identical. For a rim brake, they work well, as expected. They seem a tad stiffer than my original wheelset. The downside is the bearings don't run nearly as smoothly as the cartridge bearing in the DT Swiss wheels. The rims are great, I'm just not 100% sold on cup and cone bearings (I know, they're supposed to be better for lateral loads and more durable...). I appreciate that the new wheels came with QR skewers, valve stems to run the wheels tubeless (yes, the wheels are tubeless ready), and with two spoke wrenches (each wrench has two ends-one to turn the nipple the the other to hold the bladed spoke).
I recently purchased these wheels and the first thing I did was to remove the valve core which I could not do since the valve is slightly larger than a valve core removing tool. Ugh! This means that you cannot inject sealant through the valve. Instead, you have to partially remove the tire and pour in the sealant. Very messy. Then you have to put the tire back on and reseal it. No thanks. I returned the wheels
I have 1250 miles on these wheels. They are smooth rolling and quiet. They climb well. They replace a set of well-worn Shimano Dura Ace C24's. The WH-RS500's compare favorably and are less expensive. They come with yellow tags zip-tied to the rims that advise against the use of tire levers. I consulted with a WBW tech, who assured me the blue plastic Park Tool levers I use are okay.
I purchased these wheels because they seemed to be reliable, consistent and reasonably light. I use them with Continental 5000 clinchers and race light inner tubes. It is very flat around here and I ride mostly decent roads and bike trails and have been very happy with them. The tires mounted easily and will hold air for a week's rides. After 500 miles they are rolling straight and true.
The wheels roll smoothly as expected. The rims are reasonably low inertia. Wish I could get the Fiamme Yellow label sew up rims from the 70's that weighed in at around 200g. I installed Continental 23mm Gatorskin tires. Very tight and I needed to use my Tire Bead Jack to get them on. Very happy with the wheel and tire combination.
I'm a recreational rider and I log about 7,000 miles a year (yeah, I'm retired). I've been riding Ultegra for 12 years (when I switched from MTB to road). These wheels are not crazy light but are durable and very reasonably light. I decided to go tubeless so I got these wheels. I have maybe 1,000 miles on them and I'm loving it.
They didn't come true out of the box , but once they are they'll stay there. Getting a tire onto the rim may be difficult since the instructions say not to use a lever. I run these with tubes. I ride these on my race rides and I'm still able to keep up with the pack.
The rear wheel keeps slipping out of the dropouts even though it is cinched down tight. Really have to crank on it to get it to stay put. Besides that really solid tubless training wheels that dont need tape which is a huge plus.
The wheel set arrived well packed, true and in perfect shape. Noticed when spun the rear wheel it didn't continue rotating very long and was noisy. Possibly the bearing seal were dragging. After a hundred miles the drag went away but the noise from the hub remained. I will take them apart for inspection or have a bike shop take a look.
I got this wheel set after the back wheel on my newer Kestrel bike cracked. These wheels were so superior to the stock wheels, that I decided to buy a second set for my older Kestrel bike. The ride on both bikes has improved markedly. My local bike mechanic was even impressed with the quality. My wife and I ride daily, so these wheel sets were definitely a good investment. Also, delivery was prompt and all my questions as to the technical specifications were answered quickly and clearly.
After a flat, soon after I installed these wheels, I needed to re-true the rear wheel. Apparently, after wrestling with the tire to get it mounted, I used a little too much force on the wheel. Anyway, long story short, I went to re-true the wheel and as I turned the nipple in a clockwise direction, (in relation to the spoke) just like every other wheel on this earth, it was only making it more out of true. I had it so far out at that point! That�s when I realized the threads were backwards. After that realization, I got it back to true, in short order. Just something to be aware of.
As a dinosaur still using 23mm tires it wasn't easy finding rims with a relatively narrow internal width after my two Corsa Lites each pulled a spoke through the rim, admittedly after each had run more that 20,000 miles. I had no interest in going tubeless but these were supposed to be fine using tubes. Mounting a new tire required getting out the Beadjack but that isn't unusual. It was my first flat on the road that had me rethinking my choice. It was a real battle to get a lever under the tire. I've always been able to get one lever in and slide it around to break loose the tire. That wasn't happening on this rainy morning. Long story a bit shorter, when I was home in a warm dry garage, I discovered this tubeless ready rim does a very nice job of seating even the non-tubeless tire bead in the rim. If one takes the time break loose the bead, relativity easy working your way around the rim with a thumb and finger, the rest of the project becomes substantially easier. The wheel itself appears quite well built, only 70g heavier than the "Lite" wheel it replaced (with the tubeless valve removed) with aero spokes but nothing aero about the rim. Still, if it's performance is any better or worse than the rim it replaced I'm not feeling it. I'd buy it again.
I bought these wheels because they were on sale and I had good experiences with Shimano products.
When reading the reviews, I see mixed ratings. Some say they are great and then some say they had trouble with this wheelset. So what reviewers should I believe. I just got the wheelset so I have no miles in them yet.
All I can say is, they came in great condition, wheels run true and I hope the hubs live up to its name. When installing the tires, they were so hard to get on. I broke a tire lever. I'm running them with a tube so I'm not going tubeless. If I get a flat on the road, I'm worired on how much trouble I'll have getting the old tube out and the new tube back in. On my personal opinion, the front wheel has only 16 spokes. I'm worried how stable it is with just 16 spokes. With the rim shimano in using, it should have about 20 spokes.
I bought this wheelset to replace my Mavic Ksyrium wheelset. After a year of riding with the Mavics, the back wheel became very 'sticky'-it just didn't spin well anymore. I had several technicians service it (clean out the hub, re-lube), but it remained 'sticky'. I also was not very impressed by the durability of the Mavics. I have been riding these Shimano wheels for a few months, and I love them. They may not be the lightest wheelset around, but they are certainly durable (durability is more important to me than weight where I ride, as the pavement has potholes and is uneven in many places). Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase!
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