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 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 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 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 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.
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!
These are pretty much the best deal out there if you want a slight upgrade from your stock 11 speed wheels. Surprisingly light, tubeless compatibility, smooth hubs, and unquestionable Shimano reliability.
