Budget Wheelsets
 

I’m looking for a budget Wheelset for a friend. Aero isn’t important, but relatively lightweight would be nice.

Im looking for under $500, leaning towards the DT Swiss P 1600 Spline. Comes in at $400, claimed weight of 1550 grams or so, but actuals seem to be 1,650.

Is there an obvious option I am missing that would beat that out? Don’t want to get him those wheels if that price range has better options. Used market around DC seems to be bad for wheels right now

Zondas are the obvious answer here

Rim or disc?

Ah right, disc wheelset. That’s a key piece of information.

Lots of great used options but if new, the newest Mavic Kysiriums come in disc and they are relatively inexpensive and they are tubeless ready without tape and their hubs are essentially DT 240s

Elevate Cycling out of Orange County, CA seems to be doing some pretty good work on selling quality used wheel sets at a good price. They were very responsive too when asking some more detailed questions on their listings. https://elevatecycling.com

The P1600 splines are a great option. good hubs and great build quality

I'd be considering one of the direct-to-consumer Chinese brands like Elite, if you don't mind importing from China:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004767705476.html

Lightweight (1400g for 50mm deep), Pillar's best spokes, a ratchet-style hub (i.e. similar to previous DT Swiss models), tubeless compatible, reasonably wide (21mm internal / 28mm external).

600 Euro for those EliteWheels looks good until you get hit with taxes/tolls/tariffs and it's nearly 1k (still good for quality carbon I guess, but way out of 'budget wheels' price range).

Depends where in the world you are. In the EU you'll get taxed to the eyeballs with anti-dumping taxes unless the seller uses a specific method to avoid it.

Given that the seller is using $ and judging by prices, I expect they're in the US. My understanding is that goods under $800USD do not attract duty in the US.

I’m selling Roval SLX’s new and warrantied for $550. ~1450g. They are disc.

I think the DT Swiss wheels are a great option.

The off-brand stuff is super hit or miss.

Considering the hubs and rims, hard to beat the DTs for that money.

Just bought a used set of DT Swiss rim wheels from them. 350 hubs and 460 rims. They could have been a bit more forthcoming on how true (or not) they were, but they were $295 shipped, so I could spend some time truing them :) I'd use them again but ask questions!

Ritchey
 

https://ritcheylogic.com/bike/wheels/wcs-zeta-gx-wheels
https://bikepacking.com/news/ritchey...gravel-wheels/