Wheel Upgrade Trek Domane?

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

I still think the best course is to run two sets of wheels.

-Set one: For road only duty with road tires
-Set two: More gravel oriented tires for rides when you'll be doing more gravel.

You can get away with one set of wheels just fine if you're open to the compromise. If gravel to you means just dirt roads and and unpaved stuff and nothing that's really gnarly, then running one set of tires that are 32-35mm for everything will be just fine.

Yes, and it also depends on what the roads are like. In New England, "gravel" is mostly dirt roads and I ride those just fine with a 38 GK slick, which also rolls fine on paved roads. And I ride 25s here on Martha's Vineyard on the road bike because the pavement is excellent, but where I used to ride in NH and VT, the pavement is often worse than the dirt roads, so the 38 slick becomes the one tire to do it all and therefore a single pair of wheels works

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by pjmsj22

My wife and I are purchasing two Trek Domane's after ten or more years on our current bikes. We're considering swapping the stock wheels for the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 37V. I am not sure what the dealer would charge for this upgrade but I'm guessing somewhere in the $800ish range.

Which prompts the question what other carbon options should we consider. These would be primarily used as all road wheels, but more paved roads. We plan on running Rene Herse 38c ties.

Any thoughts? TIA

Excellent wheels but I think you are $1000 off on the price. Those are an $1800 set of wheels. If you glanced at the website price you saw the front wheel for $835. Retail for the rear is $959.

Have fun!

[eddief]

if you are the average rider you'd prob not be able to tell much if any difference between stock aluminum and normalish carbon wheels. I have both for my Creo and that's my experience. Unless the carbons are way lighter or aerodynamic then they're just wheels.Get great tires and enjoy the ride.

[MikeD]

Maybe it would be cheaper to buy the upgraded Domane that comes with carbon wheels?

[fogrider]

Originally Posted by eddief

if you are the average rider you'd prob not be able to tell much if any difference between stock aluminum and normalish carbon wheels. I have both for my Creo and that's my experience. Unless the carbons are way lighter or aerodynamic then they're just wheels.Get great tires and enjoy the ride.

In general, I would get the extralight version whenever possible. normal weight carbon wheels are not worth the price, although they are more durable. I'm not sure what the weight differences are for Trek wheels. But with BTLOS, this could be the difference of 200 - 300 grams. This may not sound like a lot of weight, but I would say you will feel it when climbing. And aero makes a difference with the same effort. This means if you're just coasting, sure, no difference. But there is a measured difference when you make an effort. And if you say it doesn't matter to you since you're just riding on your own, that's fine. For me, I really get a kick out of riding a lightweight bike that is responsive, its just more fun. And I'm a huge fan of getting on dirt roads away from cars whenever possible.

[blakcloud]

My first almost upgrade on my Domane was Aeolus Pro 3's (not the V's). They weighed about 100 grams less than stock. Not worth it to me, so they went on my wife's bike which were lighter than her stock wheels.

I then purchased the Aeolus RSL 37V (their top wheel set at the time) and these were considerably lighter. Paired these with a Dura Ace cassette and Rene Herse EL tires and they felt faster (not saying it was faster, just felt faster). I never regretted this decision.

The Domane is a heavy bike it needs to be on a diet. Wheels are one way to do that. Congratulations on your new bike.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by blakcloud

My first almost upgrade on my Domane was Aeolus Pro 3's (not the V's). They weighed about 100 grams less than stock. Not worth it to me, so they went on my wife's bike which were lighter than her stock wheels.

I then purchased the Aeolus RSL 37V (their top wheel set at the time) and these were considerably lighter. Paired these with a Dura Ace cassette and Rene Herse EL tires and they felt faster (not saying it was faster, just felt faster). I never regretted this decision.

The Domane is a heavy bike it needs to be on a diet. Wheels are one way to do that. Congratulations on your new bike.

I ride RSL 37V as well and they are absolutely outstanding. Certainly a much bigger upgrade all around vs the pro3V including the price.

I use mine as demos for customers considering wheels and while some still don't want to spend that much nobody ever comes back and says yeah those are pretty good. They all have big smiles and acknowledge how nice they are.

As mentioned earlier if the OP is running tubes R3 tires, a test with RH tires set up tubeless would indeed be revealing and smart and could of course go on the new carbons as well.

[Radius PNW]

Originally Posted by pjmsj22

My wife and I are purchasing two Trek Domane's after ten or more years on our current bikes. We're considering swapping the stock wheels for the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 37V. I am not sure what the dealer would charge for this upgrade but I'm guessing somewhere in the $800ish range.

Which prompts the question what other carbon options should we consider. These would be primarily used as all road wheels, but more paved roads. We plan on running Rene Herse 38c ties.

Any thoughts? TIA

Congrats on your bikes!

Any time someone is contemplating a major wheel upgrade, I would offer that there could be long term peace of mind by choosing a wheelset that is not low spoke count, totally proprietary in hub or spoke design.

While these are fashionable and have potential efficiency benefits, there's more to the story. Proprietary designs become obsolete, and difficult to source parts for.

There is a real long term maintenance advantage to a handbuilt wheel with a reasonable spoke count, proven durable hub design, and well-reputed rim of your choosing. You could come out durability and money ahead.

I would be remiss if I didn't at least attempt to connect you with our resident wheel builder Old Potatoe (Chisholm's Custom Wheels).

Also, at 38c, you truly may not need two wheel sets, as has been mentioned, if your rides switch from pavement to gravel during the same outing, it may well suit you best to select a wheelset and tire that will take you everywhere the majority of your rides will take you.

Before dropping hundreds on a system wheelset, I'd recommend you have a chat with him. ( Paging Old Potatoe )

- R.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by pjmsj21

My error on the price which was a guesstimate. It turns out that the Trek site quotes prices for individual wheels, not for a wheel set. I’ll check with them but I am guessing, the better route is to ride the stock wheels and replace with another option in the year ahead…my apologies.

When you decide to go the carbon wheel route, give me a shout..

Bitex hubs laced to BTLOS rims using Sapim spokes.

In the $900 range(many options for rims) per wheelset.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Radius PNW

Congrats on your bikes!

Any time someone is contemplating a major wheel upgrade, I would offer that there could be long term peace of mind by choosing a wheelset that is not low spoke count, totally proprietary in hub or spoke design.

While these are fashionable and have potential efficiency benefits, there's more to the story. Proprietary designs become obsolete, and difficult to source parts for.

There is a real long term maintenance advantage to a handbuilt wheel with a reasonable spoke count, proven durable hub design, and well-reputed rim of your choosing. You could come out durability and money ahead.

I would be remiss if I didn't at least attempt to connect you with our resident wheel builder Old Potatoe (Chisholm's Custom Wheels).

Also, at 38c, you truly may not need two wheel sets, as has been mentioned, if your rides switch from pavement to gravel during the same outing, it may well suit you best to select a wheelset and tire that will take you everywhere the majority of your rides will take you.

Before dropping hundreds on a system wheelset, I'd recommend you have a chat with him. ( Paging Old Potatoe )

- R.

There's an in-between choice. My BTLOS wheels use either Bitex or DT Swiss hubs and Sapim or Pillar spokes, nothing proprietary. And my experience is that lower spoke count is acceptable with carbon rims. I've had less trouble, and no need to true, with my three BTLOS wheelsets than any previous sets of wheels with alloy rims and higher spoke counts.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

I still think the best course is to run two sets of wheels.

-Set one: For road only duty with road tires
-Set two: More gravel oriented tires for rides when you'll be doing more gravel.

FWIW, I've found the latest generation of gravel tires (TerraSpeeds, etc in ~40mm) to be ~1mph slower over a 2-3 hour paved ride vs a good 28mm road tire. For casual riding, that's totally within the noise. I really only noticed a difference on group ride where the pace was spicy.

Of course I say this having 3 sets of wheels across two bikes... first for chunk, second for smooth gravel and racing, and third (and 2nd bike) for pavement. But, I keep thinking I should simplify because I have too many bikes (haha no such thing).

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Alistair

FWIW, I've found the latest generation of gravel tires (TerraSpeeds, etc in ~40mm) to be ~1mpg slower over a 2-3 hour paved ride vs a good 28mm road tire. For casual riding, that's totally within the noise. I really only noticed a difference on group ride where the pace was spicy.

Of course I say this having 3 sets of wheels across two bikes... first for chunk, second for smooth gravel and racing, and third (and 2nd bike) for pavement. But, I keep thinking I should simplify because I have too many bikes (haha no such thing).

That's my experience too. One reason is that most gravel tires are lower rolling resistance because they are built more sturdily (R-H tires may be an exception).

[pjmsj21]

OP here… the paved roads that we ride are technically paved but in less than good condition. Moving to the Domane’s is really predicated by safety concerns with the added capability to get through patched and repatched asphalt without a whole lot of concern for keeping the bike on the road. I should preface, this by sharing that we run Arenberg and Raven tubulars, but even with these supple tires, paved riding conditions aren’t great, to put it mildly.

So I’m now thinking we will get the stock wheels but change to the Rene Herse 38c Barlow’s and evaluate after some time on the bike. This will be my first big brand carbon non-custom bike in 20 years. So I’m certainly not selling my Serotta Ti…maybe my custom Geo Gunnar Sport but I’m excited to get out on the road with the Domane.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by pjmsj21

...change to the Rene Herse 38c Barlow...

There are several other options in that size/use that you might consider.

The Vittoria Corsa Control TLR comes in a 34 and would be near the top of list for me. Or maybe a Terreno Zero.

[bfd]

Originally Posted by NHAero

There's an in-between choice. My BTLOS wheels use either Bitex or DT Swiss hubs and Sapim or Pillar spokes, nothing proprietary. And my experience is that lower spoke count is acceptable with carbon rims. I've had less trouble, and no need to true, with my three BTLOS wheelsets than any previous sets of wheels with alloy rims and higher spoke counts.

Agree. I have 2 sets of BTLOS wheels and they are light (both around 1305g for the pair), strong (45mm deep carbon rims can hold up to my weight!) and reasonably priced.

I got the extralight rims, pillar spokes (almost same weight as Sapim for a lot less $$), and bi-tex hubs. So far so good!

Moreover, I got Shimano freehub since I'm running 11 speed and it works with the shifting of all 3 major brands!

Of course, YMMV!

Good Luck!