One of the best ways to lighten up a bike (and reduce rotating mass, giving the bike a livelier feel) is to upgrade the wheels. As you probably also know; new, light wheels are expensive - yes you can build your own but let's consider the cost of building a lightweight wheelset;.hubs $180, rims $250, spokes (say 20/24) $66 for silver straight gauge spokes and you're looking at a minimum of $496, more if you're not going to build them yourself.
I faced this conundrum recently and even though I can build my own wheels, it's not something I've ever done often and not something I'm confident in my ability to do well so I started looking at complete wheelsets.
Factory built, complete wheelsets were once an expensive, boutique option, now they're the norm with custom wheels the exception. There are a staggering number of complete wheelsets on the market that range from $150 to $7000.
Long story short, I started looking for a complete wheelset that had to tick a few boxes - they had to be below my limit of $400 (I had to sell off some of my old bike bits for that) had to be lighter than my stock Shimano RS-10 wheelset at 1,800g and finally had to be able to support me (I'm 92kg and 189cm or 202lbs and 6'3" for the Yanks).
Eventually, I stumbled upon the Powerway Solohomer Pro wheelset (AKA: Powerway R500).
I was a little dubious about buying an unknown brand of wheels from Taiwan but realised that 90% of bike parts within my price range were manufactured there, as was my bike and I soon got over it. I also noticed an amazing similarity between these wheels and a wheelset sold in Australia under the Token brand..
I researched a bit more and found the following features that agreed with me; sealed hubs, 4 rear, 2 front, a sensible spoke count of 20 front, 24 rear (with 2 spares included), straight pull spokes, no snapping spoke elbows thank you very much and a 6-pawl freehub with 36 engagement points.
I checked the claimed weight of 1,585g and decided to fork out the money.
Which leads to the business end, I purchased my wheels from The Cycleway Bicycle Shop in Hong Kong - a long time favourite shop of mine, they ship fast and have great prices but an inconsistent inventory. Cycleway had the wheels for USD$279 with USD$50 delivery which came in at AUD$361.
Once delivered, I opened the box eagerly and was not disappointed, they looked great, black rims, white spokes and anodised red hubs. I put them on the scales (with tape but without the included steel quick releases) and lo and behold, 1,640g - now I was a little disappointed. I spun the wheels, holding the axles - very smooth, spun for ages, happy again, I checked the rear wheel's freehub, not stiff, loud and as the front wheel did, it spun very well.
A quick fiddle with two 5mm allen keys removes the end caps of the hubs and allows you to remove & replace the bearings and remove the freehub, all looks good.
Without further ado, I mounted some tyres and set about riding.
The first test was a ride to the 1 in 20, a famous Melbourne hill climb, an 80km round trip from my home. It was a rough ride there over varied road surfaces, the wheels held up perfectly, even though I was a little terrified they were going to taco underneath me.
Eventually, we arrived at the base of the climb. Now I'm not the world's greatest rider but I'm a decent climber, I tend to be able to push big gears and monster my way up climbs. Under my weight, most wheels tend to flex or make noise when climbing. Again, the wheels performed well, with no noticeable flex or rubbing on the brake blocks.
Coming down, I was again a little cautious about the strength of the wheelset but they made it home and were still perfectly true after the first ride.
It's now been six months and about 6,000km (3,750 miles for the metrically challenged) of all sorts of riding; commuting (with a 10kg bag), weekend centuries and even a triathlon. I've lost a little tension in the spokes, nothing a quick turn with a spoke key couldn't fix and the wheels are still going strong.
I'm very happy with my purchase, the wheels have performed very well, over the last half-year, a good way to save 200g of rotating mass.
My only beef with this wheelset is the difference between claimed & actual weights - although underquoting weights is standard in the bike industry, it still annoys the crap out of me..
Overall, I'd recommend these wheels to anyone on a limited budget who wants to replace a wheelset at the RS-10 or Mavic Aksium level.with something a little lighter and stiffer.
