Shimano WH-R550

Price Paid:  $150.00 at Ebay

Favorite Ride:
Anywhere paved

Bike Setup:
Look Carbon KG121, 105/FSA Gossamer, Tektro brakes

Summary:
I purchased these wheels used after reading lots of these reviews and I must say, I'm really happy. Sure, looks are there, but the wheel is smooth, relatively light for the price, and seems to be very stiff. I'm a big boy @225lbs and they handle my weight really well.

Strengths:
Aero/Looks
Stiff
Light enough for pricepoint

Weaknesses:
None yet

Similar Products Used:
Bontrager

Price Paid:  $0.00 at LBS

Bike Setup:
Scattante CFR Elite, full Ultegra 6600, FSA SL-K carbon bar, Speedplay Zeros, SMP saddle, carbon bottle cages, Conti GP4000S tires.

Summary:
These came stock on the Scattante CFR Elite I bought last year. So far, over 4500 miles on some pretty choppy pavement and they run straight and true. I have never had to put a spoke wrench on them and I'm a bit uptight about my wheels running out of true. I've read about them being noisy/pinging, and breaking spokes, but I've never had either problem. I started out at about 198 lbs and am down to around 175 now so I'm not a skinny-racer-dude by any means, and they've held up well. They are not light when compared against high-end wheels, but then, I didn't buy a high-end bike.

Strengths:
Price, reasonably aero, true-running, strength so far.

Weaknesses:
Weight

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Dealer

Favorite Ride:
Bike Virginia

Bike Setup:
'05 Cannondale R700 CAAD7 Triple, Ultegra, Mavic Aksium

Summary:
These wheels were OEM on an '05 Cannondale R700. I liked the appearance but was a bit concerned about the low spoke count at my 230#. I thought the straight pull spokes with hub mounted nipples might be the ticket to prevent broken spokes, and would be easy to repair, but found my concerns were more than justified.

I rode the wheels for several months before checking the spin on the hubs and discovered they were loose bearing hubs, not sealed bearing as I had assumed. They were over tightened from the factory and the front cones were already pitted before I could regrease and adjust the bearings. The wheels were very "pingy", front and back, on climbs and seemed to be very flexy when pedaling out of the saddle. I started popping the heads off of the rear nipples at about 800 miles. Even after purchasing the special spoke wrench and spare nipples, I still could not do an on-the-road repair nor adjust tension to allow the wheel to clear the frame due to 20 spoke rear. Never broke a spoke. Replaced wheelset after 1500 miles and third popped nipple.

Wheelset now resides on basement shelf as a backup.

Strengths:
Good looks on a new bike, just like DA.

Weaknesses:
Low spoke count, poor hub design, cheap peeling decals, overtightened hubs.

Similar Products Used:
Mvic Aksium, Mavic Cosmos, Campy Record w/ Mavic Open Pro, CODA Expert w/ Mavic CXP21.

Price Paid:  $200.00 at NSW , Aust

Favorite Ride:
the lake

Bike Setup:
Giant OCR, Ridley.

Summary:
Came on my OCR Zero Giant. Thought they were good but snapped rear spokes constantly, I am only 76kg. Wheel finally bucked and I gave it up. I know of many others with same problem. Spokes are definitely poor stainless steel quality. Hubs are weak.

Strengths:
Got to be joking.

Weaknesses:
weak spokes, very weak rear wheel

Similar Products Used:
Token C30A, Rigida DP40, Fulcrum R3

Price Paid:  $0.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Seattle hills. Any.

Bike Setup:
'06Fuji Team Carbon, 440 all carbon fork, Easton ea70 stem, Ritchey comp seatpost, Specialized hbars, cervelo saddle, Ultegra 6600 kit, tektro rx40 fb (koolstop thinline linearpull pads tho), 105 single pivot rb, Truvativ rolleur crk, SPD m505 pdls, whr550 fw, cxp33 on a DA hub rw. And Conti gatorskins because it's rainy here, and they rawk.

Summary:
Bomb. Awesome for the price (low drag too? Seriously?) and tough to break. Yes they're tanky, but all this jibberjabber about spokes breaking is foreign to me. Awesome crit wreck two months after I got the bike (fully 30+mph and bike diving for real) and taco'd the front. Was able to true it back to dead on, and am still using it. The rear finally flat-spotted a few months ago when a center island snuck up on me in the middle of the night and I canned it on the edge (almost hopped it, boo). Sold on the shimano wheel design from these: I would love to get ahold of some d/a's. Yesyes, they're a li'l tricky to true, but haven't had to do too much truing (6'0, 175ish) and I am a wheel destroyer (commute/race/bikepolo/bunnyhop/stairs? yep, up and down too). Confident descenders, Nice and stiff for powering out of the corners. Well mannered. AND the hubs are smooth (not as silky as my DA hubs, but dag.) Five stars overall (You get more than just an economical wheelset)! Seven stars for value!

Strengths:
Cheap, stiff, nice hubs, burly. These wheels are gonna be legend. Legend!

Weaknesses:
Um, they're tanks, but they're like a $200 dollar wheelset, so hush now.

Similar Products Used:
Easton ea90 sl (very nice!), Spinergy's, God knows how many different rims I've had on different hubs, but lots, darn it.