Shimano WH-6800 Ultegra wheels

In some of the photos the wheels are green accented - was this ever an option available to customers or jsut for the review purposes? Anything I can find online is black/silver.

Generally found Shimano hubs to be 'heavy' but awesome in a 'set and forget' kinda way. I have totally ignored shimano hubs for many thousands of k and not been punished. I am not a fan of their straight pull hubs as I had an early set that fell apart (hubs fine, spokes kept breaking) but I suspect that they have sorted that out by now.

Personally I would stump up another £80 for 369 and get the carbon laminate versions. Yum.

As a bike mechanic I regularly see cup and cone wheels (normally rear) with ruined races because the cup and cone has worked loose, the rider has ignored it for 100's km and ruined the hub.

If looked at from time to time they should last years, the main argument put to me from shimano techs is that their years of testing found a quality cup and cone assembley has lower rolling resistance than cart bearings, and that is why they continue to use it in their wheels

I've got cup and cone wheels and cart bearings wheels on different bikes, had many different brands over the years and generally found quality cup and cone to outlast cart bearings, the short service life on some of the fancy wheels using small cart bearings to save weight is shocking, especially roval.

Must say i've also owned numbers of wheels with Hope hubs MTB and road and have not found the bearing life to be particularly good?

Curiously positive reviews for stuff on here seems to often coincide with me receiving a promotional email from Ribble/Merlin etc.

I love cup & cone bearings - the sense of satisfaction after spending 10 minutes re-greasing and adjusting them to perfection before spinning the wheel between my hands really takes some beating, one of my favourite maintenance jobs. I haven't tried the tool free version of the hubs (as with these wheels) yet, but I'm sure they are just as much fun

That's cool, although Hope hubs aren't exactly cheap, so you may not be comparing like with like.

For example, a pair of Hope Mono hubs are around £200 on Wiggle, whereas the Ultegra wheelset are £230 (but out of stock).

I would imagine that, for the use that the Ultegra wheels are likely to get, they will never require greasing. As suggested above, the rims will have probably worn out before the bearings get notchy, and the seals are pretty good on Shimano hubs.

The longevity argument is more relevant for handbuilts I guess.

I do wonder why people have a problem servicing hubs though. I think the Ultegra hub has tool free adjustment, so you don't even need cone spanners. Knocking out cartridge bearings with a screwdriver etc. as I regularly hear about on forums, sounds harder work and more risky.

Regreasing a wheel is about as time consuming as re-taping your handlebars.

My Hope hubs have done well over 20000 miles of on and off road riding including crossing streams, flooded roads etc... The bearings are slightly rough but still spin ok without any play. During all this time I've never cleaned or serviced them and that is their main advantage. If you ride a lot (e.g. commuting) you can just forget about the hubs and neglect them without the risk of ruining them completely (pitted bearing races).
Cup and cones are for people who love spending time cleaning, adjusting and servicing.

re; bearing choice: It seems like a bit of a moot point with these wheels. If one of your criteria is longevity and serviceability then you probably wouldn't choose a set with proprietary rims, spokes, nipples and hubs like this anyway. Once the rim has worn out they are most likely to be binned, I'd be surprised if they can be rebuilt with a new rim / spokes cost effectively.

Surely its quicker to maintain a set of cup and cone then it is to swap out cartridge bearings?

And for me less stressful... nothing grates me more than ruining a set of cartridge bearings on installation... which lets be honest, is pretty easily done without the right tools.

Pros and cons to both bearing types, it's good we still have a choice.

So far I’ve been using these for about 6 months and they have performed admirably. I use them with Hutchinson Fusion 3 tubeless 23mm tyres and so far both the wheels and the tyres have been excellent.

I suppose I am getting to be an old git, so fettling bearings comes naturally to me. It really is a very easy job and it appeals more than just chucking away bearings.

Although the labyrinth seals seem to work so well the grease rarely seems to get contaminated on the Shimano wheels and hubs I have, so they end up being pretty much maintenance free.

I believe cup and ones are supposed to spin better, but to be honest, I've never had any wheels that weren't cup and cone!

I like the cup and cone set up found on Shimano hubs.

More to the point, as mentioned, I dislike the cartridge bearings used by far too many manufacturers out there.

I've had far too many cartridge bearing wheels that have had a little bit of nonadjustable play, or indeed the bearings fail within a foolishly short period.

Cup and cones seem to be more durable than many cartridge set ups (not all, the cartridge bearings in Royce hubs live forever for instance), but are easily maintained and tuned. You have to seriously neglect a cup and cone bearing to damage the bearing races.

On a performance level, something that cup and cone bearings certainly do better is go around corners. By that I mean they provide better feedback and consistency than a lot of cartridge bearing wheels.

I've had the reason for this explained to me by someone that genuinely knows why this is, but its all a bit complicated so I won't try and write it down.

However, the truth is, its the lack of bearing quality in most cartridge bearing set ups that allow cup and cones to continue to shine and have a place in the market.

Campagnolo use cartridge bearing but only on their cheaper, low end hubs. The benefits from cup and cone are many, they last for ages if maintained properly which is easy for the home fettler to do with a couple of spanners, they're adjustable, and they've worked perfectly well for decades. If you don't like doing the maintenance work yourself then get hubs with cartridge bearings and pay someone to change then every couple of thousand km but if you do that it doesn't really matter what type of bearings you have - you'll never be opening them up anyway.

What do other people think about Shimano's use of cup'n'cone for their entire range? Personally I really can't be bothered with having to maintain them, and any set I've had have inevitably got pitted over the winter as a result of my laziness. Cartridge bearings seem a lot better suited to a UK winter, no risk of permanent hub damage.

Yep, tried some slightly round wheels once and they gave me piles

Mine survived a hammering at the tour of Flanders sportive with no issues at all, and the bearings are still running well after a wet british winter.

I totally agree with the reviewers comments on the rims being tight to fit tyres though. I had a 28mm Vittoria open pave to fit for Flanders and had to abandon it in the end. Even if I had eventually got it fitted the thought of trying to do it again after a puncture on the side of the road made it a no-go.

Just bought a new bike with these wheels, they seem very good from my point of view and zip along very nicely. I'd recommend them

I'm very glad these are all-round wheels, they're by far the comfiest type.

I have the Dura Ace version and as the reviewer says, they might not be flash (read "Exalith" for that), but they roll super smooth and are light for the price, this goes also for the Ultegras.

Does that weight include the skewers?

Pleased to see these getting a good review when I've just got myself a set (or rather bought a set for my wife to give me for my birthday ). They're not on the bike yet, but will be very soon. I got them for £230 on Wiggle, so if they're good value at £330, I'm very happy.