A good price for some decent aluminium clincher wheels with tyres and tubes. Wiggle has the wheels alone for $582.
Quality hubs/bearings, meaning they roll better with less effort. Better spokes so more likely to stay true, and possibly a bit more aero.
To climb faster you need a light wheelset,to descend faster you need a stiff wheelset. Usually need a good balance between two - not too light and not too stiff.
If you ride competitively, definitely you need a good wheelset. For commuting, I use a under $100ish shimano r500 wheelset, for bunch rides use a Campy Neutron Ultra. I take care of both wheelsets equally - frequent clean up, regular services, etc.
I am not an expert on both wheelsets but they say the weight of rotating mass makes the most difference, these would probably be a lot stiffer so less 'noodling' when you stand up on the pedals and try to transfer all that energy to the road, they would also probably have better bearings and roll more smoothly. Hopefully they would also hold 'true' longer and take more beltings from potholes etc before they needed adjusting. It depends on what type of riding you do, if you commute to work on bikepaths etc or do you do a lot of group rides/charity rides etc
I would be getting Pro-Lite Bracciano A27's or A42's (if after a deeper dish) for similiar money:
A27's http://www.pro-liteoz.com/store/products/wheels/road-wheels/…
A42's http://www.pro-liteoz.com/store/bracciano-a42.html
The local distributor is a regular on several forum & facebook pages and provides great after sales service.
(I'm not affiliated, just a fan of the product)
I have the Pro-Lite A42 wheelset, and the rear is great, however the front can be twitchy in cross winds
+1 for Braccianos, I have the A27 and they spin forever (compared to my stock Bianchi wheels. Also I'm 92kg and they have not gone out of true in over a year of riding.
im so tempted….. my stock wheels are never true and really pissing me off. But a new quality wheelset is not cheap!
I've only used stock wheels before.
What benefit would this give me over a basic Shimano wheelset at a quarter of the price?
( aside from saving 300 grams in weight, which matters a lot to a professional racer, but not me.)
http://www.wiggle.com.au/shimano-rs10-clincher-wheelset