Bicycle Tutor

hello, I'm looking at a new set of wheels, because i want to be able to fix / repair in the future if needed. what i have right now is Sora shifters 8 speed.
I'm interested in this since it can be use an 8 speed? do i need to worry about hub spacing if it says its compatible with 8 speed already? also do i need to have a Shimano type cassette? the one i have right now doesn't have a name to it... its probably made in taiwan as most bikes are made there... thank you for your suggestions!

Well, which wheelset do you have at the moment? And: how much do you want to spend?
You have a Sora equipped bike, so the components are entry level. It does not make too much sense to put Zipps or Xentis on it, and the maintenance would of course be a ... pain. Most probably your frame spacing in the rear is 130 mm, which is standard for road bikes nowadays. 8-speed Shimano cassettes can be mounted on any 8/9/10 speed Shimano freehub. Compatible are the Cassettes by SRAM. You could even take a mountain bike cassette, if your rear derailleur capacity is large enough. My coworker has a compact crankset and a SRAM 8-speed MTB cassette on his road bike, works like a charm.
I currently own a Mavic Aksium wheelset, it is entry level, has an ok price, stable, but a bit on the heavy side for racing. Only problem with "system" wheelsets is, that it is not so easy to source spare parts. So: If you do not want to encounter this problem, go for wheels that are traditionally laced with standard spoke patterns. 32 (or 28) spokes crossed 3 in the rear makes for a strong wheel. I have hand built (by myself) 32 spoke wheels for my cyclocross, they can take plenty of abuse.
What you should look for: Mid-range hub (e.g. Shimano 105), mid-range rims (e.g. Mavic CXP-33), double butted spokes (yes, they are more robust than plain gauge!), 32 or 28 spokes in the rear. The weight saving by using less spokes is in my opinion not worth the hassle with a less stable wheel.

hello i meant to post this link... this is what i was wondering about purchasing... like the future to overhaul the freehub.. i also have a dawes lightning 1000... it's a bike made from different countries particularly in taiwan. so the rear hub and cassette have no names..thats why i'm worried if i purchase a wheelset that the cassette won't be able to fit since it must be a shimano-type cassette correct?
i wouldn't be able to replace the current hub with a shimano-type freehub if the seller already told me that the current brand is vuelta brand right?
thank you for your response.

Well, what kind of wheels do you have at the moment? The 2009 Daewes Lightning 1000 has Formula hubs. Many hubs are of the cup and cone variant, which makes hub overhaul easy, unfortunately the homepage of formula is... not quite cooperative, so I cannot comment on that. In general I'd say that most hubs can be overhauled.
The vuelta wheels look quite nice, although the hubs are... well...
http://www.paul-lange.de/produkte/shimano/support/explosionszeichungen_archiv/FH/FH-MC18.pdf
They are Alivio hubs, according to the specs they have in the rear an over locknut dimension of 135mm, the link you sent says the wheels are for 130mm frame spacing, however. Re-check with the seller. The hubs are, let's say of lower end quality. As a side note: the "special, patented" spoke pattern can cause problems if you want to replace the rim. On the plus side: spokes are easily replaceable and the hubs are easy to overhaul.
Since you have an otherwise completely Shimano equipped bike, the cassette is most probably Shimano compatible. The freehub used in the wheelset you posted is by Shimano and accepts Shimano (and compatible, e.g. SRAM) cassettes, so no problems there. There is only one other standard for cassettes: Campagnolo. It is highly unlikely that you have a Campagnolo style rotor (the part of the hub the cassette slides on).
Why do you want to replace your wheels? If it is just the maintenance: use them as they are and when the hubs are shot, look for a replacement.

hi joe,
thanks for your in depth response, i really appreciate it. i have the dawes 2007 version... it has like a canada symbol on both hubs... the reason i'm getting myself in this mess....
1. the pulleys on my derailleur suddenly became loud like "propelling" noise and i started researching the problem then my bike...
2. when working and cleaning my bike i remembered i had a problem from before (i didn't fix it cuz it wasn't that bad) asked alex here on the forum and he told me my freehub may need to be replaced... i purchased the tools/shimano cheap freehub. now i'm thinking about 2 things now. overhauled cassette and cleaning seals... grease but finally found out the 10mm allen key didn't fit to take off the existing freehub on my wheel! did more research, found out on sheldon's website that non-shimano hubs are a problem... and dont take 10mm, my tool was too small for the hole in releasing the freehub...
3. now i'm thinking about replacing the wheel so i can actually use my tool in the future if i ever need to replace the freehub...
4. i'm really confused about measurements like 130mm and 135mm spacing/ compatibilities and all that.
i guess i should just go back to my first problem and stick with it... the pulleys...but nobody seems to have any suggestions on that yet.

This one?
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/images/lt1200_07_600.jpg
Ah, OK, I didn't know that you already have a (probably?) shot freehub. Then: Yes, replace the wheel. The wheelset you posted might be OK, if you are on a budget, I cannot comment on the quality of the build. The components are simple, the hubs entry level. If the wheels are well laced and you maintain the hubs well, they should last you a while. Looking at the description at BD, I'd say they should be an improvement.
Side note: I have old (15yrs) Shimano 200 (entry level) hubs, that are shot and also ~20yr old Shimano 105 hubs that still work like a charm.
(I personally would just buy a new hub and replace the wheel, but this might not yet be your preferred option, it can be a bit of a hassle the first time)
Frame spacing: The rear dropouts have a certain distance between them. This is at the moment for road bikes 130mm. Mountain bikes have 135 (as far as I recall), downhill bikes even more. The hubs used in the Vuelta wheelset are entry level touring bike (I would not use them on a mtb) hubs. Maybe there is a version that is not listed on the database, maybe they replaced the axle.

hi joe, maybe but my bike is blue...maybe its 2007 version
thanks for all your help. i'll probably need this information when i decide to get wheels. but for the time being im trying to diagnose the noise problem coming from RD area...
http://forums.bicycletutor.com/topic/785

Good luck with that. I followed that discussion only loosely, as Dave stated: "mystery noises can be tough to diagnose"...