Originally Posted by
petflunky
Do the wheels weigh less than the originals? Is that why you got the increase? Also, how does your handle bar set up compare to a set of drop bars? I'm thinking of getting drop bars, due to carpal tunnel, but I thought I'd ask for an opinion on a different set up.
First off, the wheels themselves are lighter than my original wheels and secondly they have 23mm racetyres on them with 8 bars of pressure which decreases rolling resistance.
I now have a race wheelset and a crosscountry wheelset and can easily swap them in a couple of minutes, according to my needs.
The cassette on the racewheelset also is 11-23 which is perfect for road riding with long climbs.
As for the drop handlebar: I live in "De Vlaamse Ardennen", which is a typical roadcycling-mekka so there are a lot of roadbikes around ... yet I hardly ever see anyone who actually uses the bottom grips on them, mainly because using the bottom grips on roadbars is very hard on your back, arms and wrists. If you have carpal tunnel, like you say, I doubt you will enjoy dropbars at all.
Another thing with dropbars is that riding ofroad with them and doing some mountainbiking is very difficult, since they aren't very wide and thus have less control.
The set-up I have now didn't come by chance ... I thought about it for a long time and to say I am pleased with it would be an absolute understatement.
I have a flatbar for rough roads and off-road.
I have long barends for climbing hills at speed, standing up.
I have an aerobar for doing long straight bits of road.
Especially you, having a wrist problem .... I think you should definately at least try out some nice ergonomic aerobars but not the straight ones since they will strain your wrists aswell.