"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Race Specific Wheelset and Other Minor Upgrades...

I'll preface my question with I am a newly hired LBS mechanic who has just found out he gets a DEEP discount on his parts, I am also I collegiate racer. That said, I'm getting ready to build up a new race specific wheel-set and toss a few upgrades on my bike before race season.

So my question is, what rim, hub, spoke type/count/pattern would you all recommend? I have no prefernece between prebuilt or built by me, whichever will provide me with the most apt setup.

I'm a college student, so let's keep it reasonable (Sub $500 retail price) What wheels will give me the most pop for my cash?

Also, any other moderately cheap upgrades over Trek's stock setup that will provide me with some watt saving?

additional info:

170 lbs and 5' 8" built like a track racer.

Road bike: Trek 2300 Alpha SL w/ Ultegra Gruppo and pedals. Stock sans a Specialized carbon seat-post, and Selle Flite Gel Saddle.

"hired"

race what ya got.

Do you really have money to be throwing around on "race wheels" while in college?

"hired"

race what ya got.

That being an always ample option, but the current wheelset I'm running is wearing out. I'm rationalizing this as a "purchase of necessity"; I figure I can throw some used lead behemoths on my bike when I'm training and have a Christmas present to throw on when I'm racing.

Do you really have money to be throwing around on "race wheels" while in college?

Ramen noodles and stay at home entertainment (rollers) provide a frugal student with a bit of money to spend on "priorities."

if that were my budget I'd consider the Forte Titans with some nice tires, the old Ultegra/Open Pro combo with nice tires, The BWW Blackset Race with nice tires, or something liek the Williams System 30. Lots of options. Everyone will say race what you've got but it is very nice to have 2 sets of wheels when/if you flat/crash or whatever. good luck.

If you work at a decently stocked shop, I'm willing to bet that you can borrow a set of wheels for race day. Maybe some nice carbon ones.

EDIT: That's assuming they have a rental program.

It's been my experience that you can get better deals on gear from craigslist or ebay than with your shop discount. The discount is most effective on soft goods (clothing, shoes, helmets) and consumable stuff (gels, bars, drink powder, etc...).

EP (employee purchase) is a different story. That provides some deep discounts. But, you may have not been working there long enough.

Get a bike fit by someone at the shop with more experience than you.

I figure you'll be immersed in the shop, i.e. you'll be talking gear and such all day long. You'll also have coworkers that have already bought some of the stuff you want to try or buy.

For racing, you want aero and overall lighter weight. Weight is best shed off the body, but in college, for someone that's fit, that's usually next to impossible (I was 103 lbs when I went to college at 5'7" - I couldn't eat enough, forget about trying to actually gain weight, and losing weight, ha).

Weight also counts on the bike, but not as much. Lighter wheels will make a difference. I can't put an objective number on it, still haven't figured out proper testing steps, but it's a huge difference for me to race with wheels that weigh 2 lbs more (weight delta in rims/tires since spokes, hubs, and cassette are basically identical between the wheels). So a light wheel helps in acceleration. Helps in climbing if you stand a lot since you "re-accelerate" on your downstrokes, more so than if you are sitting and spinning.

However aero is where you spend your energy, otherwise you wouldn't need to draft anyone. The leading edge is most important. It's less important to have, say, an aero rear brake than an aero front brake. The most significant gains you can make will come from your position, front wheel, and helmet.

Position: work on your flexibility, endurance, etc so you feel comfortable in a lower position. Your position evolves over your racing career as your body adapts to cycling's stresses. Don't be afraid to make huge changes as experiments - try everything with an open mind.

I like the additional mass-start legal aero bars, the Scott Rakes and Cane Creek Speed Bars. They both allow a racer to hold a much narrower position. It's more aero. You must have enough length in the bike so your elbows clear your knees. You should also practice using the bars. After a season using them way back when, I could go through normal hard turns in a crit, at the front, at full speed (30-35+ mph) in the Rakes. Right now, even after 1/2 season using the Cane Creeks, this is not the case for me anymore - I move my hands to the drops in turns. It takes practice.

You can also use the Invisible Aero Bar position (IAB). That's more useful when at the front or doing a TT of some kind. Unlike the aero bars, the IAB doesn't give you that much control. You can't pull up and you can't hold the bars. With aero bars you can pull up pretty hard if necessary and you hold the bars.

Wheel - the most important wheel aerodynamically is the front one. It cuts through clean air if you're at/near the front (near = to the side, but still no one in front of you, with wind appropriate... semantics else someone will call me on this; basically if you're in the front row of riders in a field, or to the side in a severe crosswind). It also determines how stable your bike is - there's a reason why front disk wheels are not allowed at Ironman Hawaii (but rear ones are). When aero wheels first really came out for road use (1988 Bob Mionske got the bronze medal using a pair of Specialized TriSpokes, now sold as HED3), the US National team had one rider that used a front TriSpoke with a normal rear wheel. He understood that the front wheel accounts for about 2/3 of the aero benefits for a pair of wheels.

Finally helmet. The helmet is a huge aero thing. This is why there are TT helmets, and, on the track, egg shaped no-vent helmets that allow for an aero head no matter what the position of the head.

So what would I do in your position?

First make sure the bike fits. I'm going to assume you have clipless pedals, a relatively close ratio cassette, and reasonable tires.

1. Think of how cold the races will be. If they'll be cold, tape your vents on your helmet. If you think it'll be funny to do this, get a snowboard or similar helmet. They have vents you can open/close and are a lot less pointy than normal road helmets. They'll also be warmer. I almost did this for last year but didn't know a snowboard helmet can run $180 or so.

2. Lace up a front aero rim on whatever hub has the right drill pattern (20-24h would be safe). Get a tall rim, 50-60mm tall, light if possible. Get any hub, it doesn't matter. If you find a lower spoke hole count hub, they're all good enough for racing. You're looking for a big improvement, not the 1 watt you get from ultra expensive bearings or 10 grams weight savings. An aero rim makes a huge difference. In the shop you may be able to buy a pair of wheels from a coworker who is keen on getting a different set of wheels.

Keep in mind aero wheels handle differently than non-aero ones. Make sure you ride it before you race. Alternatively you can lace up a matching clincher (if you laced a tubular) and train on it. If you lace up a clincher then train on it. A front hub, even a really crappy one (no machining on bearing surfaces), will be good for at least 1500-2000 miles if it has loose ball bearings (i.e. older hubs). A cartridge bearing hub you can make work for pretty much forever.

Tubulars are much lighter overall due to the simpler rim design. However they can be costly if you are careless or unlucky and you puncture more than, say, once every couple years. Also you probably want to train on clinchers so if you get tubulars you sort of automatically need to have clinchers.

3. See if there's a quick way to shed weight off the bike. Use your coworkers if you can - hopefully you have at least one bike geek who is constantly swapping out parts. I think of weight in increments - 45 g is 0.1 lbs. 110 grams is a quarter pound. I won't go crazy for 45g but if I'm looking for, say, a longer stem, I'll try and optimize my $/gram-saved ratio. I think 110g is significant (I'd like to lose 110-130g from my saddle for example, and my next fork on my next frameset will be about 200g lighter than the close-to-500g behemoth I have now). Remember, four 110g savings is a full pound. That's a lot.

Don't try and save weight in the tires to get under 200g unless you have race wheels. 45-50g tire differences don't mean much if the lighter tire punctures. You can save weight by getting lighter butyl tubes (60g vs 90-ish). They are robust, hold air, and work basically the same as heavier tubes. Plus they help make up the 45-50g with the slightly heavier tires you'll probably use.

If you have a frame in the 1400-1500 gram range (3 lbs give or take) then a light set up that's not crazy expensive will weigh 16-17 lbs. 1100 gram frame (about a pound lighter), 15-16 lbs. Most alum or carbon frames are somewhere in there. If you have an aluminum frame like me and the bike weighs 17 lbs, then don't worry about it. Work on numbers 1 and 2 above.

cdr

Get yourself a front Gigantex 50mm carbon tubular rim, lace it to whatever hubs/spokes laying around in the shop... attach tubular tire (get a good one). Cheap, effective, crashworthy (in many cases).

Where do you go to school?

@Carpe: Thank you for that extensive response, do you know of any 18h aero rims off the top of your head with an alloy braking surface that aren't too expensive? I'll probably lace it to a clincher, I ride tubulars on the track and just haven't been impressed yet.

Will I see weight saving if I move from a stock threaded fork/vantage headset to a thread-less set up?

@Matt2.8NJ: I'll see if our distributors can get ahold of them. University of California Davis =D