TheRealMR

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forum, i have been creeping the interwebz for reviews and things, i decided to post here after reading a couple threads! Here is the low down, i'm a broken runner! Screwed up my foot in a rock climbing accident last summer, been having getting any cardio in! (Geting fawt)

So i decided to give the road bike a go, i had bikes a a kid mtn mostly but im no vetran rider. I have a friend also who does triathlons who i ride with sometimes, he has an Argon E-80 with a set of FLO rims. 60f/90r. My bike is is a caad 10 105/2104. I got a great deal on it and im a very short guy so getting a frame i wanted was hard to fit, at first i wanted a radon but the xs felt a tad large! My second choice was the CAAD10. (I really wanted an E-80 but after deep thoughts and my local bike shop not recomending a tri bike to start) i tried out the caad 10 and fell in love. The bike shop got me going well they fit the bike, sold me some okayish shoes and my first pair of clip-ons!

i know your all gonna reply i shouldnt be changing anything and i should just ride hard but when i ride with my buddy i just cant seem to keep up and he is barely pushing. After lots of interwebz creeping, i decided i wanted to invest in some "Aero Wheels". Well actually i want to invest in some aluminium/carbon clinchers.

So i have been browsing and reading and YEH i want ZIPP's or a set of HED! but i just can't justify paying that price! i want to invest medium amount to spice up my bike, i have been putting in lots of 1hr 20km rides and i don't think i will be doing much longer than 1/2hr rides, as mentioned earlier it's a training tool for me to get a little fitter!

So here it goes!!! I like the MAVIC Carbone SLS (Roughly 1500$+taxes) which i could get from my shop! But i also seen some great video's and posts about SOUL 4.0's (roughly 900$can). I have kinda narrowed it down between 40 and 60mm for the rim! and being in canada our bike shops sell only shimano/mavic/zipp (Some easton),

Between Mavic Carbone SLS and Soul 4.0? Which would you chose and why!? Help me justify my investment!!!!

thanks
mike

bbattle

Sorry, but I'm still going to tell you to not change anything until something wears out. You need to get into better shape, not speed money for little reward.

If you are doing such short rides, you should just keep on hammering on what you've got.

If you want to spend your money so much, send it to me and I'll send you a jar of Alabama clay dirt. 100% real dirt with no high fructose corn syrup or preservatives.

greenlight149

1/2 hour rides and you want to spend that much on wheels? i can tell you one thing, they aren't going to make a difference for you to keep up with your buddy.

CafeVelo

+1

Here's how we explain it at the shop: aero advantages only help in a meaningful way for riders who can sustain 25mph for a half hour, or produce 350 watts consistently for the same interval. Even then, there's almost always a more meaningful way to gain efficiency than paying huge sums of cash for wheels. What may actually help you would be lighter wheels. Since you have to make the weight of the wheels spin, lowering their weight goes a long way to increasing your efficiency, much more than aero rims will, and usually at a much lower cost. I regularly smoke my friend on both flats and hills riding any of my road bikes (including steel framed) without particularly aero wheels (fulcrum rims, not deep section), and he rides a TT bike with deep section rims, it comes down to watts more than anything. You just can't buy fast.

Truthfully, neither of these will have a massive impact on your speed, only training can do that. A more worthy investment would be a speed/cadence sensor and a training plan designed to increase your aerobic threshold.

k_kibbler

You're not gonna see any aero benefits at 20kph. Put another way, aero is not the reason that you can't keep up with your buddy.

Ride hard. Good news is, the first 6 months ~ 1 year of consistent riding come with the most appreciable improvement. It's very encouraging to feel yourself riding faster over longer distances nearly month by month.

And kudos on your bike shop dissuading you from a Tri bike as your first bike.

PepeM

If you want wheels, go buy wheels. The only justification you need is that you want them. Don't expect them to make you any faster though. That, unfortunately, takes more than money.

a1penguin

Mike, you have a pretty sweet bike already. I have to agree with the other folks here that the wheels will give you bling factor, but won't really improve your riding speed. I would save up your $ and work on improving your endurance and speed.

big chainring 

Go with the Mavic Carbone. You'll be able to keep up with your friend and you will want to ride more, making you a better rider. Don't skimp on tires either. When I got my Mavics for my Seven it made me 2 mph faster. Average speed went from 17 to 19mph on my 8 mile training ride that I do 3 times a week. And now I can drop the hammer and ride away from the riff raff on their Treks.

obed7

The wheels are not going to make you any faster at this point. When I first started out I did not believe the folks either, so I went and bought myself a set of Enve wheels....I actually did get about .2 mph faster but in truth it was because I was pumped and pushed harder...
if the wheels will make you feel better and ride more, that is the real benefit the new wheels will have, and that will make you faster...not the wheels.

Dan333SP

So true!

Rule of thumb for wheels:

$500-1,000= .5-1 mph average speed increase

$1,000-1,500= 1-2 mph increase

$1,500+= guaranteed Strava KOMs every ride with no training.

shoota 

"Investment" You keep using that word, I don't think it means what you think it means.

Shuffleman

You are probably hearing what you did not want to hear as it does not go with your itch to buy new wheels. It is your money and you can certainly do with it what you like. I have to agree with the others though, they will not help you keep up with your buddy. You are new to the sport and need to work on the conditioning aspect. I can promise you, you will not be held back by your current bike. New wheels will not make you faster or WOW you. I would recommend that you simply ride as often as possible and work on your fitness and endurance. It will come. At some point, you may want to get a new bike. The 2nd bike is usually where you start narrowing down your likes and wishes.
Again, it is not what you want to hear but it is solid advice. Save your money and work on the motor.

woodcraft

Sorry about your foot...

I don't get the part about not expecting to do longer than 1/2 hr rides- that would be like a runner planning to run no more than a mile and a half- barely warmed up.

I recently got some 55 cm carbon wheels (for ridiculously little $ on craigslist). Wasn't expecting much in the way of performance after reading all the nay-saying here, but there does seem to be a noticeable benefit. Previously, a buddy who outweighs me by 40 lbs would always overtake on descents, now he doesn't.

A big difference is the amount of head-turning at the coffee stop, so get the good looking ones.

TheRealMR

i know your ALL right!!! i knew it also, i'm just trying to pimp out my ride like everyone else!!! i may have written that badly 1/2 = one or two (Not 30minutes).. atm i am doing runs of almost 20km in about 50 minutes and the bike rides burns anywhere between 1200 and 1400 calories which is WAAAY more than if i was to run for 50 minutes!

The only think i kinda find not great on the bike are the shinamo rs11 rims. im sure they are GREAT rims, not putting them down i just got cough up in some videos on that was showing other rims spinning for endlessly and i was like ..... **** mine dont do that! i need that!

What i'm trying to achieve is the best performance tool for my workouts by getting the bike setup with good gear so i can then say yeh, you need to work on your cardio! Not have to second though the setup!

I didnt want to dish out a WHOLE lot of loot thats why i was looking for something reasonably cheaper but much better than what i have atm. I looked for used but im not super confortable with used gear and our choices of rims up here in canada seems to be very limited!!!

So in my head i was upgrading the bike now and it would be the end of that!

I'll just keep chucking along!!! =(

Dan333SP

Wait... videos where someone just spins a wheel on a bike hanging in a workstand and it keeps spinning? Even $30 wheels will spin smoothly and for a while if the bearings are in good shape, that has nothing to do with the wheels being "high end" or carbon or aero or whatever.

RS11s are fine, but if yours grind to a halt while being spun with no load, maybe you have a messed up bearing?

Buy whatever makes you happy, but it's worth noting that a lot of the really fast guys who race will do training rides on 32 spoke low-profile aluminum wheels because they're sturdy and they last forever with the right hubs/rims/spokes. They're also really not any slower than aero wheels except under limited conditions that you won't really be exploiting in 1-2 hour fitness rides.

TheRealMR

They don't grind down to a halt they seem to roll fine! I dunno whats wrong with me!! i find the aero wheels just look soooo awesome on a bike but your all right its not going to change anything except me feeling better about how my bike looks! =(

Smokehouse

I went to a set of ROL Race SL wheels to get into a 23mm wide clincher. I'll gladly admit they are smoother than my stock Fulcrums...and are stiff as a board (which actually isn't always a good thing)...but they in no way have made me a better cyclist. Not in the slightest. I make myself a better cyclist. On top of that...they set me back $650 for the pair...far shy of a set of carbon wheels.

Like others have said...ride what you have. Of all of the things I've bought for my bike...those wheels made the least difference.

PepeM

Which is ok. If you want to 'pimp out' your bicycle then do so. No need to justify anything to anyone.

Dan333SP

Then it's all down to priorities. If it's worth $500-1,000 or whatever to you to love the way your bike looks and it makes you ride more as a result, that's money well spent. I'd rather spend that kind of money on plane tickets for my wife and I to travel somewhere fun. If it's just disposable income you'd otherwise blow on beer, maybe the wheels are a great idea. Just don't expect any noticeable performance difference.

Elvo

Start with a skin suit, aero helmet, and aerobars and then get the wheels.

TheRealMR

i have the aerobars, ive adjusted the seat, i really should get the FF seatpost! You wont ever catch me wearing a aero helmet So next? Wheels! ? lol

TheRealMR

i wont be doing any swimming i have ear issues and i kind of hate water! I was really considering a Duathlon tho!!! i'm banking on my foot getting better eventually!

Elvo

I would get the skin suit and aero helmet and an aero front wheel. I'd get something like a Zipp 404 or Flo 60 rather than the Mavics which aren't engineered for aerodynamics. Then when you've saved up some cash, get the Flo Disc rear wheel.

Smokehouse

QFT...

Buying new parts to make you faster? Not bright and mostly ineffective. Buying new parts because you want to and you think its fun/neat/cool to do? More power to you...this is a hobby and most hobbies don't really have a purpose outside of making you happy.

I've put new parts on my bike "just because"...I won't deny it. On the other hand, I am not delusional...I am fully aware it won't make me a faster cyclist.

TheRealMR

So i went over to the bike shop where i bought my bike! (Not to buy rims well sort of.... looking lolol) actually i bought some slick tires for a mtn bike i have for my wife so we can go on some rides toghether! ANYHOW i was asking about the aerowheels and the sales guy punched me in the face more! more discouraging of aero wheels and continued to show me some more logical rims which would be better than what i have!

Mavic Ksyrium Elite (2012 edition on sale)

what do you guys think of those? who has some or ridden them what do you think?

thanks