Farby

I see people post that with their deep dish wheels they notice it is easier to hold speeds up over 20-25 mph. When it comes to all these aero wheels, how deep does it have to be to really start noticing a difference with ease of holding faster speeds?

I have a set of easton ea90 slx wheels which I think are great all around wheels. I see wheels that are 38 mm, 42 mm, 52mm, that I believe are all supposed to give some sort of aero benefit. I'm curious, would i notice a difference between my eastons and say the 38's? or would i not really notice a difference until it was a deeper wheel like the 52's? Or would it all just be placebo effect from some sweet looking wheels?

School me.

fa63

Most wheel aero tests seem to start showing a difference at a rim depth of around 40mm. But keep in mind rim shape has as much to do (if not more) with aerodynamics as does the rim depth.

With that said, I demo'd a set of 66mm deep Reynolds Strikes wheels for a week and felt like they made practically no difference in speed in comparison to my Campagnolo Zonda wheels (24mm front, 30mm rear rim depth).

waterrockets 

Deep dish? Probably 3mm out of dish and you'll be moving brake pads.

AngryScientist 

the correct answer is (whatever you have) + (4mm)

Farby

Any links to the tests they do and which wheelsets performed well? and which did not perform well also?

Homebrew01

Can you really notice much difference ? Tests have clearly shown a power savings between aero and non-aero wheels, but the wattage savings don't seem like they'd be big enough to notice while riding.

Yaniel

haha

ZXiMan

You will notice 6-8 watts...

fa63

Here you go:

https://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-15505311.html

Homebrew01

??

foresthill

I moved from a 23mm "aero" rim (Rolf Elan) to 42mm reynolds DV46c's a couple of years ago. At speeds < 20 mph, there' no difference at all, other than the slightly different feel of a carbon rim. at speeds > 20mph, but < 25mph, it's there, but barely. > 25mph, and I definitely notice the difference. No doubt about it.

alexp247365

I recently switched from Ksyrium SL's to Hed Jet 4's (45mm.) There is a noticeable difference once the speeds ramp up past 20 mph. The added aero of these wheels just feel easier to maintain pace at higher speeds compared to box rims. The weight difference (+200grams) has not been noticeable for the hills here in the mid-west. Because the Jet 4's aero carbon is not structural, you can use them as all-around tires.

topflightpro

I've been told that the aero improvement is greater going from a 20mm rim to a 30mm rim than going from a 30 mm rim to a 50mm rim.

sbxx1985 

I've been on Campy Eurus (26 mm/30 mm) for about five years and got a pair of Reynolds Assaults (46 mm) two years ago. If I had to choose one set to ride year round, it'd be the Eurus.

At consistent speeds of 25-30 mph and up, I agree the Assaults are faster. Under all other circumstances, the Eurus are just as fast, if not faster. Add some wind, and it's a no brainer. We had 50 mph gusts on Saturday and while it still hurt, I was thankful I was on the Eurus.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Assaults. But that's aesthetics more than performance.

foresthill

That's funny. I was doing the hugo road race on saturday, and while winds speeds there were intense, I doubt if they hit 50 (tho definitely consistent 20mph+, and that was plenty!) Anyway, I was really happy to have the aero wheels given that part of the ride was spent going straight into the wind. The cross winds were rough, but didn't seem to be any rougher on me than on others who had non-aero wheels.

That said, I got totally shellacked in that race. Dropped pretty early, so had lots of wind exposure for the rest of the ride.

waterrockets 

So, you're pedaling over threshold, and can feel a 10W difference? Say that's 320W for you. That's a 3% difference in power.

What actually happens is that you pedal the same power and just go a bit faster. At 27mph, 3% more power makes you go 1% faster (cube root), which is 0.27mph faster. Can you feel that difference too? When you're pushing above threshold, hurting, trying to maintain?

Have you been struck by lightning, or dropped in acid? If so, I think I know what your super power is

Note, I train and race on 25/30mm deep wheels daily. I borrowed RX's 80mm Tokens for the M35 state TTT championship (which we won). I couldn't feel any difference in speed at all. I knew I could go faster, or last longer at the same speed, but I couldn't feel it at all in the pedals.

fa63

waterrockets,

I think it was you who posted a link to an article that talked about the powers of the placebo effect. Well, it certainly applies to amateur cyclists and their equipment choices. My uncalibrated butt definitely couldn't tell a difference between my shallow Campy wheels and 66mm Reynolds Strikes, even at sustained speeds over 25mph. Maybe I need to go even faster to experience the difference....

I must admit though, they make any bike look like it is going 5mph faster.

datlas 

The only deep dish I am interested in is pizza...where is Rich when we need him?

Homebrew01

Just wait 'till I get some carbon fiber handlebar tape !

fa63

If you do that, your legs will instantly dial it up to 400W and keep it there for the duration of your ride. Don't say I didn't warn you.

mihlbach

My spider-sense tells me that their is an effect...deeper rims are faster. The deeper the rim, the more diminished the effect of adding another cm of depth.

waterrockets 

Yep, and the cool thing is that the Strikes actually do allow you to go a bit faster. My assertion is that nobody can "feel" the aerodynamic difference between "reasonable" wheelsets.

Voodoo76

I was thinking whatever you have + $1000 (edit: this is the way of the bike racer)

On a serious note this thread is relevant to my interests, im in the wheelset market this summer.

fa63

After fretting over it considerably, I have come up with the following requirements for a good wheelset, ranked in the order of importance to me:

1) Stiffness / durability
2) Hub quality
3) Aerodynamics
4) Weight

With this said, I plan on purchasing a set of Dura Ace 50mm aluminum/carbon clinchers in the not too distant future. They may weigh a bit more (~200g) than other popular full carbon clinchers but they are stiff, have great hubs, the tubular equivalents test fairly well aerodynamically, and I wouldn't have to worry about melting rims. Plus they have a three year warranty.

foresthill

Don't you have a BB shell to complain about?

In all seriousness, tho, I disagree with your assertion. At the time I got the new wheels, i had a couple of regular routes that were done with the same people on the same day every week. There was a noticeable difference both to me, and to the people riding with me (i.e. they noticed I was going faster in a given spot, generally the spots where we'd be > 25 mph.) Maybe it was all placebo. Who knows, but I like 'em.