Scrodzilla

Hey...Nickelback is a sh*tty band and a lot of folks bust nuts over them too, right?

eric716

oh man, I just realized the whole plastic wheel in the freezer convo. I remember doing this to a mag rim on a bmx bike when I used to try flatland tricks when I was 13. On a related note:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGgD4XjPbPc

haha

Gyeswho

dang, I guess I was all of thee above when I had mine then huh?


I bought them after a year of riding fixed. My reason for getting them at the time was because I cracked a front Mavic Open pro rim, which was reported for being really good rims. I had already been eying the Aerospoke wheels because I thought they did look really cool, but I also read that they were really strong wheels as well. Since I needed to replace the wheel, I bought a front wheel for much lower than what they go for now. I later on got a rear as well to make it symmetrical. While they are really heavy wheels (the set is around 6lbs) I didn't mind them because I'm on the heavier side of 185lbs and I thought of them as training wheels. I did a century tour on them and rode over a lot of rough roads with no issues and the wheels never went out of true, but I wouldn't pay the prices they go for now. Rode them for a year and when I switched to a spoked set, I immediately noticed how flexy they actually are. They do look great, when you get up to speed they do keep you moving, and are tough wheels.

to answer your ? though, I'd say get a rear (as long as it doesn't have slippage issues. I had to get mine JB welded due to this issue, but after that there were no issues) just to be different.

Geordi Laforge

well, we know you've had aerospokes before because a) we've seen the pictures on every fixed gear messageboard at least a thousand times and b) you've owned every wheelset ever produced.

onmahbike

this whole thing got way out of hand. i just asked if you would rather have one on the front or the back. the advantage/disadvantages have probably been discussed a hundred times.

i was just looking into getting one and I was wondering if there was any advantage to having it on the front or the back.

well aware they are heavy. the end.

devilshaircut

Mine is a rear although I wonder how that affects my power transfer compared to a front. Not a bike physics genius unfortch ... I will say though having a rear Aerospoke with a front radially laced wheel prevents you from having any spoke cards though. Lol.

Hirohsima

Complaining that a topic on this forum goes off-topic is like complaining that there is sunlight during the day, or that it snows on Everest.

Plus, some previous posts actually tried to answer your question, so not sure what your beef is.

jgrant75

front, its been proven most the efficient with an aero fork and flexes too much to use in the rear.

aidy

nonsense.
12 spoke boutique wheels and whatnot sure, but a real 36 spoke city wheel?

liquidcatalyst

I won a portion of a race in ATL and got some sweet handlebars painted by Bobby Costello. He does good work. Check out his site.

Jabba Degrassi

If I had one aerospoke I would line it with barbed wire and toss it at Igor Kenk like a frisbee.

curbside

Was he painting it to look like an ultralite styrofoam aerowheel? That's hardcore (if you're a weight-weeny).

Triple8Sol

So, for those that are hating on the Aerospokes, do you have the same opinion and reasons towards the Hed3, Zipp, B43, H+Son, Dodici, etc...?

devilshaircut

Well, perhaps I cannot speak for you, but I know myself and many other people, we have to get our wheels trued fairly regularly, probably about once a month. I could probably go longer but the wheel would be visibly out of true. It probably varies with which city you ride in, and I can tell you that Atlanta roads are terrible. Maybe you have nicer roads in Europe?

He does do good work. The paint on my Aerospoke has held up very well through polo and street riding ... probably taken more abuse than it should.

Anyhow, it seems kind of pointless that people start **** over what wheel(s) someone rides ... silly silly silly.

sickz

one aerospoke means you can't afford two.

Hirohsima

I ran HED3's on my road bike for thousands of miles... my father does cross country rides each year on them and had probably over 25k on his.... so, no, I don't have the same opinon on HED3's. Zip 404's are *****en, but not all that durable. Seen many pull the spoke heads right out of the carbon rims... they are fast and light, but not durable IMHO.

The HED3's are fast, and aero, but not super light and not super stiff lateraly. I swapped to spoked wheels since I honestly did not want to plunk down another $1k on wheels when I crunched my Kestrel into my garage on top of my car.

I think Aerospokes are silly because they don't do anything peformance oriented well. They are heavier than their spoked counterpart, less aero than even a standard 32 spoke wheel, no stiffer, and they are more expensive.

In most things in life trade off "Good - Fast - Cheap" (you can only have 2) What is funny about Aerospokes is that you don't even get one of those. You do get durable from what people have posted here, so I guess that counts.... but who on the planet can't make a durable, heavy, expensive, non-aero, noodle of a wheel?

I'm just jealous I did not think of the idea and make money off of it.

adriano 

some of these things are not like the others!

Triple8Sol

I wasn't referring to the specs/durability so much as the look of a purpose-built track or race wheel, on a fixie conversion ridden on the street. I have no problem with any of them, but it sounds like many of you do.

devilshaircut

The problem they have is that Aerospokes don't offer the advantages the rest of the wheels you listed typically are associated with.

sauce

Let me try to give you my assessment without regards to aesthetic evaluation.

I owned a black/unpainted aerospoke rear track for a year (bought new in 2007).

(1) bearings were tight, never slipped, spun smoothly after a year. Rode through fog/rain/sunny/dry. They take cartridge bearings so they are easily replaceable. From what I understand, they've really tightened the clearances on the track hub to the wheel, so there are no slipping problems from 2007 on. I've done plenty on skidding and hard mashing on these hubs, and no slip.

(2) the wheel is very flexy. when you skid, you can feel yourself applying back pressure and that it takes a millisecond for your action to translate into a skid. The easiest way to tell is to ride a track aerospoke back--to--back to a traditional 32H or 36H laced rim. You will know what i mean. Aerospoke is one of the flexiest wheels ever made in a 700c, and i remember reading something on the internet (maybe sheldon) regarding just how much the aerospoke wheel flexex laterally. I would think that this same lateral flex translates to vertical flex. This flex has been my experience.

(3) the wheel has not gone out of true more than 2mm after a year of riding. I don't hop curbs or freestyle but i hit every street imperfection/potholes and skid and go up driveways all the time. From my experience, aerospoke goes out of true to a lesser magnitude and also less likely to do so in the first place. My speculation that it is from how flexy it is (see above). This is much better than my 32H campagnolo Lambda clincher rim going out of true (though my 32H can be trued).

(4) the wheel is heavy compared to a low profile laced boxed rim. I've never ridden a deep v so i can't compare it to that. This rim is heavy because of the material/construction and that it also have a relatively deep dish in the design so alot of the weight is on the outside of the wheel, making it feel much more heavier when it's spinning.

-- In conclusion, this is a flexy wheel, and relatively durable (both the hub and trueness). Insofar as racing, these wheels are NOT up to par. If you go to any racing event, track, tri's or road, no one runs aerospoke. It's because they are much heavier than any standard wheel. For me personally, I let go of this wheel for my 32H 3-cross laced rim because i realized that i'd rather be more efficient when biking. Why spend all your energy spinning something heavier when something lighter will do.

Up to you whether the aesthetics/price/value ratio is worth it. For a year, for me, it was. Insofar as front or rear (to finally answer your question), it's really up to you and would probably be based on aesthetics since my assessment above pretty much applies to both the front and rear wheel.

the_don

Flex test----> https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/wheel/index.htm

and the results list---> https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/wheel/data.htm

SUMMARY
Most flexible (Aerospoke plastic wheel): 5.23mm deflection
Stiffest (new style Spinergy RevX 650c): 0.97mm deflection
Lightest (ADA track front wheel): 432 g
Heaviest (Ambrosio Ener n.m. disc): approx. 2500 g

devilshaircut

While I totally agree with this statement, I gotta say last night I saw a guy at the track last night doing pretty well with dual Aerospokes. I dunno who he was because he was in the more experienced set of riders, but I was extremely surprised to see those wheels at the track, much less two of them, much less being used by someone in an experienced category. I couldn't help but wonder how much faster he would have been going with regularly spoked wheels. In any case, it definitely caught my eye.

dansjustchillin

I started with the front and picked up the rear later. Now I have a matching set.

bicycle

wait guys what is an arrowspok?

Jabba Degrassi

A fashion accessory.