dunderhi

The standard joke from our Masters races was "where were the feed zones setup for the pursuit."

queerpunk

No, don't put a fork with a 29mm rake on your bike with a 72deg headtube angle. It will handle very, very sluggishly. Fork rake and head tube angle work against each other to bring a measurement called trail into the right range. Basically, low-rake forks are for steep headtube angles, and higher-rake forks are for shallower headtube angles.

Just use your Wabi as is on the track.

SBUndefeated201

I finished my first night of "official" track racing! No podiums or amazing finishes but stuck with the group (7 riders) and didn't come in last in any races so I consider that a success. I have a 48x14 racing in the "beginner" group. Some guys broke away fairly fast and at some points, my legs would be too tired to start sprinting on that gear. My question (I know will be subject to opinion and personal preference) is should I put a 16t in the back (I have it laying around) so I can spin more and respond to attacks better? This week seemed to be more endurance based so I assume next week will feature shorter races. Like I said, I can keep up with the riders on the 48x14 but attacking is rough

carleton

Awesome. I'm glad you had fun.

48x16 is a warmup gear. You'll spin like a hamster on a hamster wheel trying to keep up in races with that gear. Try 48 or 49x15. What chainrings and cogs do you own?

dunderhi

I started in the opposite direction. My first couple of races were with 47x15 and as the season progressed to as high as 50x14, but it also depended on the type of race and the type of racers. The 50x14 was good for keeping a very fast steady pace with advanced riders, but 47x14 was better for less advanced groups that didn't maintain a fast pace and tended to have lots a small accelerations. Unless you are going off the front, I think it's better to be a bit undergeared than overgeared. A 48x16 is probably too undergeared. A 48x15 might be a better choice.

SBUndefeated201

maybe I'll test it out again. it was fairly cold and windy so that could be part of it. I have a 44,46,48 and 13,14,16

SBUndefeated201

yeah getting a 15 might be a nice compromise

wens

What size track? I'd probably give 46-14 a shot, 4 inches smaller seems like a sensible change and doesn't require you to buy anything.

SBUndefeated201

it's a 333

Velocirapture

At the African Continental (Track) Champs last week, it was so hot (38 C), that they really did have a feed zone for the Madison! (not to mention 3 riders collapsing after a points race, 2 needing drips)

dudeyagnarbro

Any strong reason to chose one wheelset over the other? For racing at Hellyer.

- Reynolds SDV66 rims laced to Paul hubs, Sapim CX Ray spokes, tubular, 20 front, 24 rear.
- Ritchey branded Zipp 505 rims (58mm depth, non dimpled, aluminum brake track), Ritchey track hubs, clincher, 24 front and back.

Seems like tubular is a no brainer, but I'm not sure if the negative side effects of the 66mm depth on an outdoor track. Also partially drawn to the aluminum brake track on the 505, as I don't have road race wheels, and this route could at least give me a front race wheel for the road easily.

Thoughts? I'm a Cat 4, sprinter tendencies but mostly just looking for a general purpose race wheelset.

carleton

If you are going to sprint, then I'd only use rear wheels that have a proper 15mm nutted axle. Allen bolts are clean looking, but you'll need a chain tensioner to make sure they don't slide in the dropout during standing starts.

Tubular isn't a no brainer. There are pros and cons to using both tubular and clincher.

Rim depth vs wind really depends on the size of the rider. Smaller riders (ladies, jrs) may have issues handling anything deeper than a 404 on the front. Larger riders may be OK.

Do you have pics of these wheels? I didn't know that Ritchey made a track hub.

dudeyagnarbro

Regarding nuts/bolts, I know the 505/Ritchey set are allen bolts. Not sure about the Reynolds.

For rim depth, I'm 5'8", and weigh 165.

Photos:

Reynolds:


Ritchey:

carleton

Paul hubs are allen bolt.

High Flange Rear from Paul Component Engineering



It looks like the Ritchey hubs have seen a lot of use.

I think they are roughly the same. Go for the set that has the fewest miles. I think that tubular vs clincher is a bigger decision for you to make.

Remember: You don't have to buy these just because they are available and you can afford them The season won't start for 4+ months from now.

queerpunk

Get the Reynolds. They are nicer wheels than those Ritchey/Zipps.

No sense getting carbon wheels if you're going to clump 'em down with an aluminum brake track that have no benefits (only benefit is braking, and, well, just save up and get some road race wheels if you can; sharing gear between bikes can be a pain, you'll have to make sacrifices about tire choices, etc).

The depth of the Reynolds will be fine for you. If you weight 165 and aren't (yet) a powermonster then the allen bolts, while perhaps not ideal, will probably do you okay for a while.

dudeyagnarbro

Cool, thanks @queerpunk... that's what I was leaning towards as well. Is it not possible to get some sort of conversion for the Paul hubs to use regular nuts? And what exactly defines someone as a powermonster

queerpunk

to be a powermonster you have to be heavier than 165 or faster than a cat 4. or both.

Paul is a small company - try emailing them and seeing if they can give you any info about what you might need to convert. But before that, buy the wheels. And use them. If you have wheel slip, get a tensioner like carleton mentions. if you still have problems, then look into converting them to axle/nut.

carleton

dudeyagnarbro, are you prepared to deal with a tubular flat?

You basically have 2 options:

- Do it yourself
- Pay someone $30-60 per wheel (not counting the cost of the tire) and wait about a week.

I use both tubular and clincher. A lot of people who have never had tubular before get a flat and are kinda stymied about getting it repaired either due to the unexpected $100 flat or not having the expertise or setup to fix it themselves.

This is why tubulars aren't as popular on the road even though, by all accounts, they feel better.

If you know what you are getting into, then cool.

bouldergeek

Man, I hated slicing, patching and sewing up my tubulars as a 16 year old Junior. I still haven't felt the magical difference between good tubulars and good clinchers. But, on clinchers, I can repair a flat in 1/50th the time.


As a track n00b, I have a question: is it only history that keeps the track world from allowing quick release at least on the front? If I can descend the Galibier at 65MPH with QR, why can't i do a few laps at my local track?

carleton

Incidental contact with a tire can flip a quick release open.

Use an Allen head skewer. They are like $10 new.

dunderhi

Option 3

- Throw it out.

(because you have plenty of spares)

dunderhi

My last tubular repair was when I was a junior too.

Hopefully you know about not being allowed to have user readable electronics too.

carleton

Hahaha...

dunderhi

I was serious. I haven't repaired a tube ( clincher or tubular) in more than a decade. The pile of tubulars in my pic were the ones I picked up during the Christmas sales. They are mostly Vittoria Pista Evos and got them for $55-60 each.

Oldan Slo

Has anyone ever seen this happen or heard of it happening on the road?