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DONE with these rims! ugh

Old 08-24-08, 06:24 PM
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DONE with these rims! ugh

So I need some new rims. This is now the second event that I bent my front Alex DA22 rim (and about the 5th time its gone out of true in 400 miles). I was in a triathlon today heading for a big hill and I can hear it dragging the damn brake pad. I stopped and re-centered the brake a bit enough to keep the drag to a minimum, but thats IT.

However, I cannot afford big money wheels. Realize my "tri" bike cost me $500, I need some double duty wheels (training/racing) that aren't pieces of crap, and are worth maybe spending the $100 for those aero disc covers mentioned elsewhere in this forum. Either way I am DONE with Alexrims. I was looking at Fulcrum Racing 7 and maybe 5 if I can get a good deal. They look cool and might make it easier to identify my bike on a rack, and seem to have good reviews. Any experiences with them, or other suggestions?
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Old 08-24-08, 08:13 PM
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Dude, head to Slowtwitch Classifieds section. There are tons of wheels on there this time of year, some pretty good. I just sold the Shimano RS550s WITH the Ultegra 12-25 Cassette (pulled from a new P2C and I never rode them) for $150 shipped to the East Coast (not that they are great wheels, but just an indication of some of the deals). And there's a huge amount of HED 3s on there right now.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?forum=2;
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Old 08-24-08, 08:35 PM
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If you are looking for a decent used pair, I agree Slowtwitch classifieds are the way to go. If you want new on a budget, check out Neuvation Wheels: https://www.neuvationcycling.com/. I've hear nothing but good things about these very reasonably priced racing wheels. If the Neuvations are still out of your price range, check out the standard house wheels at Nahsbar or Performance. These aren't going to be the lightest or the coolest, but I understand they are fairly bullet proof.
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Old 08-24-08, 09:21 PM
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Thanks guys, slowtwitch sounds like a good way to go. The neuvations are in my range as well. I was thinking like $250ish, which they are close to.

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Old 08-26-08, 03:23 PM
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Why not the Easton Vista or whatever they are calling this year, seen them often on Ebay brand new going for around $150-$200, lighter and just as deep as my brand new $250 Mavic Cosmic Elites off the bay.

Since they were stock on many of the Cervelos they were replaced by the fancy wheels without ever being ridden.
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Old 08-26-08, 04:35 PM
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Originally Posted by bvfrompc
Why not the Easton Vista or whatever they are calling this year, seen them often on Ebay brand new going for around $150-$200, lighter and just as deep as my brand new $250 Mavic Cosmic Elites off the bay.

Since they were stock on many of the Cervelos they were replaced by the fancy wheels without ever being ridden.
Good call thats what I'm looking for. I'll check them out...
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Old 08-26-08, 05:29 PM
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Shimano's aluminum clinchers don't look that great initially on paper but have a few things about them I really like...
1. Great rim shape, it is 21mm wide, which counter intuitively is more aerodynamic, it creates a smoothe bridge between the tire and the rim(a bullet instead of a lightbulb like most rims), and allows the system to outperform most 27-30mm deep rims.
2. Bladed spokes
3. Good hubs, Shimanos whole line of wheels uses Shimano hubs which are known for their reliability and smoothe rolling.

I am 135lbs so if you are bigger than me, you may want to think twice about the Shimanos. In which case, I would go with neuvations.
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Old 08-26-08, 05:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Triguy
Shimano's aluminum clinchers don't look that great initially on paper but have a few things about them I really like...
1. Great rim shape, it is 21mm wide, which counter intuitively is more aerodynamic, it creates a smoothe bridge between the tire and the rim(a bullet instead of a lightbulb like most rims), and allows the system to outperform most 27-30mm deep rims.
2. Bladed spokes
3. Good hubs, Shimanos whole line of wheels uses Shimano hubs which are known for their reliability and smoothe rolling.

I am 135lbs so if you are bigger than me, you may want to think twice about the Shimanos. In which case, I would go with neuvations.
only a little bigger, 155...
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Old 08-26-08, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Triguy
Shimano's aluminum clinchers don't look that great initially on paper but have a few things about them I really like...
1. Great rim shape, it is 21mm wide, which counter intuitively is more aerodynamic, it creates a smoothe bridge between the tire and the rim(a bullet instead of a lightbulb like most rims), and allows the system to outperform most 27-30mm deep rims.
Do you have any numbers to support this claim? Everything I've seen show that you don't see noticeable aero benefits until you get at least 30 mm deep.

I do agree with the bulging statement. You do want to get tires that once inflated are the same width as the rims. Assuming that is true of your 30 mm rim tire combo, I don't believe these would be more aero.
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Old 08-26-08, 07:20 PM
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I agree that a 30mm deep wheel with the right tire will beat out the shimano wheels. However, it gets tricky here, I know 0.00 30mm deep wheels that are wider than 19.5mm at the rim. The problem becomes finding a tire thats not poop slow. Continental, Bontrager and Hutchingson all make 20.0mm wide tires, but all of them have bad enough rolling resistance to not be worth their aerodynamic advantage.

To make things more complex, depending on your size and your type of racing, you may choose one over the other. A smaller racer in shorter events would be better off with the 30mm rim with maybe a Bontrager aero wing tire. A larger racer in a longer event would probably be better off with the shimano and a good tire like a Vittoria Corsa CX or Michelin Pro Race or Bontrager Race X lite pro.

Here is a test, you can see the shimano tubular 24mm rim kicks ass, and the Shimano R560 is not that far off the Xentis Mark 1, ahead of lightweight ventoux, and ahead of the Fulcrums the OP mentioned by a solid 2 watts.

I think the Tour test isn't the best wheel test ever(the Hed 3 result is atypical from the 3 or 4 oher data sets I've seen), but it definately offers some good baseline numbers.



Best budget option would be as follows I suppose. A Shimano R560 in the rear, with a wheel cover and Vittoria Corsa CX tire; paired with a 30mm deep rim with a Bontrager 20mm Aerowing TT tire on the front.
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Old 09-01-08, 08:08 PM
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I feel your pain, my road bike came with ALX 298R wheels, and I have been riding them over 2,000 miles now, and they are terrible!!

I get them trued, they go out of true within 2 rides, and even immediately after being trued the back wheel flexes so much it rubs the brake pads so I have been riding the last 1,000 miles with the rear quick release on the caliper flipped up so I have pretty much no rear brakes! I don't have money to buy new ones since I bought my Cervelo tri bike so i'm milking them until next season.
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Old 09-01-08, 08:28 PM
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GVH has a pair of Fulcrum Racing 7's for 250...

https://www.gvhbikes.com/
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Old 09-01-08, 08:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Triguy
Here is a test, you can see the shimano tubular 24mm rim kicks ass, and the Shimano R560 is not that far off the Xentis Mark 1, ahead of lightweight ventoux, and ahead of the Fulcrums the OP mentioned by a solid 2 watts.

I think the Tour test isn't the best wheel test ever(the Hed 3 result is atypical from the 3 or 4 oher data sets I've seen), but it definately offers some good baseline numbers.

That chart often comes up here in BF - it should be taken with a grain of salt as there's more to wheels than aerodynamics (says the aero weenie). There are certainly situations when one would benefit from a pair of Mavic R-Sys' over a pair of Zipp 808's. So don't conclude that the wheels to the right are just crap - there's more to it than that.

They also used a line graph, which is inappropriate in this situation, which just makes them look silly.
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Old 09-01-08, 08:43 PM
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I actually ended up getting a real sweet deal on a pair of lightly used Fulcrum Racing 5's from a BFer in classifieds. All the suggestions were great, it just so happened I hit on the wheels I liked right here for a great deal.

At this point I also decided my Shimano Sora setup is not particularly holding up to well for me either, so after my last event for the season this saturday, my bike is getting a Campagnolo Veloce lobotomy!
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