The only thing that your test proves is that it's pretty easy to spin an unweighted wheel that has virtually zero load on it. Throw your car on a chassis lift and manually spin one of the non-drive wheels- we'll wait for you....

All done? Pretty darn easy huh? That must mean that you can propel a 3000 lb. object with the 3 watts of power that you generated with your (presumably) dominant arm, yes?

No. It all changes once the wheels hit the pavement. Have you ever seen slow-motion footage of a drag race (funny car, dragster, etc.) tire? Believe it or not, the same forces are at work in a bicycle's rear wheel- albeit on a much smaller scale.



Depending on the intended purpose, higher-end (let's call them stiff) wheelsets, essentially, deflect less when torqued under load. They're better at resisting the "twist" that always (yes always, however small) occurs when rotational forces are applied. If the wheel is stiff and aerodynamic, they also move through the air more easily due to a lower coefficient of drag (owing to their high profile, etc.) Many often note an "easy spin-up" with climbing wheels. In my limited experience with this type of wheel, it seems that the sheer lightness of the wheel would be the main contributing factor here. In either case, the goal of higher-end products if to minimize the amount of wasted energy.


Spin-up is a real phenomenon that can be measured and quantified. Whether or not you can produce enough power to objectively note a difference between wheelsets is a personal issue that is best addressed with more training.