As some of you might remember, for a while I've been rocking a 16-spoke wheel up front on my fixie. One of these to be exact. Very light, very aero, very sexy. Overall, I'm still pretty impressed with the durability and general quality of the wheel. Still, it was always a bit squishy, and over the last couple of weeks as my mileage has shot up, it started creaking and making other weird sounds and I started to worry. I'd just rather not have a catastrophic wheel failure on my way to work. So I ordered in a Shimano 105/Mavic machine-built wheel through the LBS and when it came in today, I put a tire on it, threw it on the bike, and gave it the run around town.

The new wheel is noticeably stiffer, as in quite a bit, and one thing I immediately noticed is how much more secure it feels in the turns. Road bumps from MO's crappy roads are a little worse, but oh well. Overall, I definitely dig the improved handling that comes from twice as many spokes and a stiffer wheel.

Similar experiences, anyone?