Originally Posted by
Smokehouse
Like any other vehicle...tires/wheels make a big difference.
I went from heavy, cheaper 19mm wheels to 25% lighter 23mm wheels. The brand is irrelevant (although I'm sure if you look it up...you can trace my posts). Better hubs, better spokes and a lighter/wider wheel made an immediate impact on ride quality. Not only was the ride smoother, but the handling and braking improved as did top speed. I did some "runs" where I can coast down a large hill, mostly out of the wind (trees on both sides). A simple "coast test" showed me an immediate pickup of a couple mph (I've made this run many times and have a good amount of data). It was immediately noticeable how much faster my bike picked up speed when coasting.
Now...I don't go around coasting all over the place but I wanted a simple test. It is noticeable how better they ride. Like a good saddle, or comfortable shoes or nice kit...you can tell.
My wheels set me back $625. Not cheap but no king's ransom. Had I dropped $2500 and got the same results, I may feel screwed. For my $$...it was a solid upgrade.
Are you attributing the speed gain in your coast down test to better aero dynamics or what? What did you do to equalize differences in rolling resistance that could be caused by different tires and tubes, rim widths and tire pressure? And on your old wheels, do you know for sure that the bearing tension was set optimally and that they were in good enough condition to provide a suitable comparison?
And how many runs are you talking, anyway? I have seen enough well documented coast down tests to know that very minor differences in body position and wind can cause large differences in results. For one person to assemble meaningful data it would required a lot of time and effort with a very focused and disciplined tester.
Per the OPs original question which was regarding $2000 wheels vs. $400 dollar ones, how do you know that your simple test would not have yielded similar results had you compared your original wheels with an identical set that had been built with a 23mm wide touring rim with freshly serviced hubs at little to no additional cost?