Originally Posted by
achoo
The real-world trade off is usually aero vs weight.
And aero wins in every situation other than a pure, steep climb.
Whether the weight is rotating or not isn't significant in real-world cycling situations. The rotational energy needed to accelerate 500g of wheel weight from 22 to 29 is under 17 joules. And that energy is stored - it's not lost, and will help you maintain speed through periods of coasting (as long as you don't brake...)
Aerodyamic gains are pure gold - it's constant, and it's a real savings as energy lost to drag isn't conserved like kinetic energy stored in rotating wheels is.
I think you are misunderstanding what I am trying to say. I never disputed what you said, but I don't quite get the relevance of your quote. I do agree that aero is usually more important, but that is not what we are conversing about. The topic is rotational mass, and how it factors riding.