Originally Posted by rruff
At a steady state the wheel weight will have no effect at all (ie same as bike/rider weight) unless you model down to the level of the power pulses within a pedal stroke. In that case the heavier wheels help ever so slightly... if you are figuring out to like 6 significant figures.
That only holds up if rotational mass proves to have no effect vs static weight, unless you are claiming that the drag increase due to added weight is exactly equal to the inertia increase due to added weight. Heavier things have more inertia, so they require more drag to slow them down.
edit: which reminds me, did the OP consider the extra drag caused by the bulge in the tires from the added weight or are we assuming correcting that with extra tire pressure?
