Always leave "race wheels on"
 

I notice many bike racers have separate wheels for their racing bike, and will often swap them out for regular wheels. I and a few others however, just leave racing wheels on all the time, mostly because it's a minor PIA to keep changing wheels out, and I don't care to purchase a second set. Am I damaging my wheels for doing this? What is recommended?

Some context might help too: My racing wheels are Mavic Cosmic Elite S rims. I also only use my road racing bike for races or paved trail riding (or clearer streets). When I commute, run errands, ride with non-racing friends and family, I use a hybrid bike, so I don't even let my racing wheels take hits from pot holes and nasty streets.

I keep mine on all the time. Of course my race wheels are used HED Jets I got for $650 and not $2000 Zipps. If that were the case, I may swap them out.

for me, more than anything, it's about having the best tires I can on race day. and since I prefer to race on tubulars riding those day in and out isn't something I'm interested in. that said I have several pair of race wheels.

I don't have separate race and training wheels, so I leave my race wheels on by default. For me, a new set of wheels would cost as much, or more, than my bike cost new.

+1 to exactly the above aside from the fact that I only have one set of race wheels

I ride Roval 60 clinchers and I just leave them on during training and racing. I do take them off in the winter and put on aluminum wheels. I would like to eventually get some tubulars for just racing, and if I get to that point then I would just use them for race day. I haven't yet been able to justify buying an expensive set of wheels that I'll only get to enjoy on race day though so I'll see if I ever get to that point.

When I only had Open Pros, I just rode those all the time, and changed the tires when they got old.

When I raced on fancy tubulars, they were race-day only - mostly to save the tires, but also I didn't want to flat while training on them (and get stranded).

After I got tired of paying a lot (of money & time) to fix a flat tubular, I got a 404 clincher that I use for racing and training. And I throw the front 404 tubular on for races - once it flats I'll probably get another 404 clincher for the front. **** tubulars.

Winter wheels make sense. I keep my road bike on an indoor trainer for the winter, and use the original wheels that came with the bike on the trainer. However, I don't want to use the indoor training wheels outdoors, since the treads become unsafe for street riding (and I don't want to keep buying treads). I also notice the indoor trainers can give your wheels quite a beating, so separate rims for that makes sense.

This is me.

it is so fred to ride everyday on race wheels. any respectable racer has:

winter wheels (on his winter bike with fenders), aluminum rims, set up with at least 25mm tires and barely any brake track remaining

everyday training wheels, aluminum rims, set up with at least 25mm tires, these are also used for weekday worlds or training races

indoor training wheels that make the winder wheels look brand new

super light and aero climbing race wheels that are tubulars

super deep carbon aero tubulars for crits and flat road races

ever super deeper carbon aero or tri spoke front carbon tubular wheel for TTs

carbon tubular rear disc for TTs

new wide rim wheelset, carbon, tubular, for racing on windy days

carbon clinchers with tubeless tires mounted on them that would take 3 shop workers hours to remove

Right about here is where you lost me.


If you have extra wheels, you'll likely save your race wheels for race day and hard rides.

BRO, you totes forgot the sweet fixie wheels for long Tyler Hamilton-style fixed gear hill sessions.

And if you're not rich, you might say to yourself, "hey look, my bike has wheels on it that didn't cost more than my last three months rent combined, and they still roll!" And then go race.

D'oh!

I train on my wheels that go into the wheel truck/wheel pit. So, do I train on race wheels?

i don't train on my race wheels because the tires are super fast racing tires and only last 1000-2000 miles (but can fall pray to small slivers of glass and rocks). Why risk flatting a nice tubbie tire in training? Also it's not a real pain to change wheels. Change break pads, close breaks, adjust rd.

from the bay area.... so are you are riding a Lightweight disc / Fernwheg, or RZR 92s?

I've got two sets of wheels. Alloy and carbon. For the most part I just leave the carbon wheel on (racing wheels, training wheels, whatever) unless I know I am going to be doing a lot of climbing. The alloys have the 11-28 on them and I am too lazy to swap the cassettes when I know I can swap the wheels and brake pads quicker. The alloys are 23mm wide and the carbons are 25mm wide and both run 25s which is a nice treat for me (~190-195 lbs).

Race Wheels should be only Race wheels or training day wheels when the agenda is to replicate a race day. For every day riding and training, use a heavier set of wheels and tires . This makes your race wheel set feel even lighter come race day.
On the issue of tires, you must have the best tires possible on race day, if you have sliver cuts or the tires are worn, this is not good. It's acceptable to have a race mishap but an equipment failure because you are using your race equipment is not good on a race day where you are ready.

That is the decision to make, but if you race you need race equipment and training everyday equipment. There really is no two ways about it, keep your race equipment in excellent shape and then you'll not have to worry about it on race day.

I have one set of wheels for my race bike. Those wheels have Continental GP4000S tires on them. I train and race on them. That's pretty much it.

I never train with my race wheels on but I always train with my race face on! Oh yeah, gotta be ready to hit those KOMs with my big heavy clinchers.

You forgot the 3 pair of carbon cross sew-ups hanging in my garage too

Wheels are generally pretty durable nowadays. I save my race wheels mainly to save the tires and at some level to save the cassettes. I also like to train on heavier wheels so that the race wheels feel that much more nimble.

Since I always remove the front wheel for transport to races, and for the past few weeks removing the rear wheel, I just leave the training wheels in the garage and bring two sets of race wheels.

It also helps that I rarely train at the moment so the bike sits in the garage most of the time, wheel-less. I just grab the bike, put it in the car, toss the wheels in, and I'm packed.

I'm with you - both CAAD10s have Fulcrum Racing 1s fitted with Conti GP4000s - for training, racing and coffee-shop rolls. If I did ever buy some real u-beaut carbon tubs, I'd keep them for race day, but until then, the R1s are proving to be good, reliable and high enough performance all-rounders for my use.

cheers

I used to have those $100 super roll resistant Bontrager's on my race wheels and almost cried when I had to change them out. I just have some cheapish Vittoria's on them now. I'm probably losing some speed from it, oh well.