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Old 03-29-09 | 02:54 PM
  #21  
Al1943
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 9,438
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From: Oklahoma

Bikes: Trek 5500, Colnago C-50

Originally Posted by operator
Rofl, that's pretty comical. A downhill roll is empirical and unbiased? Give me a break. There are REAL legit studies done in a wind tunnel on the # of watts saved/speed on most of the popular oem wheelsets out there.

Bicycling magazine, don't make me laugh. Want to see a real test? http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-15505311.html
That really is good information but all of the wheels tested are compared at a constant 50 km/hr. How many people here will be riding at a constant 50 km/hr? And how many can translate wattage saved to speed gained as compared to a conventional wheel at realistic speeds? The "Bicycling Magazine" tests were conducted several years back when that magazine was more technical than it is now. Their downhill tests were conducted in a controlled environment with several professional riders riding all of the wheels through rotation so that all wheels were ridden the same number of times by all riders. I no longer have a copy of the article but remember that the speeds varied from zero at the top of the hill to, I think, about 35 mph. In other words, real world conditions. The speed gains were all less than 0.5 mph.
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