nycphotography

I'm packing things up to head out and I get the "hey lets go" email from the ride..

I was shocked to read






Is this for real? I've ridden my DV46's up and down Topanga Canyon, Tuna Canyon, Bear Mountain, around Lake Tahoe, Black Canton of the Gunnison, Durango to Silverton and back... You name it.

I know how to use the brakes (brake coast brake coast vs long slow boiling drag the brakes). I've never had an issue. I don't even have a set of B wheels I can put on the bike.

wtf?

rpenmanparker 

STBY

Seriously, I hope you can borrow what you need from a friend at the last minute. Not only wheels but brake pads you don't mind running on alloy wheels.

howheels

Carbon clinchers have been banned on the Levi Gran Fondo for years. This decision was based on the number of riders who became seriously injured as a result of rim failure, and has nothing to do with your personal track record using carbon clinchers. Search the issue and you'll find plenty of discussion dating back to 2012 when the ban first went into place.

velociraptor

https://www.zipp.com/_media/productre...nClinchers.pdf

https://bikehugger.com/posts/opinion-...is-gran-fondo/

And every week there's a new thread here about cheap Chinese carbon wheels...

Dan333SP

It's a better safe than sorry approach. Easier to ban all carbon clinchers than to say, "Only name-brand carbon wheels ridden by people under XYZ weight with experience descending steep sustained grades".

You'd surely be fine, but the former offensive lineman who shows up with $200 carbon clinchers he bought off eBay may go flying into a ravine when his rims de-laminate after riding the brakes too hard. Then he sues the event organizers because of some loophole in the safety waiver, and they have a big headache on their hands. Easier to just force everyone to use alloy wheels, as I'd bet other than you the majority of people riding carbon clinchers have a backup set of aluminum rims.

nycphotography

Yanno I wish they had put this big and bold on the registration page where I would have a) known about it (say because I had to click to acknowledge it before completing the reg) and b) been able to prepare accordnigly, rather than slip it into a routine looking email 3 hours before I'm out the door!!!!!!

nycphotography

So if I don't have alternate wheels will I get pulled? May as well stay home and watch football instead.

Dan333SP

Presumably you've already signed up/paid the entry fee and have a hotel and such lined up. That's a lot of $$$ spent on this to just bail because you need different wheels. Do you have any buddies you can borrow a set from? Failing that, I would call some shops in the Greenville area, explain the situation, and see if you can rent a pair of aluminum wheels for the day. I can't imagine a shop would charge more than $50 or so for that service, plus the cost of buying some brake pads if you don't have any for alloy rims.

You could always line up with the carbon clinchers and hope no one notices, which is certainly possible, but it'd be a headache if they tried to deny you entry into a rest stop or whatever because of the wheels.

velociraptor

Hyperbole much?

RShantz

It's been on their webpage and emails for quite a while. You just now decided to read the info.


I'm bummed about the rule also, but they have mentioned it many times so I'm afraid to test them (they seem serious) & use my carbon clinchers. Don't want to get turned away.

nycphotography

Not really. This is the debate I am having with myself.

a) Try riding the wheels I have and see what happens?

b) try finding a set of wheels to borrow between here and the airport. almost impossible in nyc.

c) rent and ride on crappy wheels.

d) stay home and watch football.

My only loss so far would be the event reg. All travel costs are "not yet irreversible".

PepeM

The horror!

velociraptor

Actually, just sounds like sour grapes.

nycphotography

Not on the home page Gran Fondo Hincapie | October 22nd, 2016 | Greenville, SC

Not on the "rides" page The Rides | Gran Fondo Hincapie

Don't recall it on the registration page (though that page is no longer active so I cant check)

Just went and checked... not in either of the two eventbrite emails I received when registering.

So while it may have been somewhere, on further review I don't feel it was anyplace I should have noticed it.

nycphotography

What exactly does jealousy have to do with this?

velociraptor

sour grapes
|ˌsour ˈɡrāps| used to refer to an attitude in which someone adopts a negative attitude to something because they cannot have it themselves.

- New Oxford American Dictionary

Dan333SP

It is technically a ride on open public roads, so they can't actually stop you from riding the route and probably wouldn't stop you from entering the rest areas or finish area if you have your registration number and just left the bike out of sight.

Still, they have the rule for a reason, even if it doesn't apply to your specific situation necessarily. I'd just try to find some "crappy" wheels and do it anyway, it's not going to detract from your enjoyment of the ride and if you really needed the extra performance of carbon aero wheels you'd be doing a real race, not a fondo.

nycphotography

So what is the thing that someone else can have that I cannot have myself (thus prompting the claim that the grapes must be sour anyways)?

nycphotography

But... but... but... I was planning to bring home the Canyon for the overall. I trained 3 whole months. I can stomp Lance. I will crush the pros. Immagonnawinnit. lol

I have an old set of Rolf Elans that are even lighter, but they have a "bit" of a hop thanks to a NYC potholecrater. I never bothered to fix them once I realized there was no point ever taking the DV46's off. Don't think I still have the brake pads for them. Braked pulsing across that wheel hop is likely more sketchy than riding the 46's

Guess I'll spend Friday trying to bum some wheels in SC.

69chevy

https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bop/5835162927.html

??

woodcraft

That's a drag, & I'd be bummed as well. (Maybe another check in the tubular column?)



Just as a general question, since it's been brought up:

are sour grapes used to make whine?

nycphotography

Sometimes, but it's not a requirement. I believe I've demonstrated that I can make perfectly good whine without sour grapes.

wheelreason

You may not have a clue, but you ARE entertaining, I'll give you that.

RShantz

It is on the homepage under "safety first" and I remember seeing it on emails.


I noticed as before September as evidenced by this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...-question.html

RShantz

Again, I don't like the rule either just stating that it was communicated. Maybe just not loud enough to get your attention. It got a lot of my buddies attention though w/out me telling them.