I'm looking into putting together a new wheelset (clinchers) for myself. I'll use it for hard training rides (race rides) and for races (mostly Cat 5 crits). I also have an omnium in the next couple of months and plan to use it for that too. I'm 6' and weigh in the 175lb (~79.5kg) range.

Here's what I'm thinking: If most of the aero benefit comes from the front wheel and most of the stress is placed on the rear wheel, it might not make sense to use the same wheels (yeah, spoke counts are different) for both the front and back. So, I think I might try to put together a mixed wheelset. That is, an aero (maybe lower spoke count?) wheel on front and a not-as-aero, stiff, light wheel on the back.

I want something aero for the front. Maybe something like a Rolf Elan Vigor or maybe an American Classic 420. In the back I don't care as much about a wheel being aero, but I want it to be stiff as hell. I'm thinking something like Ksyrium SSC.

Anybody run mixed wheelsets? I don't recall seeing many people running mixed wheelsets (pros or people at my races). Anybody have advice about what wheels would work well together? 53-11?

Are you saying the Vigor is not stiff enough for the rear? I rode with a guy Wednesday who was using Vigors and he was telling me how much he liked them because of how stiff they were. Also, I know my Campy Eurus are stiff as hell and fairly aero too. Seems to me that you could get everything you want in a set of Vigors, Eurus, or Hed alps

I'm not sure if the Vigors are stiff enough for me. From what I understand, the Ksyriums are about as stiff as it gets without getting too heavy. I would like to go with Ksyriums front and back, but I hate that the Ksyriums aren't very aero.

To be more general, I guess I'm wondering why people don't mix and match wheelsets. Take a look at the American Classic wheels. It seems to me that a 420 on the front and a 350 on the back might make a better wheelset (for the riding I've described above) than two 420s or two 350s.

labratmatt,

Your idea makes sense and I've always wondered why rear wheels are made weaker/less laterally stiff than fronts? (although when I stand out of the saddle I stress the front wheel more than normal conditions)

The only problem I see....LOL.....Is that Roadies are a obssessive compulsive group of people that always have to "match". You are talking about a group of people that typically get their panties in a bunch when their socks don't match their watch for example.

P.S. Bontrager uses a heavier rim on the rear of their wheelsets and the Rold Vigor RS has a rear rim that is 50 grams heavier than the front. So some companies are trying to address this issue.

I said this before, I ride wheelsets with equal number of spokes front and rear (same rim) and all my problems involve the rear wheel only. On the other hand, Front wheel is indestructible in my experience.

At 6', 175, the Vigors will be stiff enough for you. Certainly close enough to the Ksyriums to not make a noticeable difference.

55/Rad

I don't think mixing wheelsets are going to improve anything. You are a cat 5...and you are going to win or lose your races based on fitness and experience. What you need are a very good dependable wheelset like Ksyrium or Bontrager Race Lites or whatever. There you have all you need to succeed in training and racing. Then it's just a matter of training hard and spanking your competition and having fun. I wouldn't get too technical with your equipment right now as long as you have what you need...a good frame, groupset and wheels. That's my opinion...and it's your money.

As j-jr and others said, the Vigor's and Eurus will be plenty stiff, and I might add to that the Zonda's and Elan's too. I own '03 Zonda's, (same aero spokes as Eurus' and are lighter than new Zonda's) and a very fit cycling friend of mine who races on occasion owns the Eurus', Vigor's, and Elan's. Neither of us have any gripes about them.

I think people get ridiculous about the "stiffness" thing - whether it's wheels or anything else on the bike. At some point, you have to get over the psyche-out and get on with putting the miles in.

As for mixed wheelsets, there might be something to that idea, and I've often thought about trying it just as a lark. :)

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned wheels specifically. Seems like that distracted everybody. I realize that the Rolf Elan Vigors are stiff and should be okay. Like I said, I should have mentioned specific wheels.

It seems to me that you need different qualities in each wheel (front and back). That is, maybe a front wheel should be more aero whereas the rear wheel can be less aero (lighter) but stiffer. Also, if you have a lighter rear wheel (beacuase it's less aero) you can get the feeling that your wheels are spinning up quickly. That's a great feeling.

In addition, I know that at my racing level it's all about getting into race shape and equipment isn't as important. I completely agree.

You might be right about the stiffness. I don't have all that much experience with high-end wheels. I know that my wheels now are pretty flexy (The rear wheel rubs the brake pads when I'm spriting up a hill. The wheel is setup properly too. True as can be and the spokes are properly tensioned.) and I want to get as far away from them as possible. From my understanding, stiffness is the best thing to look for in a wheel. This is more important than aerodynamics or weight (within reason). The stiffer the wheel, the better the power transfer.

Yeah, rear wheel is always going to have more lateral flex. I have an article that shows they are typically 40-60% more flexible (laterally) than the front wheel.

I haven't tried it myself, but a stiff rim and plenty of spokes on the back should help.

Oh yeah, flange spacing on the rear hub matters. You want as much distance between them as possible.

you'll either accelerate more quickly or you wont. you cant have a 'false' sense of acceleration

Sure you can. If you are heavy (you and your bike) but have light wheels, they'll feel like they spin up quickly before you actually get the bike going.

relative to what? as long as the tires have traction, their rotation translate into work. you cannot upgrade Your bike so that you'll feel as if the wheels are spinning faster than they actually are.

unless you are playing with the bicycle upside down....yeah sure they'll spin easier and more quickly

redfooj. I guess you're right. I was thinking about the difference in the way the spin up feels when you switch from a heavy wheel to a light wheel.

labratmatt -

Interesting idea. I was recently thinking along the same lines. Cosmic Elite on the front - 20 bladed radial spokes, very aero. But I'm nervious that the 20 spokes on the rear of the set may not hold my 230# arse. So I was thinking of building up a 32 or 36 hole CXP33 laced to a black 105 hub. Remove the labels and they'd actually look pretty similar.

A. Gonzalez who was on OLN this last sunday won on a mixed set of mav wheels and the back was more aro then the front.

I saw that too, but in many cases it is because they get neutral support from the mavic guys when they get a flat and they can't always match the wheel. Probably what happened here.

Yeah, that's probably what happened. Last time we posted a pic of a mixed wheelset Ed073 correct us on why it was like that. Answer: Neutral support.

http://www.damonrinard.com/wheel/

Here is that article I was talking about.

If you want your rear wheel to have maximum lateral stiffness you won't find it in a factory set. For some reason all rear factory wheels deflect more (due to dish and spoke count)

Aerodynamics on the rear wheel matters (just not as much I guess) even on a stand a spinnning wheel creates drag due to the spokes traveling thru the air.

[the following is info from the zipp website]

'The lateral stiffness of a wheel is generally defined by the spokes. It is easy to measure and compare the lateral stiffness of a rim only by cantilevering it off of a table and pressing down on it, but a built wheel is a different story. The only connection between rim and hub is the spokes, and since only half of the spokes are loaded at any one time (roughly) a decreasing count affects stiffness very quickly. The best way to combat this stiffness issue is to build a deeper rim, which has two advantages, one the spoke angle is greater placing it more in a direction of resistance to movement, and the spokes can be tensioned higher."

I think the author is forgetting about rear wheels such as Campy Neutron, Hyperon, Proton, some Ritchey's, and others that use Velocity Aerohead OC rims, etc. They all use offset rear rims which helps with lateral strength.