slvoid

I actually took the decals off the litespeed, cause I was tired of being the "litespeed" guy. Now I'm just "plain old bike" guy.

damocles1

Don't really need a link as it was relayed to me by HealthNet's DS. We've been friends for a LONG time and he lives (literally) around the corner.

Oh, and what's Gord going to say in an interview, "My wheels suck and I hate them..." ?

Some people like theirs...good for them. I just didn't...

WheresWaldo

You need to try the Veloflex tubulars. The cat's pajamas, smoother than the Conti's.

branman1986

that's pretty much the cliffs notes version of what I've read across lots of different forums

iab

Is there any place in the world to get these under $70 per tire?

slvoid

Biketiresdirect has the veloflex tubies at $80, its only $10 more.

rjjasick

I read a review of the New Bontrager XXX Lite Carbon Clinchers.

https://www.bontrager.com/Road/Wheelw...heels/5802.php
$2 grand. 1350 grams.

https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fu...13&status=True

rruff

Hey, I apologize for going overboard. Looking back at my posts, I see that I definately was. From your excellent avatar I knew you had a sense of humor, and didn't think you'd take offence... but I shouldn't have used you as a springboard into a rant about... commercialism, consumerism, whatever...

Though I don't own them, it is the nature of bike parts that they get used up and worn out pretty quickly *if* you ride a lot... and I know this from about 100,000 miles of bike riding and racing. I don't know what "riding carefully" means... it doesn't sound like fun to me, but I suppose that if you ride carefully they *could* last a long time... if you are lucky. I feel lucky that I haven't even crashed once in the last two years... probably because I haven't been racing. But I have crashed hard at least 20 times... and many bike (and a couple of body) parts have been broken. Haven't been hit by any cars, though...

Most new technology (in any industry) takes awhile before they get the design sorted out... and some promising ideas eventually get scrapped because they don't work well. For that reason alone I'd consider full carbon clinchers "experimental". Nothing wrong with being an early adopter... none at all... but I wouldn't *count* on them being long lasting... even if well cared for. They haven't been around long enough to know.

I'm an ME too (or more accurately I used to be)... so sure, it makes a little more sense that you'd like to have the new stuff and you can figure out a way to afford it. If you have a full time job you should be well above "lower middle class"... but in NYC maybe not.

I'm not into box rims, round spokes, and crappy tires either. I think that if anybody wishes to optimize their aero wheel performance budget should go for 30mm aluminum rims (and the Niobiums only weigh 460g) with oval spokes, and Campy or Shimano hubs... and if you wish to spend more money you can get lighter hubs. There isn't much difference between those and the best wheels... ~5W. With high sidewinds you can get a better boost from deeper rims, but they are more difficult to handle as well.

slvoid

I used to live in communist china, so I call this making up for all those years of oppressive communist lifestyle under an iron fist.

A lot of people consider me stupid for diving into intersections with my disc brakes and using my ultegra shifters like a formula 1 car. I figure I've shifted my ultegras more in the past year than most people would in about 10 years of riding their road bike. Granted the shifters don't shift as well since I've put about 70-80,000 shifts on it, plus crashed directly on them quite a few times but hey, back when I bought them, ultegra 9 speed was pretty expensive, now I can buy a new pair for like, 100 bucks off ebay. Some people baby their stuff, I use it, I break it, and by the time I'm ready to buy it again, the price would've dropped considerably.

Well considering that the 2006 reynolds clinchers are 3rd generation in house and probably 5th or 6th generation technology, I think that's pretty mature. Not completely, but mature enough. Believe me, in NYC, unless you happen to be in the finance, medical, or IT industries, engineering's pretty low on the totem pole.

To be honest, I didn't like the look of the niobiums (does anyone buy a $60,000+ sports coupe and not consider looks at all?) plus for a few days more salary, I could've gotten some zipp 303's on sale which are slightly better, then I figured, for just another few more day's salary, I can move up to some nicer wheels, which is only offered in carbon, believe me if there were a cheaper aluminium alternative, I'd go for it.

The thing is, wheels are like anything else. The first time you double the price, you get a huge increase in performance, the 2nd time you double the price, that increase diminishes exponentially. So doing the math that way, @ 2.5x the price of the niobiums with cx-ray spokes and some nice hubs, I'm basically looking at a set of very aero carbon clinchers, it all makes sense. If you need an example of ridiculous, look at the pagani zonda, you're paying something like $300,000 MORE on top of the base price of the car to get an increase of around 50hp in a car that already has 600+.

If we went the other way, we'll all be riding shimano sora and 105 components, and I want a show of hands of how many people here have tiagra, if not ultegra and dura ace components on their bikes, because none of you are getting your money's worth. Would that be an accurate statement?

slvoid

What's the difference between that and a pair of cheap rolf elan's at 1300 grams?

2manybikes

I hear the street value for used epi pens is pretty good down there.




I would just call that good training.

DrPete 

$1100.

slvoid

I will not trade away my girlfriend's life for a pair of wheels!

Unless...

slvoid

Exactly!
That's not deep dish... that's not even dish!

2manybikes

very tempting wheels !!!

legstwelve

tubulars though.

rruff

Oh no... my wheels have Shimano 2200 hubs... that is *below* Sora level! They are actually pretty nice looking (black) and they spin. True... but I'm just waiting for new rims and spokes to come in so I can lace up some Dura Ace hubs. The rest of the bike is Dura Ace with Veloce shifters... Ti frame... yes very extravagant, I know (except for the shifters)... Some Reynolds carbon wheels would look very nice on it...

Vinokurtov

Spoken like a true gentleman.

Not being a shill for Reynolds, but I've got their Alta Race wheels and also a set of Nobiums built with the same spoke count by Mike Garcia. They are within a few grams of each other, but the Reynolds rims are noticeably stiffer for climbing and sprinting. If you were over 140, I wouldn't do less than 24/28 on the Nobiums, and at the price folks are dumping the Reynolds right now, it's hard to beat if you're a Shimano guy.

Now if you want truly stiff and aero in alu, and give a rats about weight, find a set of the original Campy Shamals.

And if you must have the Lightweights...buy a Canyon 9.0 SL and part it out. E4999 ($6500 us) gets you a fully pimped Record bike with Lightweights. That's $2900 for the rest of the bike at the current rate for the wheels.

Fearthis

I wasn't even looking to buy wheels, but yesterday on an impulse I picked up some brand new 06 Reynolds Composite Stratus DV carbon clinchers.

The LBS I deal with gave them to me for $1200 Cdn taxes in. The only downside to the Reynolds from a purchasing perspective is that they do not come with skewers. While I have plenty of spares I will now need some that are appropriate for this wheelset.

DigitalRJH

Or you could go with the Aeolus 5.0's. The website lists them as the same price as the 6.5's, but you would think they would be less....

msheron

I can almost do you a entire bike build for that budget. I don't even know if I know of wheels that can cost that much. Don't get me wrong I know they exist somewhere. It is just the places I hang out there is no such. You dead set against tubes so I can't even comment. On your budget the new Fulcrum 0 is what I would opt for for $1200 or so.

waterrockets 

If someone forced me to spend that kind of money on wheels, I'd spend it all on as much Zipp as I could get.

Nagedzi

Personally, I think I'd get a set of Zipp 606 clinchers--with a 404 front and 808 rear. As far as wheels go that are eligible for UCI racing, this is a flippin' fast set. I haven't heard of much breakage in the clincher version versus the occasional stories of woe I've heard about the tubular. I would suspect that the aluminum hoop would provide additional strength in impact.

I have a set of HED Alps and have been happy with them. I know of several people that use them year round for training, without problem. If you do time trials, as well, it certainly wouldn't hurt to get a set of Alps with a rear disc and still come in under $2000.

I agree with you going with clinchers as not all of us have a support crew following us around. As you no doubt know, a good clincher wheel coupled with an excellent tire will have an equal or lower rolling resistance than the best tubulars. It may not have the 'feel' of a tubular, but for most courses can be just as fast or faster. I think I read that the decreased rolling resistance of, say a Michelin Pro2 Race over an average tubular tire will trump the tubular until you get to an 8-9% climb. In that case, the advantage of the lower weight of the tubular will start to benefit you more. Here is an interesting article about RR: https://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-1503651.html

JayC

My LBS has a set of 404s he REALLY wants to get rid of, if you know what I mean.

I was in there yesterday and he asked me about Ebaying them for him.

slvoid

I've gotten a lot of comments from people about apparently my riding style, where i ride, and its incompatibility with zipp's...