Which wheels for powertap?
 

I've been researching powertap setups on ebay and most units come with either a Mavic Open Pro 32 or a Bontrager Race-X Lite. I don't know much about either wheel.

Most of my rides involve at least 1000 ft of elevation gain, if not more, so the wheel must be stiff enough for climbs and descents. I also ride in at least one fast group ride/week. I'm not racing yet but considering getting my feet wet this year.

Ideally I'd like to leave the Powertap-wheel on full-time.

Are either of these two wheels ok for full-time riding? Or, would I be better off buying the hub alone and having a different rim put on? My current wheels are Mavic Ksyrium Elites.

If it helps, I'm 6'2", 185.

The DT RR1.1 is a nice rim too... similar to the open pro. If you're looking for Campy I've got a deal for ya...

Sorry, I should have mentioned Shimano.

In that case, I have a deal for you...

Read sig...

i'm 6'2", 185, and I broke a poorly built dtswiss RR1.1 in about a year of normal riding. Get something stronger than the dtswiss/open pro, and don't get one built by QBP.

If you buy a wheel that's prebuilt from the "factory" that means it was built by QBP.

Right now i'm riding a Velocity deep-v. A bit overkill maybe, but it's just for training, and i'd rather err on the side of strong and a little aero than weak and light.

The Mavic Open Pro has probably won more Cat1/2 races in the last 10 years than all other rims combined.

I know several people who train on them exclusively, one of which is a current state champ in the Masters RR and Crit, and his teammate, who was the Masters nats silver medalist in the TT this year.

The teammate I bought my PT/OP wheel from is a 21y/o, 170lb 380w FTP/1500w+ 5s monster, and it only had to be trued a wee bit when he prepped it to give it to me, after a year of abuse by him.

In a year of use by me, I haven't had to true it yet, although I am significantly smaller than my teammate. It served as both my training wheel and race wheel, and put up with 13,000+ miles of training and racing, and probably about that much by my friend before I recieved it.

Ditto. Just about down to the word. My rim decided it'd be nice to grenade during a sprint interval. I personally rebuilt with another DT1.1, and knock on wood, haven't had any issues with it yet.

wow, great ideas everyone! Couple of questions:

With only 1 road bike, is the wireless option necessary?
What's wrong with the pre-built wheels?
Are open-pros good for long climbs?

They aren't built very well; not tension relieved and all that.

I'm afraid I don't understand the last question. What would make a wheel "good" vs. "bad" for a long climb? This is a training wheel set, so weight shouldn't matter, and OPs are more than adequate in evry other rim quality.

Sorry, I should elaborate, I equate (or have been conditioned to equate) stiffness with climbing ability.

I built my PT on the Nio30 rim with CX-Ray spokes to make it better wheel than an OP with straight gauge spokes. I destroyed my OP rim, prebuilt by Saris/PT, in less than 3000 miles.

The Nio30 wheel ended up being 50 grams lighter than the original OP. The rim itself was 25grams heavier than the OP, but the CX-Ray spokes were much lighter. The Nio30 wheel ended up being MUCH stiffer than the OP as well.

There's nothing magical about the Open Pro for a 185 lb rider, but it should last 1.5 seasons or so in my experience. The DT would be about the same.

The Velocity Aerohead OC is about as strong of a rim as the OP and the DT, but its off-center spoke line means the wheel will be much stronger since there's less of a tension difference between the left and right sides of the wheel. An Open Pro build will have the NDS spokes about 55% of the tension of the DS spokes, but my Aerohead OC has the NDS spokes at ~75% less than the DS, so the whole weel is more stable.

I'm in nearly the same boat, but leaning strongly toward the RaceXLite Aero wheels. I currently run regular RaceXLites, so the Bontrager 5 year warranty have me leaning that way. Should be about 300 grams more for the PT combo, so not too bad.

Same Cunundrum
 

I ride Mavic Ksyrium SL for training, and just got a PT with an open pro wheel. Judging by looks alone, especially when put next to my egg beaters, I don't trust the open pro for a whole season of training, pot holes, small vermin, etc...

Saris has a list of compatible wheel sets on their web page. I race on ZIPP 404's, but, don't want to ride them for training. I am leaning towards HED Jet 50's. Pricey yes, but, should be pretty bomb proof. You may consider as well Flashpoint's, made by Zipp, but, less expensive.

I went through your dilemma when I had a PT. Difference was I had a lot of wheels to begin with (something like 10 current sets, perhaps 30 total) so I sold the PT and bought an SRM (not in that order). Then I set about fulfilling the gaps in my wheel inventory to follow my own advice (below).

However, if I were to do a PT, I'd buy a deep rim clincher first, and if I wanted to race a lot or wanted race specific wheels, I'd buy a deep rim tubular race PT wheel.

Either way I'd do a 24H hub since you have to use all the spoke holes on each side of the hub for a PT to work. They also have to be crossed.

Unless you're extraordinarily heavy or poor rider, a 24H deep (50+ mm) clincher will be plenty durable if paired with a 23 mm tire at proper pressure.

Additionally a deep rear rim will affect your bike handling only slightly, even on wicked fast descents.

For myself, a reasonably smooth but heavy rider (180 or so), I will be racing on my Reynolds DV46 tubulars (not quite 50mm but it's what I had) and training on either my newly acquired Reynolds DV46 clinchers (matching wheels so brake pads can stay consistent) or my beater box section clinchers (alum rim). I have a slew of other wheels as backups but those will be my main wheels.

Prior to the DV46 clincher purchase, for many, many years I simply trained on my race wheels. That gets expensive after a while (tubulars both wear and puncture like most tires) so I decided to get some clincher wheels which matched my favorite race wheel.

Personally I feel strongly about the possibility of riding deep rims all the time. The only time I violate this rule is in the cold/salt/snow/ice conditions currently outside my window (it's 5 degrees Fahrenheit, about -15 degrees Celsius right now). Then I use my beater aluminum wheels simply because of the corrosive elements out there.

http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...-all-time.html
http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...ims-worth.html

hope this helps your decision process,
cdr

I'm now on my third season riding a pt sl / open pro wheel that was built up by qbp. I've had to do a couple of minor truings to it but other than that it has been bullet proof. I wouldn't have any problem purchasing another one. To me it is the perfect training wheel.