Hubs are just as critical as anything in a wheel's practicality and performance. I have had a few different brands and types and while a cup/cone full compliment bearing can be a low-drag design if greased and maintained, the short maintenance spans(in XC trail duty as low as monthly) were really annoying. Now I only use sealed cartridge(which I regrease with my own) and I only have to check the grease yearly(regreasing every 3-4). For someone to use everyday, any reduction in maintenance needs is huge. A little more cost in the beginning to invest in a lot less shop time.

As far as speed goes, I did notice a small increase in speed from the Sun Mammoth DH rims to Mavic TXC3.1 rims. The mavics seem less influenced by cross winds and go up hills easier, but the DH are a confidence boost when playing around.

Rotational inertia variations of the magnitude seen between bicycle wheels that'd be swapped for each other is effectively irrelevant.

Weight at the tire surface does count double for acceleration purposes although with the low mass involved that still doesn't matter.

Consider a 145 pound cyclist atop a bike approaching the UCI 15 pound minimum with total mass of about 70kg and ignore the rotational inertia of his existing wheels. The effect is proportionally less for larger people.

Making a 1% change in his effort to accelerate would take more than a 350g change in wheel + tire weight at the road surface increasing to 700g as you approach the hub centers.

A Velocity girder single walled rim weighs 560g versus 430g for an Aerohead which is typical for road rims which hold up to use which nets 230g for the pair.

Placebo effect aside it doesn't matter.

That might be because most would not view the Ksyrium Elites as race wheels. Try a pair of Zipp 404s, Enve 6.7s, or something with an aero profile and you still don't notice a difference?

I'm confused by this part. What do you feel in a race that you do not feel in training? If you had aero race wheels and told me that you didn't notice much difference in training but did in race situations, I would understand that. My aero wheels aren't nearly as noticeable to me when I am cruising around solo at 30 kph as they are when I am in the paceline at 50kph. It's at the higher speeds (ie race-type speeds), that I really notice the difference. But I can't imagine what difference I would feel with Ksyrium Elites at that speed, since they are practically box-section rims.

Until you really get serious into cycling and need the performance that higher end wheelsets can offer, just stick with stock wheels. They usually do more than enough to get you where you want to go at a fast enough speed. Your performance on a bike depends far more on the quality of the engine (you) than the quality of the wheels.

Once you ride more and more, if you feel you need to upgrade then do so. If possible, try to borrow a friends higher level wheels for a ride and see if they are worth the investment.

This is simply false. True aero wheels ARE faster at sustained high speeds (actually, all things being equal, they are faster at high speeds, it's just that their advantage increases as speed increases).

In the group rides that I do, where you need 50kph just to hold the wheel in front of you, aero wheels make a difference. Especially when it's your turn on the front.

I note these articles comment on the use of clinchers in a certain specific competition, despite their disadvantages. And then the article lists all of the commonly recognized advantages of tubulars that I have already listed.

I can see the use of clinchers on a flat time trial course. There is evidence that clinchers have somewhat lower rolling resistance, and if the couse is flat and closed, then the safety considerations go away.

I have some big hills where I live. I once had a blowout on a front clincher on a short hill. It took all my decades of riding experience to get the bike under control while the tire squirmed away on the exposed rim. There is no way I am riding clinchers on warp speed descents, nor would I think they would be allowed in the pro peloton due to these concerns.

Find another LBS. Even on a MTB the weight difference is recognizable on a climb, and the different between lightweight aero wheels with tubular vs heavier wheels with clinchers is pretty dramatic. I hate the maintenance issues with tubulars though, and I would watch the development of tubeless clinchers on lightweight aero wheels....

Hub quality, rim strength and rigidity, spoke weight, and tire weight and pressure all add up to better performance.

Your LBS employee is an idiot though.

Aerodynamics matter measurably. Weight does not.

Wellll, in a sense he was right, they all go in circles. After that point is conceded I would say u need a new LBS.

Re-reading this, maybe we need to give your LBS the benefit of the doubt. We don't have a lot of context for the statement. Were you there holding your $400 road bike when you asked this question? Does your bike scream out "I'm just along for a nice ride in the countryside?" i.e. huge saddle bag, mirrors on the bars, bell etc,? Are you 100 lbs overweight and just ride 20 miles on the weekend?

I truly don't mean to be elitist, and I am not assuming any of these things are true, and even if they are, there is nothing wrong with that, it's great that we're all riding bikes, whatever that means to you or me or the next guy, but giving your LBS the benefit of the doubt, maybe they just made the judgment call that for whatever reason, dropping a boatload of money on an upgraded wheelset just didn't make sense. And if that's the case, then kudos to them for not trying to sell a customer wheels that were inappropriate for his needs.

Cool Story Bro.

What refthimos said.

The performance difference between a moderately priced set of aluminum clinchers and a ridiculously expense of carbon wheel-set is a like a drop of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool of possible performance gains, 99 present of which has to do with your fitness and bike handling skills. In your position, I would appreciate the fact that he isn't going to milk your wallet by selling you bells and whistles you won't benefit from.

I would be much more concerned about an LBS employee who tells me that a $2,500 wheelset is going to turn me into superman.

+1

Talk about unfounded statements and generalizations!

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-searc...para&para_l=90

I'm in the 1%! I can feel the difference between my deep carbon clinchers and training wheelset!

But seriously, there is a difference. Mostly from crosswinds, but when I'm climbing, starting and just rolling along I notice a tangible change. (most to least)

Find a new shop...

Actually, if I recall correctly, the slower you are the more benefits there are to owning a aero wheelset. ex. Slow rider will notice a bigger jump in mph (or less wattage required) than a pro will because of all the opposing forces are multiplied at a higher speed. There's multiple discussions about this on slowtwitch with a more thorough explanation (equations, tests, etc.).

The problem with this idea is that wind resistance goes up as a square of speed, so if you go 2x as fast there's 4x as much wind resistance. Therefore, aero benefits are one of the few things that benefits the faster rider more than the slower rider. So sure you're out there longer so you're exposed to more wind, but the wind is exerting less pressure on you.

If you're going half as fast, that means you're out exposed to the wind for twice as long, but as still only fighting half as much wind resistance.

Lets say you and I both ride 20 miles. You ride at 10 mph and I go at 20 mph. Let's also say the wind resistance per hour you face is some arbitrary value R. Because I'm going twice as fast, my wind resistance per hour is 2^2R or 4R. Since I'm out for 1 hour my total resistance that I face is 4R. Since you're out for 2 hours your total wind resistance is 2R.

Or maybe since I'm slow as molasses even when my bike's not torn down like it is now, how about we say I'm the slower one. Either way, same point.

Quite possible.

+2

I skimmed this thread and didn't notice: Did anyone talk about wheelsets purely for climbing?

I'm sure there is quite a difference between climbing 10,000 feet in a day on 2000 gram wheelset versus a sub-1000 Zipp101 wheelset. I'm just not sure how much of a difference - how much more energy it would take to haul the heavier wheelset up all that elevation.