I just got my wheels today and they are installed. I find myself wandering back to the office to look at my bike, too. Now they aren't enve45's but they do look soooo much better than the aksiums on the bike. Will take pics this weekend and post them in the "what road bike do you have?" thread. My bike would be laughed out of the Hot or Not thread. The DT swiss hubs with the 36t ring do sound similar to chris kings :)

So looking forward to a ride on these, should be great!

Post a picture in here too!

So do you have any thoughts on the wheels yet? The Hot or Not thread is fun and all but not always realistic for everyone. As long as the bike fits you and you enjoy it, that's all that matters man. ;)

Sorry, needed to repost as I messed up my attachments :(

Ok, my camera isn't very good and the light is kinda crummy for taking pictures, but this was the best I could do. Since the entire street is carports (I live in half a duplex), there were no white garage doors to pose against, unfortunately.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=309055

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=309056

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=309057

Now you see why it has no place in the Hot or Not thread. This bike is a total frankenbike: Tiagra 4600 cranks(50/39/26), 105 5503 FD, 105 5700-GS RD, Sora cassette (11-30), Dura Ace 9sp chain with SRAM quicklink, 105 5503 shifters, 105 5600 brakes. It's a miracle everything works as well as it does. The fork is not original; the original eventually had it's steerer tube crush from an unseen crack in it (carbon). The replacement actually looks like it might belong on the bike somewhat. The saddle is terribly out of place, but selle anatomica saddles are the only saddle I can stand to ride, so it could be flaming pink and I'd still ride it.

Will try to get some pics on the road tomorrow :)

As I have not ridden the wheels yet I cannot say. They are definitely lighter than my askiums, and the hubs roll much smoother than the aksiums on the stand. Give me a few minutes to go dial in the brakes here and I will have some initial impressions to report...BRB!


EDIT: Wow are these stiff! There is an overpass not far from my house and I went over there and did it in my usual gear and found myself in too small a gear! The responsiveness to accelerations is amazing. Cruising around the block I didn't notice any difference in harshness, but then the allez frame is a stiff aluminum frame similar to the caad9, so perhaps I won't notice the harshness of the wheels. as opposed to someone on a carbon frame. The hub noise didn't bother me at all. It really does sound similar to a chris king hub. I will do a proper ride and proper ride report tomorrow. No time to do a real ride today unfortunately.

cool. cant wait to see what you think.

Do all CK hubs sound like that. I belief B10 has the R45 on his build. I just picked up some Chris King classics on an impulse buy on Ebay. I thought they were quieter, my DT Swiss wheels are super loud and hoping for a quieter build this time around.

Not sure which hub I have. my wheels are the R1700

I am not sure what the 18t version sounds like but my dt350's with the 36t upgrade are actually not that loud on the road. The are quite the angry bee on the stand, however and sound similar to the video in tone if not in volume.

Looks like the Classic sounds very similar...

Its a sound that I couldn't stand (I have mentioned it several times throughout the thread), but fell in love with it. I love how loud it is. To me they sound like quality and something custom vs something bought off of a shelf.

It should be noted that the sound of the hub is muted on the road. What sounds freaking obnoxious on the stand gets muted somewhat. If you like silent hubs, best go with shimano hubs :)

I guess my groups should just get used to me having a loud bike.

Maybe you should just pedal more.

Ride Report!

Wheels that Jude at Sugar Wheel Works built me:
Velocity A23 rims laced to dt350 hubs (with 36t engagement ring upgrade)
Sapim Laser spokes laced 2x throughout on both wheels, 28 count both wheels
Same Continental GP4000s tires and same tubes that I had on my previous wheels
Ran with 85f/90r PSI for this ride

Let me preface this a bit. My wheel experience is very small, limited to Bontrager Selects and then Mavic Aksiums. Not exactly high-end wheels. So, I was looking for something lighter, stiffer, and more awesome for climbing. It is rather hilly around here, and I do not put out massive watts, so I need all the help I can get.

Ride today was 40.4 miles and ~1800 feet of climbing. Mostly rollers, with a few climbs that were no longer than a half-mile in length.


Holy jumping jehosephat these things are snappy! Accelerations are much quicker, and the wheels held speed very well, even better than my mavics. I assume that is because the better hubs have less drag. On climbs these wheels felt plenty stiff, and I felt no flex at the rear wheel, which is good. When muscling over a little rise, my mavics would just die and I would just keep slowing down no matter how much muscling I did. These wheels had none of that, and held the speed as long as I could, rather than giving in to slowness like the mavics.

There was only one descent of note, a very short and somewhat steep with 3 chicanes in it. Normally I can only hit about 32 mph because I have to brake around the corners. On the mavics it felt like I was riding into the side of the wheel, and then it would just start losing traction. Out of instinct I braked on two of the corners, but in hindsight I didn't need to. Hit 39 mph this time around, and probably would have broken 40 without braking. I need to do a longer technical descent to really get a feel for the descending ability.

The extra plushness and comfort of the lower pressure was nice, as the roads around here are not always the best. I felt like I wasn't getting bounced around as much.

I hardly even heard the sound of the hub while coasting. In fact the mavic is actually somewhat louder. Could be that the mavics need servicing.

About the only thing I didn't like was the fact that with 28 spokes all over the place, I was getting blown around a bit as it was windy (in generally every direction as is usual for this area). If anything the 28 2x in front is probably significantly overbuilt.


Overall, these are great wheels for climbing and really make the job a little easier. I am super super happy with them, and very pleased with the job Jude did in building them.

I'm told this same thing this regularly....

Great! It won't be long before the newness wears off and you will forget about them. Just like it should be for a good training wheel. Ride 'em like you stole 'em!

In case anyone is wondering WHY the CK hub sounds like that, this is a pretty cool video that shows the inner workings of several different brands of hubs, with CK at the end. The CK hub doesn't have "pawls" at all, but instead two clutch plates of sorts, with angled teeth that mesh when they're pressed together. And the outer plate inside the freehub splined body has helical gear teeth, with matching teeth inside the splined body, so that the more torque applied to the cassette, the tighter the clutch plates mesh together.

The signature sound is those clutch plates spinning past one another. Pretty neat. :)

Deep_sky-I'm glad to hear that you are lovin the new wheels!