track wheels...for a NEWB. and other track newb advice (sorry in advance)
 

hello!
well i will preface this post as follows:

i am a (somewhat) regular on the SSFG board, and like riding bieks, mainly fixed, albeit 100 percent on the road. so far.

I live about 1.5-2 hours from the closest velodrome, have always wanted to go, but basically felt intimidated being some ignorant hipster jerk going alone and showing up at a track with my 'sweet fixay'.
However since ive moved to where i am now 1.5-2 hours from hellyer i have made some new friends who have told me they have gone, done some beginners class where etiquette/rules/basic stuff was taught and they did mock races or something. And many are down to go again, and keep going.

Subsequently i have also purchased a friend's pista concept frame. mainly because it was a very nice friend deal, i had money burning a hole thru my pocket, plus it fits me more or less perfectly based on some fit calculators and just having had ridden it when it was his.


Sorry for the lengthy intro.

Basically, i plan on eventually going once a month (more if i life allows) and using the pista concept as the bike i would use.

So im curious:
What would you advise i do about a wheelset? Carlton has advised me its not worth it for me to invest in race wheels....but im just wondering what actual track cyclists would recommend wheelset wise for a beginner. that would suit my frame....thats good bang/buck ratio.

sorry for my ignorance, and any help is appreciated. thanks!

Race what you've got to start with, but you might want to use different tires on the track than on the street. You probably won't want to race on tires that you've been skidding on and have flat spots or a funny cross section. You can probably build/get a decent spare set of box-rim (or semi-aero rim) 32 spoke wheels (tubular or clincher) for less than $200, just make sure you use proper track nuts on them rather than flanged nuts. After you've been a few times and know whether you're going to keep going and what kind of thing you want to do, you can look around for wheels and have a better idea of what you want for the kind of riding you'll do there.

That is great! You certainly would not be the first person to follow that path (street fixie to velodrome).

Really, to get started a set of deep-V’s with formula hubs is fine. Its going to be a while before you outgrow that, and they work fine on road or track. Get some good tires, and you are good to go.

After you get some track time and experience, you can decide how extreme (dedicated) you want to go with track wheels. The more dedicated they are, the less road friendly they will be.

Illd, if you know how to build a wheel, I would seriously get some IRO hubs and rims because they've been having a huge sale since February, and it's not going to last too long. If not, then get a set of Wabi wheels for cheap, they are nice wheels.

As for tires, you probably don't want to use some high mileage skidding tires, use something softer like Conti. UltraRace or GP4000S and other similar tires.

hey thanks for the replies, appreciated!

As for using what i have already or plain ol' velocity deep v's, i will definitely be getting a new (or used wheelset) because i already have a street fixed gear bike using my deep vs, and instead of swapping the wheels between frames i think i want to get a wheelset that will be dedicated to the pista concept frame ive had hanging in my room for a few months....

you are all right, carlton said it too, spending a decently large chunk of money on fancy high quality track wheels is a bit much and i should probably stick with something cheaper until i decide i want to get more involved.


sooooo what im thinking is this....

a guy on craigslist has a 2010 mavic ellipse wheelset, under 100 miles on it, in like-new condition (or so he says.....but in pictures they look in great shape)....he is asking 320 for it.
it seems like this is a good deal for a wheelset that would be good for my purposes, or so ive read from reviews....not incredibly lightweight, but very sturdy and well made track wheels. Like i said before, for now it seems like i will be able to make the 1.5 hour trek to the velodrome once a month, and ill probably still want to ride this bike to and from work every so often.....and from ive read the mavic ellipses are not bad for fixed gear road riding....

i dunno. i have the money, should i go for it? i think i am....

i know ive seen that deal and have been thinking about jumping on it just to practice building a wheel....

People like cxp22s, ellipse, aerohead...
i'd definitely build em up, it'll be a good learning experience
if you're going to use the concept on the track however i would maybe consider tubular? or a deeper profile rim

formula hubs should be fine, the wabi set looks sooo nice!