Monday, January 31, 2011

The Unobtainable Lightness of Wheel Sets

This is the hard part.
In this third installment of the New Poseur Bike(NPB) series, we'll take a look at some wheel options I've been exploring.
I sort of decided that in doing up this NPB, I'd allocate one third of the budget on the frame, one third on group, one third on the hardware and one third on the wheels.
Sort of like audiofilet stuff where you allocate one third on the components, one third on the speakers and one third on your cables.
I didn't spend near one third on my cables, that seemed sort of lame.
Kinda like the formula for the NPB.
So anyways, I started looking at some wheels a while back, when I first got the Bianchi for the front wheel has a bad spoke.
It's still true and all, but eventually I'm gonna get it fixed and I have no idea how long that will take so I wanted to get another wheel set.
I really light wheel set.
A cheap wheel set.
As you know, those two things do not go together.
One of the bad things about running Campagnolo I found is that since their cassette splines are proprietary, not every one makes Campagnolo compatible wheels.
Sort of limits the choices.
Still, there are some smaller companies that do.
Make Campagnolo compatible stuff I mean.
Companies like Williams Cycling, Rol, and Revolution Wheelworks make semi affordable wheel sets that are pretty light.
Here's a sample:



From companies like those, you can find wheel sets that are around 1500 grams for around $600 which is pretty good compared to the biggies like Easton or Mavic.
Or Campagnolo and Fulcrum.
The urge to follow the Force and stay with Campagnolo is strong, but I don't like their G3 lacing on the rear:



The G3 lacing does make sense structurally, from what I've been reading, but so do asymmetrical rims, like the wheels I already got.
Doesn't seem to match the traditional style I'm looking for though.
Unfortunately, their traditionally laced wheels with the asymmetrical rims, like the Neutrons, are bit out of my price range.
Maybe.
Then there is the whole profile thing.
How deep or shallow to go?
I admit, deep looks nice, in a poseur sort of way.
I'm not sure if medium deep, like the Revolutions and the Zonda above, would match a steel framed bike.
Say it with me: image is everything.
Of course I could just get a couple of these and lace them up to some Centaur hubs:



Or maybe even a set of these:



I'm not counting them medium size, around 30mm or so, out, though I'm leaning toward a shallower rim.
I mean let's face it, I'm not fast enough to take any advantage of any aerodynamic properties them deep rims supposedly give.
I just power through the wind with my massive piston like legs.
Sort of.
So, the Quest for Wheels is on, running concurrent with all those other Quests.
Sort of like my own personal Crusade.
Or something.

7 comments:

Steve A said...

Are those really wheels or are they Photoshop? I think that's carrying celeste a couple of revolutions too far...

Anonymous said...

I knew you were suffering from withdrawal and had to get back to celeste-stuff before too long!

John Romeo Alpha said...

"I'd allocate one third of the budget on the frame, one third on group, one third on the hardware and one third on the wheels." 4/3! Yes, that is the proper budgeting formula for the NPB!

limom said...

Steve A., those are real dude! At least I know I'm not the only one!

PaddyAnne, be careful! It's catching.

JRA, the developement of the NPB will not be restrained by ancient mathematical formulae.
In order to achieve Poseur Bike greatness, it is necessary to bend/break/create new rules!

TrevorW�� said...

I'm also on a quest for an additional wheelset for the Tifosi training bike.
The plan is to have a summer set and the winter set which is on the bike currently. In order to make the quest easier I am only looking at Italian wheels. I love the Fulcrum Racing Zero's on the Felt so much I will probably end up with a set of Racing 3's or similar....
Trouble is once I've achieved this quest I will find yet another quest and so it goes on and on and on .................

limom said...

I looked at some Torelli Bormios that were sort of nice.
Don't know where exactly they were made though.
Still mulling over the Fulcrums or maybe Zondas.
Or Neutrons.
Or something.

limom said...

You know, the more I look at those aerospoke thingys, the better they get!
Okay, maybe not.