Trends and trendy

[Dave B]

Every magazine I look through (cycling) i keep seeing certain trends emerge. I know many of these are simply companies trying to make the latest and greatest same old thing that everyone else makes. Carbon carbon carbon.

Nothing wrong with the stuff, but I am seeing more and more deeper dish rims/wheels then I used to.

I know racers usually ride what they are told to, unless you are that good or some sort of cycling god who listens to know one.

So these fellas weigh in the 115 to 180 range and I imagine these carbon deep dish wheels are made to support them.

So my thoughts lead me to us bigger guys who fall over that range. Do deep carbon wheels make sense for everyone?

I understand the aero advantages, but for plain old riding what benefits or disadvantages do they have over say a normal open pro or box type rim?

I am curious also what wheels are good, great, and just look like good ones but actually are horrible.

Do carbon wheels have to cost loads to be great, as that seems to be the trend. LEW and LW cost a fortune, but Mavic ones can cost half... sometimes. I saw these wheels on ebay called "KARBONA" that I have never heard of.

What makes a good carbon wheel...well good?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Wayne77]

According to what I've gathered from this forum (atwigftf):


So my thoughts lead me to us bigger guys who fall over that range. Do deep carbon wheels make sense for everyone?

If you don't need the aero advantage (what non-racer does?) than no, they don't make sense. But they can look cool and if they float yer boat, then I say why not?

I understand the aero advantages, but for plain old riding what benefits or disadvantages do they have over say a normal open pro or box type rim?

Other than the bling factor (not a bad thing) None. Some of them may offer increased stiffness, due to the shorter spokes, but you can get ultra stiff wheels that aren't deep dish.

I am curious also what wheels are good, great, and just look like good ones but actually are horrible.

The Mavic Cosmic Carbones come to mind as a pretty tried and true design, pretty durable for bigger guys. They can be had for decent prices used. Many fans of them here..

Do carbon wheels have to cost loads to be great, as that seems to be the trend.

Do they have to cost loads to be great? No. Do they have to cost loads to be great and weigh practically nothing and be fabricated in small boutique shops by people who "know" wheels, and offer the cachet of ultra boutique/bling-bling/pro peleton wheels, and have spokes made out of non ferrous materials? Absolutely.

What makes a good carbon wheel...well good?

The same qualities that make a normal wheel good: durability, handling characteristics (whatever yours may be), value, looks, etc.

[SoCalSteve]

According to what I've gathered from this forum (atwigftf):




If you don't need the aero advantage (what non-racer does?) than no, they don't make sense. But they can look cool and if they float yer boat, then I say why not?



Other than the bling factor (not a bad thing) None. Some of them may offer increased stiffness, due to the shorter spokes, but you can get ultra stiff wheels that aren't deep dish.



The Mavic Cosmic Carbones come to mind as a pretty tried and true design, pretty durable for bigger guys. They can be had for decent prices used. Many fans of them here..



Do they have to cost loads to be great? No. Do they have to cost loads to be great and weigh practically nothing and be fabricated in small boutique shops by people who "know" wheels, and offer the cachet of ultra boutique/bling-bling/pro peleton wheels, and have spokes made out of non ferrous materials? Absolutely.



The same qualities that make a normal wheel good: durability, handling characteristics (whatever yours may be), value, looks, etc.

I can vouch for this as I have a set and Im a big guy...

The "Jerk" assured me that I wont have a problem with them and so far he has been correct.

Good luck!

Steve

[Ti Designs]

It's all about the advertising space. If we all stuck firmly to skinny tubed steel bikes with small box section rims the economy would ignore cycling and the sport would either die from lack of interest or under the wheels of SUVs. The model for all of this is the NYC cab with the billboard on top. If it works for cabs, why not bikes? So they went about thinking up ways of getting cyclists to enlarge the flat surfaces on their bikes. It's aerodynamics - yeh, that's it! So now we have grames with massive aero section tubes and deep dish wheels, riding all over the country. By the square foot I'm sure it's some of the most expensive ad space short of a 30 second spot during the superbowl, but I'm willing to bet that there will be a Bank of America Servelo Soloist in the near future, complete with Exxon carbon wheels. The little guys can't keep up. Poor Mr Sachs is left to fit his name on a round tube a little over an inch in diameter, and it takes him 5 years to bring an ad campaign to market.

I always try to go against the market trends. For a modest fee I'll agree not to ride a brand of bike. Seven delivers a wad of cash every month to keep me from being seen on one of their bikes. I have my eye on this time bike unless SteveP forks over the kid's lunch money.

[Acotts]

i got a pair of Bontrager XXX Race light carbons and they are great. They weigh nothing and they look pretty amazing. I got them from a soccer mom who did her one and only Iron man and was selling all her stuff.

As far as performance goes, I think the wheel changes the whole characteristic of the bike. Granted I normally ride on Kryseriums SL (which weigh a ton) the carbon wheels respond much quicker, are far more stiff and aparently are more aero. However, the main thing that makes these wheels great are the hubs. If i put those hubs on any rim, that wheel would fly.

[DarrenCT]

imho, if u don't race, why bother with the big deep dish wheels. u look like a door knob... and lets face it, its alll about the looks

[Blue Jays]

"...I got them from a soccer mom who did her one and only Iron man and was selling all her stuff..."I'm suitably impressed by a "soccer mom" who can roughwater swim 2.4 miles, ride 112 miles, and then run a 26.2-mile marathon before resuming a life of ferrying kids to sports practices and baking cookies! :D

[Kevan]

noisy too.

[Acotts]

I'm suitably impressed by a "soccer mom" who can roughwater swim 2.4 miles, ride 112 miles, and then run a 26.2-mile marathon before resuming a life of ferrying kids to sports practices and baking cookies! :D

By no means do I want to disparage her accomplishment. I personally failed to even compete in an IM this year despite 7 months of training. Doing an IM is like launching a space shuttle. I have huge amounts of respect for all of them. The amount of time, luck, skill and dedicaiton is pretty amazing.

However, I will say that there is a huge aftermarket from IM folks. Especially for fancy equipment. I got a Kestrel Talon--used only for one year, and bontrager XXX carbon wheels--used for one IM and a HIM for peanuts from two separat folks who had completed their IM and were giving up biking. Without gong into details, I spent less on the whole set-up than I would for the wheels alone.

A full carbon cervelo- 2 weeks after IM Lake placid, is cheaper than a used OCR 3.

One thing that I like about the deep dish wheels is that when you get up to about 25mph, it makes a subtle woo woo woo woo noise that makes you feel like there is a motor on your bike. (it is barely audible...not like a disk wheel.)
Anyways, it pumps me up when I can maintain the noise for a while. (remember no drafting...keeping 25mph is pretty awesome for me.)

Also, I am with DarrenCT. Deepdish wheels are for racing only.They break down too.