favorite all-time wheels?

[Climb01742]

a recent experience with switching wheels on a frame got me thinking...what are your all-time favorite wheels? maybe there should be two categories:

favorite all-around wheel? favorite special purpose wheel?

my vote? MAVIC OPEN PROs. is there, or has there ever been, a better all-around wheel? not that i've found.

your vote?

[dbrk]

I love the easy questions, climb, the ones that don't make me think for more than a nano-second, sorta' like my favorite drivetrain (Simplex 5500 rear derailleur/Simplex retrofriction dt shifters). Here goes on wheels:

Clinchers with modern hubs:
Mavic Open Pro 28h rims/Record hubs/db spokes (DT or other good ones will do) though I'd be as happy with Chorus or DA hubs. I can ride 28s, no problem.

Sew-ups with classic hubs:
Mavic SSc Paris-Roubaix 36h rims/Maxi-car hubs/regular spokes.

There is no modern hub that remotely, imo, comes close to the quality of a Maxi-car. These are no longer made and they take only freewheels, of course, but they are princely. I have a stash so precious to me that I can't bring myself yet to build them. They are worthy of bikes like Mariposa, Nagasawa, Singer, Herse, and a Sachs built as an oldschool with one off stamped and carved lugs and 1" tubing (got that, Richie? Wanna?)
Dang, I get all the haripilation I need from them ideas...oooooooo.


dbrk

[Andreu]

I´d go with MAVIC OPEN PROs too.
Road racing, cyclo cross and general training - they work.

I even have the ceramic version on a winter hack bike (work beautifully).
A

[dirtdigger88]

Climb,
I am with you. Funny thing, I just pulled my Ksyriums off my Legend on sunday- I put my OP- Chris King wheels on. I do the swap every couple of months. I agree the ride QUALITY was much improved. I put quality in bold because sometimes I am not a concerned with that magic carpet ride and I only want the stiffest wheel know to man. That is when the K's go back on. I think the King hubs are overbuilt for the road. My unscientific test is that there is a hill that my ridding buddy and i bomb down all the time. I have no trouble keep up with him coasting with the K's- he pulls away everytime with the Kings. The extra drag is due to the engagement of the hub being 3x a normal hub. Now I really want a set of wheel from Mike Garcia. The best of both worlds- light weight-strong-and oh so cool looking. Those will be my favorite wheels when I get them.

Jason

[bostondrunk]

Eaaasy:

Mavic freewheel hubset, MAvic tubie rims, 28 hole.

[bags27]

I'm with everyone else: OPs rule. I think of my Ksyriums as (very expensive) weather beaters. They're practically indestructible.

[Climb01742]

I'm with everyone else: OPs rule. I think of my Ksyriums as (very expensive) weather beaters. They're practically indestructible.

bags, funny...that's exactly what my Ks have become...lousy weather beaters...ouch.

[jeffg]

though I have to say I really enjoy Kysriums with my Legend. 200+ miles on over four occassions (about 12,000 miles total) :banana: and they are nice wheels. As far as changing a flat, the knock goes against the Campy wheels, IMHO. Other than that, the Eurus wheels are wonderful. Responsive and smooth ... as smooth as my handbuilts (OP, DA hubs, 32 3X with DT Competition).

If I had to pick a favorite right now the Eurus would win ... but a set of handbuilts with White Ind hubs and Sapim CX-Ray spokes would likely be my ideal wheel.

[jerk]

without a doubt the best wheels in the world are the magical ADAs from holland.....stiffer, faster, stronger and so much lighter than anything else. people have no problem spending 5,000 bucks on a custom built frame, the jerk thinks you'd get as much benefit if not more out of a custom built $4,000 wheelset.
(for quite a few seasons the jerk had adas on a $700 merckx corsa frame, the bike fit and handled well and the wheels made it the nicest overall "bike" the jerk has ever ridden.)
jerk

[jerk]

as an aside. open pros do not "rule". they are heavy, do not have an offset option for the resulting dish issues on modern wheelsets, and are certainly not cutting edge in any way. the market is ready for a decent clincher rim. any takers?

[dirtdigger88]

as an aside. open pros do not "rule". they are heavy, do not have an offset option for the resulting dish issues on modern wheelsets, and are certainly not cutting edge in any way. the market is ready for a decent clincher rim. any takers?

Jerk, I love you :)

I bite on this one- you are right there could be improvements to OP's. That is exactly why I like Mike at oddsandendoes so much. HOWEVER, given the current market of AVAILABLE clincher rims I think OP's are about the best way to go. Why don't we all design something better, I am sure this group could come up with the venture capitol- lets go in the bicycle wheel biz :banana: Any takers? Jerk?

Jason

[Climb01742]

has anyone ridden nimble spiders, as a possible state of the art clincher?

sir jerk, what's your vote for best clincher wheel out there now?

[christian]

Open Pros the best? No chance. Most readily available, yes. But I'd argue that they're not even up to par with MA2s or Module 3s. And there's the click-click-click that people seem to suffer from.

They're good enough for me, a 161lb slow-poke, but I think that for the majority of weekend riders, a great clincher rim would have the following attributes:

non-hard-anodized
polished silver finish
non-machined sidewalls
available in 24, 28, 32, 36h
off-center rear drilling
proper sockets (double eyelets)
400-425g

And make it available in two widths, narrow for 19-28mm tires and wide for 25-35mm tires.

Alas, you'll never see this rim, as the real money is in pre-built wheelsets.

I wonder if someone committed to ordering 100 sets front/rear, one could get Ambrosio, Fir, or Velocity to build something like this... Seems like between the Bob list, the RBW list, and some other places, one could sell 100 sets of this rim...

The Torelli Master is about as close as you can get these days, but the availability of that rim is, well, ...

- Christian

[jeffg]

Open Pros the best? No chance. Most readily available, yes. But I'd argue that they're not even up to par with MA2s or Module 3s. And there's the click-click-click that people seem to suffer from.

They're good enough for me, a 161lb slow-poke, but I think that for the majority of weekend riders, a great clincher rim would have the following attributes:

non-hard-anodized
polished silver finish
non-machined sidewalls
available in 24, 28, 32, 36h
off-center rear drilling
proper sockets (double eyelets)
400-425g

And make it available in two widths, narrow for 19-28mm tires and wide for 25-35mm tires.

Alas, you'll never see this rim, as the real money is in pre-built wheelsets.

I wonder if someone committed to ordering 100 sets front/rear, one could get Ambrosio, Fir, or Velocity to build something like this... Seems like between the Bob list, the RBW list, and some other places, one could sell 100 sets of this rim...

The Torelli Master is about as close as you can get these days, but the availability of that rim is, well, ...

- Christian

What about Bontrager offset rims? Perhaps they are a little heavier than 425g (I don't know frankly), but that would be an option.

[christian]

What about Bontrager offset rims? Perhaps they are a little heavier than 425g (I don't know frankly), but that would be an option.

Yeah, those seem like a very good deal. I think they're only available in black (yech), but I'm going to lace up some of those for my wife's Vanilla, since they're available in 650c (571mm) and O/C drilling.

- Christian

[Climb01742]

the jerk clued me into bontrager race x lites, which i like a lot. even better, i think, than DA 10 wheels. but that's just my 2 cents.

[Too Tall]

Church is open for business:

Fav. all around: Phil freewheel hub with MA2 clincher. I purchased those hubs in 1972 and have rebuilt them so many times it ain't funny. Of all the builds I still have fond memories of years spent riding MA2s.

Fav. special purpose: Nimble Fly. tubs. These sukers scream. Rock solid construction.

Alt. special purpose / Off Road wheels: Bontrager at one point was selling cut down MA2s for Mtn. bikes. These built up with 1.5 light knobbies were secret weapon BABY!

[arielito]

To all looking for some thing other than OP, Dt RR1.1 makes a great rim. a little lighter than OPs, build rounder (OP seam quality stink)and truer. I think there is allot of support for mavic because they are the only true innovators in the industry, but their new parent company has taken their QC down hill.

[David Kirk]

Favorite wheels - that's easy.

Mavic Paris Roubaix SSC tubular rims -28H
Dura Ace hubs
DT spokes laced 2x
Veloflex 24mm tires

They go fast up hill-
They go fast down hill-
They go fast on the flats-
They ride as smooth as butter-
They work just great on both tarmac and dirt-
And they look so "old school" that no one will ever steal them.

Dave

[theprep]

Clincher Fans:

Give the IRD Cadence rim a try. They weigh around 390 grams, have offset drilling in the rear, come in black and silver and are cheaper than Open Pros.

Durability??? - Don't know for sure, but they have been around for at least 2 years and I have not heard of any problems.

I have a 24 spoke, 600 gram front wheel with about 500 miles on it, perfectly true (I'm 178 lbs.). My brother is 195 lbs, Cat 3 and has a Dura Ace 10, 1520 gram wheelset with about 1000 miles on them and no problems to date. We are both big fans of rear rims with offset spoke holes.

If interested, more information can be found here:
http://oddsandendos.safeshopper.com/9/108.htm?379

[Matt Barkley]

Best clincher wheelset: Campy Nucleon/Nuetrons

Best Tubular: Mavic Cosmic Carbones / flats - Old Mavic Gel 280s or GL330s or Paris Roubaix SSCs depending on conditions w/ 28H or 32H Record hubs.

2nd Jerks Open Pro remarks. :beer: - Matt

[davids]

climb,

Open Pros or Bonty Race X lites? You say that the OPs are your favorite "all-around" wheel - So, where do the Race X Lites fit in? How do they compare to the OPs?

dirtdigger (and theprep),

Do you have experience with Odds and Endos, or are you passing on word-of-mouth? I checked out the website, and Mike's work looks really tempting. Much cheaper than factory-builts, and well thought-out. He even makes good-looking custom-builts! And you can even get offset rear rims...

Thanks for the input! :beer:

[mikemets]

All around - Velocity Aerohead's w/ Chorus hubs

Special - Campy Eurus w/ Record hubs

[coylifut]

as an aside. open pros do not "rule". they are heavy, do not have an offset option for the resulting dish issues on modern wheelsets, and are certainly not cutting edge in any way. the market is ready for a decent clincher rim. any takers?

The market is ready for a better clincher him. On a separate note, don't you guys ever break anything? As a privateer, I ride ubiquitous stuff because it's cheap and available.

[Big Dan]

I like my D/A hubs and CXP 33's ..really would like to see better selection....

:D

[dirtdigger88]

climb,


dirtdigger (and theprep),

Do you have experience with Odds and Endos, or are you passing on word-of-mouth? I checked out the website, and Mike's work looks really tempting. Much cheaper than factory-builts, and well thought-out. He even makes good-looking custom-builts! And you can even get offset rear rims...

Thanks for the input! :beer:

I have no personal experience with Mikes wheels. I have spoken to him on the phone and i like his thinking on building wheels. I have heard nothing but great things though from those who do have his products. I am hoping to get a set of his wheels over the winter. Test report to come

Jason

[shinomaster]

I really like my Neutrons more than my Open pro's...

[slowgoing]

SpeedDream wheels. White Industry hubs, velocity rims and sapim spokes. Very smooth and fast ride.

[theprep]

Davids:

Regarding Mike Garcia - I have not encountered a more honest and knowledgable person in my 10 years of cycling.

[Kane]

The hoops of my youth and the hoops of my dreams. Sew up rims with a Campy record hub. I think they were 36 spokes. The Clement del Mondo Silk tires were probably 26mm. They rode like a dream and they gave me and extra gear or two over my clincher set. A lot of miles until one day 20 years later I rode through a patch of something and popped a small hole in the tire a quarter mile from the house while starting a ride to the coast. I did a U turn to the other side of the street and popped the other tire.

That is the last time I rode sewups. The local bike mechanic swore he could fix them. After he had them for 3 months someone in the shop got tired of looking at them and threw them away. Ouch!!

I bought a new bike with clinchers a few years later. K' Sura Sura (bad spelling for sure!).

[Ozz]

... K' Sura Sura (bad spelling for sure!).

"Que sera, sera"...apologies to Doris Day.

[William]

One word for you all:

AEROSPOKE




:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Campy Omega V's were always good to me.
O4CD's worked on the front, never held on the rear


William :)

[Climb01742]

climb,
Open Pros or Bonty Race X lites? You say that the OPs are your favorite "all-around" wheel - So, where do the Race X Lites fit in? How do they compare to the OPs?


i've ridden OPs on lots of frames but have ridden race x lites only on team sc...so its really a matter of experience...so far, bontragers seem wonderful...but simply haven't ridden them as much as OPs...but i do recommend the race x's.

[vaxn8r]

I really like my Neutrons more than my Open pro's...

I like my Protons as well as any wheels. Not ultralight but very solid, comfortable, better cornering than 32 spoke OP's with any hub. I agree they are a bear to get a tire remounted without snakebiting the tube. Yes, I've done it on more than one occasion with these wheels. So the Protons get a demerit. I still like them.

36 spoke Mavic SSC on DA hubs. I used these on my tandem for 10 years. Very solid until I hit a rock and trashed the the front. Otherwise they held up to tandem abuse. How's that for dependable?

36 spoke MA40 on DA. I don't think they've ever needed truing. I still use these wheels from almost 20 years ago!

My Ksyriums are too new. I only have about 1,500 miles on them so I can't really comment. They are very smooth rolling and seem so solid. I have not found them harsh. I don't think they "feel" super fast but for a 1500g wheelset they are not bad.

Rolf Prima Elan aero. Also too new to tell much. Only about 600 miles on them. They ARE fast. They climb great and handle speed well. They seem plenty stiff for fast cornering. I will withold comment on longevity because I don't know yet.

[bulliedawg]

SpeedDream wheels. White Industry hubs, velocity rims and sapim spokes. Very smooth and fast ride.

I second that emotion. Can't imagine anything better.

[Kevin]

I second that emotion. Can't imagine anything better.

I third it. But for pure comfort I go with the Topolinos.

Kevin

[Jeff N.]

New DA-7800 10-speed hubs laced to Mavic CXP-33's. Super bad!!! Jeff N.

[vaxn8r]

Oh yeah Jeff, how could I forget.

DA 10 prebuilts. I love 'em. Have about 3K miles so far without incident and they feel solid and speedy. Love 'em.

[jerk]

jerk roll call of his favorite wheels:

campy hubs built to mavic paris-roubaix rims. a nice light strong wheel....supposidyly the rims underwent hundreds of hours of heat-treatment or some such nonsense, they build up really nice, were stupid expensive for their time and are on the jerk's mx leader right now with 23mm dugasts although they'd be great with anything up to about a 28mm.

campy hubs built to assos rims....wow these things were the best. stupid light, shallow v aero section...sort of a grey-black tough looking color. the rims were specifically drilled for different lacing patterns depending on the amount of holes and whether the thing was going on the front or the back...the rims were super narrow so on went the 19mm sonderklasse time trial tires. these wheels remain the second lightest wheels the jerk has ever owned and the jerk has probably never went faster on a bicycle than he did on these wheels in a really windy time trial in brittany some years ago. assos continues to make great clothing but the stuff is pearl izumi garbage compared to the quality of their rims.

cosmic carbones....the jerk doesn't really know why but there are lighter wheels, there are more aerodynamic wheels but there are no faster wheels than these (with one exception). tour magazin found these things to be among the stiffest wheelset they had ever tested and this might be part of it....believe you the jerk when you're threading the freaking needle through a bunch of elbow throwing flemish scumbags trying to deliver some pretty boy a decent lead out for a win at some stupid race no one cares about and no one has ever heard of and you probably should have won if you'd only worked in that stupid break-away on the third lap, these are the wheels you want to be on. deck them out with some italian made cx tubulars if you can find'em. you're not the pretty boy who's going division one next year so you don't deserve dugasts and couldn't afford'em even if you did.

bontrager race x lites....when someone asks the jerk "what kind of wheel should i get?" this is the answer the jerk gives. they don't ride harshly so they're good for putting in the base miles, they're light as anything else in the price range so they "feel" fast, and the rigidity is more than adequate. beyond this they are really tough. the offset rear rim makes for even spoke tension, the hub design is a proven swiss design and in the very rare event a spoke breaks, 90% of the time it'll be one of the drive side spokes which are regular j-bend so any moron can fix the thing.

which leaves the jerk to his favorite wheels and the ones none of us deserve to own but all of us owe it to ourselves to at least experience once: adas...the wheels teams have lost wheel contracts over. they are lighter than anything else, more aero than anything else, (save a disc the jerk supposes) stiffer than anything else and virtually bombproof. they are to wheels what a walser is to a bicycle or a ferrari f1 to automobiles...they are so far superior to every thing else as to almost transcend the category. as the jerk has said numerous times, frame geometry being equal, he would rather have the heaviest, flexiest most killed frame equipped with ada wheels than any other bicycle with any other wheel set. but then again you guys already knew that.....

jerk

[ace007]

My recommendation: Custom built tubular wheels using either Mavic Reflex or Velocity Escape Rims, Sapim CX-Ray spokes, and White Industry, Campy Record, or Chris King hubs. Pair them with a nice riding set of tubular tires (Tufo S3 Lites are the only ones I have experience with) and you are off to riding heaven. The ride quality of my tubulars far exceeds any clincher I've ever ridden. They spin up so fast and just fly on the flats and decents. The difference was immediately noticeable. Not to mention the added safety of the tubular tires after a flat.

I'm a tubular novice and used the extreme gluing tape from Tufo with no problems. If you can put your jeans on, you can put a tubular tire on a tubular rim, center it up, pull the tape out, pump it up and go riding. It's also nice to be able to pump a tire up to 150 psi and still feel like you are riding on carpet. After making the switch to tubulars, I don't know why everyone doesn't ride them - especially with the advent of the gluing tape. :)

[boneman]

Pre-built clincher- Campag Neutrons

Hand built clincher- Ambrosio Excellight 32 rims, Sapim Laser Spokes, Phil Hubs

Hand built tub- Mavic GP4 old-style 32 rims (390gr), DT 14/15 spokes, Campag Record or DA hubs

Light weight tubs- Super Champion Medaille d'Or 32/36 (260gr), DT 15/16 spokes, Hi-E freewheel hubs

[Dr Moreau]

My 420s are bomber. I ride like a wild Albanian with crabs down some crappy roads and the damn things won't go out of true. My wife loves the 350s I gave her last year for Christmas. The AC 300 gram magnesium rim may be the lightest clincher out there now. I like AC because they build wheels with enough spokes to make them safe.

For the record, the old mavic hubs were amazing - Paris Roubaix was written all over them and they were light.

[saab2000]

I am bidding on a set of Nucleon tubulars on ebay. I hope I get them. I am ready to try some tubs again and will get Veloflex.

The Nucleons are supposedly essentially the same as the Neutrons except that they do not have the hideous matte black spokes.

We shall see........

[jerk]

saab-
they're good wheels. you'll like'em.
jerk

[Jeff Weir]

Saab:
I've got the Neutrons with Veloflex tubulars and they have been great.
good luck bidding.

[jerk]

come on kids...no replys to what is probably one of the best jerk posts ever....someone has got to take issue with the jerk's favorite wheels.
jerk

[gasman]

Ok Jerk-
All good wheels, maybe even great. But,$4,000 for a pair of friggin ADA's !!!!
No wheels can be that much better when for a quarter of the price you can get a pair of cosmic carbones and for less than that numerous custom wheels.
Not in my lifetime unless I hit the lottery bigtime, maybe not even then...

[Too Tall]

The man insulted me for no reason and offered bloated images of himself as a struggling athlete in yrs. past...which I never asked to hear about. The guy is a DORK and personally I don't do business with anyone I don't like.

That has nothing to do with your post per se BUT it did give me a reason to spear Cees Knees ;)

I'm a wheel slut certified and for cause. What you have to say about wheels in general ,to me, is pure gold as I've enjoyed the c rap out of my road machines so much more JUST by swapping out wheels.

No, we can't talk too much about that. Yah Jerk....Jah.

[jerk]

too tall- how'd the jerk insult you for no reason? loser, idiot fool perhaps but dork? why? why? why?
(actually in all seriousness what did the jerk say? i'm here to entertain not offend.)

sorry pal,
jerk

[Jeff Weir]

Is the jerk showing some sensitivity in his old age?

[Kevan]

It leads me to believe I should have a different set for each day of the week.

In actuality, I’ve grown to appreciate my rather pedestrian set of Velocity Aerohead rims with Ultegra hubs, 32 radial front, 32 2x stern w/ solder stern. Certainly they lack the sex appeal of big name, but these spinners came with the bike new and roll just as well today as they did 3.5 yrs ago. Since their start, I’ve had one broken rear spoke and one truing.

I’ve tried other wheelsets and have only been really impressed with one other, that being Reynolds’ Carbon tubular rims. Topo’s, Ksyriums didn’t dazzle me the same way. The only problem I had with the Reynolds was the basic inability to stop.

Sure I fantasize about riding the best wheels, I’m just not sold yet that they truly exist.

[jerk]

Is the jerk showing some sensitivity in his old age?


yup, the jerk is really quite thin skinned despite his gruff demeaner.
jerk

[Matt Barkley]

Jerk, I think TT is talking about Cees Beers - not you, who insulted him. He can inslut me all he wants to - I just want a pair of his wheels.:beer:

[Climb01742]

I’ve tried other wheelsets and have only been really impressed with one other, that being Reynolds’ Carbon tubular rims. Topo’s, Ksyriums didn’t dazzle me the same way. The only problem I had with the Reynolds was the basic inability to stop.

i rode a pair of zipp 202 carbon wheels the last few days, with special zipp brake pads...and even with DA 10 brakes, the stopping power was...well...sorta zipp. a pretty disconcerting feeling.

[Sandy]

I prefer circular wheels. My triangular ones are the worst. Three real hard thuds for each revolution of the wheels. Four thuds for my square wheels, but not as hard. Eight even smaller thuds for my octagonal wheels. But the circular wheels are definitely my favorite. No thuds at all. The idea of circular wheels must be catching on, since I am having more and more difficulty finding the others. My only wheel source for non circular wheels is my wheel builder- Kevan.

Sandy

[Chief]

Sandy,

Your post reminded me of one of my favorite BC cartoons of a number of years back when he changed the design of his wheel from square to triangular to have one less bump per revolution. It makes perfect sense to me and every since I have been a big fan of triangular wheels, but I have had trouble finding them. :D

[William]

come on kids...no replys to what is probably one of the best jerk posts ever....

Ok Jerk,

For your multitudeness of knowledgeatude and willingness to share and enlighten the masses on this forum in wheel etiquette...

On behalf of half the people who like you here, and less than half the people who like you more than you deserve, I William present you with the Crystal Sprocket Award.

Congratulations!


SPEECH,
SPEECH,
SPEECH,


William

[coylifut]

jerk roll call of his favorite wheels:

campy hubs built to mavic paris-roubaix rims. a nice light strong wheel....supposidyly the rims underwent hundreds of hours of heat-treatment or some such nonsense, they build up really nice, were stupid expensive for their time and are on the jerk's mx leader right now with 23mm dugasts although they'd be great with anything up to about a 28mm.

campy hubs built to assos rims....wow these things were the best. stupid light, shallow v aero section...sort of a grey-black tough looking color. the rims were specifically drilled for different lacing patterns depending on the amount of holes and whether the thing was going on the front or the back...the rims were super narrow so on went the 19mm sonderklasse time trial tires. these wheels remain the second lightest wheels the jerk has ever owned and the jerk has probably never went faster on a bicycle than he did on these wheels in a really windy time trial in brittany some years ago. assos continues to make great clothing but the stuff is pearl izumi garbage compared to the quality of their rims.

cosmic carbones....the jerk doesn't really know why but there are lighter wheels, there are more aerodynamic wheels but there are no faster wheels than these (with one exception). tour magazin found these things to be among the stiffest wheelset they had ever tested and this might be part of it....believe you the jerk when you're threading the freaking needle through a bunch of elbow throwing flemish scumbags trying to deliver some pretty boy a decent lead out for a win at some stupid race no one cares about and no one has ever heard of and you probably should have won if you'd only worked in that stupid break-away on the third lap, these are the wheels you want to be on. deck them out with some italian made cx tubulars if you can find'em. you're not the pretty boy who's going division one next year so you don't deserve dugasts and couldn't afford'em even if you did.

bontrager race x lites....when someone asks the jerk "what kind of wheel should i get?" this is the answer the jerk gives. they don't ride harshly so they're good for putting in the base miles, they're light as anything else in the price range so they "feel" fast, and the rigidity is more than adequate. beyond this they are really tough. the offset rear rim makes for even spoke tension, the hub design is a proven swiss design and in the very rare event a spoke breaks, 90% of the time it'll be one of the drive side spokes which are regular j-bend so any moron can fix the thing.

which leaves the jerk to his favorite wheels and the ones none of us deserve to own but all of us owe it to ourselves to at least experience once: adas...the wheels teams have lost wheel contracts over. they are lighter than anything else, more aero than anything else, (save a disc the jerk supposes) stiffer than anything else and virtually bombproof. they are to wheels what a walser is to a bicycle or a ferrari f1 to automobiles...they are so far superior to every thing else as to almost transcend the category. as the jerk has said numerous times, frame geometry being equal, he would rather have the heaviest, flexiest most killed frame equipped with ada wheels than any other bicycle with any other wheel set. but then again you guys already knew that.....

jerk

I was going to reply, but I didn't think I could improve upon the silence. Since I've been kind of asked, here it goes.

I've never really given much thought to cosmic carbones until I read the part "needle through a bunch of elbow throwing flemish scumbags trying to deliver some pretty boy a decent lead out for a win at some stupid race no one cares about." As I read that, it played like a short movie clip in my mind's eye. So now, I have to consider em.

Bontrager Race X Lites. I had a set of these and if I ran across another at the right price, I'd snap em up quick. They are everything the Jerk say's they are and the Jerk isn't exaggerating about their toughness. Once on a training ride, in a large group riding 2X2, some yahoo causes a crash right in front of me. I bunny hoped him, but my big ring left a circular saw mark through his Giro. The impact caused me to do a 270 in mid air, landing sideways. As luck would have it, I did a Starsky & Hutch whip around while clipping out, came to a stop facing the correct direction and never hit the ground. The rear wheel was ever so slightly out of true.

Concerning the adas, I just have too many other things on my lust list. Let's see: A Vanilla single speed 29er so I can do not one, but two CX races every Sunday. A new fork for my CX bike. Dugast CX tires. A Turner Flux full suspension MTB, so I can escape the heat of the city and take refuge in the cool forests. A new track bike so can I give back the one I have on loan from a friend who replaced it because it shimmies out of turn 3. Did I leave anything out? Oh yeah, a new/used frame for my rain bike because the current one is clearly 2 sizes too small.

[Too Tall]

Jerkissimo BRAH!! No no, I was picking on Cees...what a dork. You I love....Cees = Dork. JERKO = good, Cees = Dork.

Matt old man, you can borrow anything except the hotrod...(ask Queen it's hers) IF you can find the FREAKIN clicking ALIENS in my Ti bike before the clowns start to cloud my brain. mutter mutter mutter.

[Chief]

I just picked up my wheels made with DT component by Joe Young. Even though the tires haven't hit the road yet they are now my favorite wheels. The Hugi hubs have a distinctive sound during freewheeling that you have to love and will drive everone else wild, including Oracle. To quote a line from Johnny Cash's "One Piece at a Time." "You'll know its me when this Cycle Billy comes through your town." :D

[gasman]

why are ADA's so special . Do they use the perfect bearings for their hubs.perfect carbon layup for the wheels,what is it.
The question mark sign is not working on this keyboard,they are questions.

[jerk]

yes.
yes.
yes.
cees uses the highest quality carbon in the world. his wheels are handmade in a very controlled environment. they are lighter and stiffer than anything else. the hub design is better than anything anyone has yet to come up with. virtually frictionless and easily dissassembled and reassembled by hand....the kevlar braking service makes for the only carbon wheels you can really conduct 100km/h+ alpine descents on. they're perfect and cees is only making them better with each generation. the carbon cees uses is used by no-one else except satellite manufacturers.
jerk

[e-RICHIE]

"...the carbon cees uses is used by no-one
else except satellite manufacturers."


jerk-issimo
do you, er, want to report a siteing?
e-RICHIE




g w bush does not represent anyone but himself.
my wife is always right.
she thinks my stem is too short.

[jerk]

so what you're saying is maybe...just maybe the place is here, the time is now and the journey into the shadows that we're about to watch could be our journey.

the jerk feels probed.

[Huffy_7-eleven]

Old school for me...

Fiamme (red label)
Record hubs
Denver spokes

[Chief]

See my thread on Joe Young wheels for a description of my favorite wheels.

[Kevan]

if you might recall you asked for wheels compatible with your character, hence the square wheels.

Now let's kiss and make-up, I've been working on a new geodesic wheelset build and I'm looking for a big furry guinea pig to test them on. Umm... you might want to use the CSi for these. :D

[erty65]

jerk roll call of his favorite wheels:

campy hubs built to mavic paris-roubaix rims. a nice light strong wheel....supposidyly the rims underwent hundreds of hours of heat-treatment or some such nonsense, they build up really nice, were stupid expensive for their time and are on the jerk's mx leader right now with 23mm dugasts although they'd be great with anything up to about a 28mm.

campy hubs built to assos rims....wow these things were the best. stupid light, shallow v aero section...sort of a grey-black tough looking color. the rims were specifically drilled for different lacing patterns depending on the amount of holes and whether the thing was going on the front or the back...the rims were super narrow so on went the 19mm sonderklasse time trial tires. these wheels remain the second lightest wheels the jerk has ever owned and the jerk has probably never went faster on a bicycle than he did on these wheels in a really windy time trial in brittany some years ago. assos continues to make great clothing but the stuff is pearl izumi garbage compared to the quality of their rims.

cosmic carbones....the jerk doesn't really know why but there are lighter wheels, there are more aerodynamic wheels but there are no faster wheels than these (with one exception). tour magazin found these things to be among the stiffest wheelset they had ever tested and this might be part of it....believe you the jerk when you're threading the freaking needle through a bunch of elbow throwing flemish scumbags trying to deliver some pretty boy a decent lead out for a win at some stupid race no one cares about and no one has ever heard of and you probably should have won if you'd only worked in that stupid break-away on the third lap, these are the wheels you want to be on. deck them out with some italian made cx tubulars if you can find'em. you're not the pretty boy who's going division one next year so you don't deserve dugasts and couldn't afford'em even if you did.

bontrager race x lites....when someone asks the jerk "what kind of wheel should i get?" this is the answer the jerk gives. they don't ride harshly so they're good for putting in the base miles, they're light as anything else in the price range so they "feel" fast, and the rigidity is more than adequate. beyond this they are really tough. the offset rear rim makes for even spoke tension, the hub design is a proven swiss design and in the very rare event a spoke breaks, 90% of the time it'll be one of the drive side spokes which are regular j-bend so any moron can fix the thing.

which leaves the jerk to his favorite wheels and the ones none of us deserve to own but all of us owe it to ourselves to at least experience once: adas...the wheels teams have lost wheel contracts over. they are lighter than anything else, more aero than anything else, (save a disc the jerk supposes) stiffer than anything else and virtually bombproof. they are to wheels what a walser is to a bicycle or a ferrari f1 to automobiles...they are so far superior to every thing else as to almost transcend the category. as the jerk has said numerous times, frame geometry being equal, he would rather have the heaviest, flexiest most killed frame equipped with ada wheels than any other bicycle with any other wheel set. but then again you guys already knew that.....

jerk

What about the "Lightweight Wheels"?

http://www.carbonsports.com/Produkte/Lightweight/index.html