Do carbon wheels make you faster? A ride report

[wyatt_]

So, I picked up a set of Hunt 35 carbon gravel wheels after riding only on aluminum wheels for the past 20 years. (Welcome to this century, I know...) I'm a bigger rider, have never been particularly fast, and have always been skeptical about spending $1k to drop grams for marginal gains. But, hell, I needed to replace a cassette, which led me to want an XDR driver, which led me to a whole new wheelset.

Anyway, yesterday after I finished getting the brake calipers lined up, I figured I'd take it for a quick shakedown ride and see how it felt. Figured it wouldn't matter much, but right out of the door, I was holding a pretty significantly higher pace. After a few miles, was genuinely shocked the way the wheels could hold onto a 25 mph pace and just stay there. Couldn't believe I'd held off on splurging on carbon wheels for so long.

This honeymoon period lasted for a few more miles, until I turned around to pedal home and realized I'd been so distracted by the new wheels that I hadn't noticed the 20+ mph tailwind that had pushing me the entire time.

After slogging through an absolutely brutal headwind home, I checked Strava. My speed was exactly .1 mph better than the last time I rode that route. So, I guess carbon wheels do make you faster. But not as much as a tailwind.

[dmitrik4]

I doubt the material matters as much as the weight and the hubs. There’s nothing magic about carbon.

[NHAero]

Very funny post!

I have about 8,000 miles on a pair of 650B carbon wheels from BTLOS on my all road bike. What I like is that they have taken a beating over the 5 years I have been riding them and they are still nice and true. And just 24 spokes too. No aluminum wheels have yielded this level of robustness for me. These were my first set but I now have four sets of carbon wheels, on three bikes (one pair is alternate 700C for the two 650B bikes).

Originally Posted by wyatt_

So, I picked up a set of Hunt 35 carbon gravel wheels after riding only on aluminum wheels for the past 20 years. (Welcome to this century, I know...) I'm a bigger rider, have never been particularly fast, and have always been skeptical about spending $1k to drop grams for marginal gains. But, hell, I needed to replace a cassette, which led me to want an XDR driver, which led me to a whole new wheelset.

Anyway, yesterday after I finished getting the brake calipers lined up, I figured I'd take it for a quick shakedown ride and see how it felt. Figured it wouldn't matter much, but right out of the door, I was holding a pretty significantly higher pace. After a few miles, was genuinely shocked the way the wheels could hold onto a 25 mph pace and just stay there. Couldn't believe I'd held off on splurging on carbon wheels for so long.

This honeymoon period lasted for a few more miles, until I turned around to pedal home and realized I'd been so distracted by the new wheels that I hadn't noticed the 20+ mph tailwind that had pushing me the entire time.

After slogging through an absolutely brutal headwind home, I checked Strava. My speed was exactly .1 mph better than the last time I rode that route. So, I guess carbon wheels do make you faster. But not as much as a tailwind.

[jamesdak]

A sense of humor seems to be missing on the forum today.

I just chuckled when I read the OP's comments.

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by dmitrik4

I doubt the material matters as much as the weight and the hubs. There’s nothing magic about carbon.

Actually there is nothing magic about weight or hubs either, it has to do with rim shape (depth, etc).

[wyatt_]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Very funny post!

I have about 8,000 miles on a pair of 650B carbon wheels from BTLOS on my all road bike. What I like is that they have taken a beating over the 5 years I have been riding them and they are still nice and true. And just 24 spokes too. No aluminum wheels have yielded this level of robustness for me. These were my first set but I now have four sets of carbon wheels, on three bikes (one pair is alternate 700C for the two 650B bikes).

Have heard this a lot. The durability to weight ratio was a big selling point to get me to pull the trigger. Hope it proves true for this pair. Have to say they were a flawless set-up, too.

[NHAero]

I'm a "late adopter" of a lot of bike tech, with my first carbon wheels 5 years ago, but rims are a really good application for carbon fiber. And now that I am enjoying my 2016 Supersix, I have come around to the view that CF makes a pretty darn good bike frameset too, with a good design.

[charliedid]

Yes

[Gummee]

The answer is always 'it depends.' ...just like any other aero widget they're selling.

Can you pedal your bike faster?

THAT is the $64k question

...and just like the OP I've set out riding and thought 'Man my legs feel good today!' till I turn out of the tailwind and then it's 'man my legs feel like poo today!'

M

[blakcloud]

OP, I like your humour.

[benb]

The $100 thing that I really suspect makes me faster is just wearing race fit jerseys.

I really like the looser chill out styles. They're comfy. But I got a couple of more racy fitting ones this year and I swear I can feel the difference.

I already had some race fit ones but the older ones I have are *really* tight and don't necessarily fit well right now. The newer ones work better.

[Mark McM]

Tailwind? What's a tailwind? There are some days when I have a headwind, and there are other days I'm just feeling strong and riding faster - but I've never had a tailwind.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Tailwind? What's a tailwind? There are some days when I have a headwind, and there are other days I'm just feeling strong and riding faster - but I've never had a tailwind.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Likewise, one sees many Strava posts titles whining about 'was actually XX.XX speed, but Strava/Garmin screwed me.'

But you never see anyone complaining/correcting when the unit says 20.8 and the Strava file says 21.

OP: Post of the week, thank you. Up until the plot twist, I was getting ready to print your post in poster size, frame it, and hang it up in the road bike section of my store.

[mdeth1313]

Imagine what you could do on a good set of carbon wheels!

[Philster]

Great light hearted post. I have some bikes, wheels and tires that always make me faster on my normal loops. I always wonder if they are actually faster or just motivate me to work harder for some reason. I’m not going to try to analyze it for fear of ruining the magic.