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Gavatron
Dusty
Joined: Jul 01, 2008
Posts: 103
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 Posted: Wed 2nd Jul 10:25pm Post subject: How Important Are Light Wheels? |
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I took up competitive road cycling this Summer after years of recreational cycling. I'm riding F grade in a club that rides A-G.
I bought Specialized Roubaix Expert for longer road rides before taking up racing. the Expert has Ultegra groupset and wheelset. Having tasted a little success (and catching the bug) I'm wondering about upping the spec of my bike. (Can't afford another new one).
I have seen an opinion that the best investment you can make mechanically is lighter wheels.
A Shimano Ultegra wheelset is rated at 1687g bare. I am wondering about a set like the Mavic R-Sys at 1335g which I'd expect to pay around $1600 for from the UK. I don't see the point of spending around a grand for something maybe 150g lighter.
I'd appreciate some opinions. Will 350g in rotating weight make all that much difference?
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sifter
Moving forward
Joined: Nov 13, 2003
Posts: 10,699
Location: Wellington
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| Posted: Wed 2nd Jul 10:26pm Post subject: |
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Ride the wheels you have till they parc out my man. That bike you've got, as it is, is good enough to be winning B grade at least.... 
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musket
Mangled
Joined: Sep 28, 2002
Posts: 8,581
Location: Transient
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| Posted: Wed 2nd Jul 10:28pm Post subject: |
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The weight will make a difference, but as Sift says, the bike is sweet. Kill the wheels, and invest in a pair of raceday Michelin Pro Race3's in the meantime.
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jeremyb
BRAP BRAP BRAP BRAP
Joined: Jan 12, 2003
Posts: 32,873
Location: Derailled
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 6:54am Post subject: |
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The only difference is on uphills, on the flat it won't really matter  theres plenty of things including your own fitness to improve before you should bother with lighter components
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Joel
Wrecked
Joined: Mar 26, 2002
Posts: 5,635
Location: Welly
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 8:43am Post subject: |
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yeah as has been said allready. ride them till they are dead then think about it.
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Lambretta
Scuffed
Joined: Feb 28, 2007
Posts: 313
Location: The suitcase of courage.
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 8:53am Post subject: |
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Buy some cheaper heavier wheels to train on...then use your current ones come race day and it will feel like you've bought some nice new light jobbies
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Gavatron
Dusty
Joined: Jul 01, 2008
Posts: 103
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 8:57am Post subject: |
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Appreciate the advice. Part of my thinking though was to have two sets of wheels - one set for training and recreational rides with more puncture-resistant and (cheaper) tyres and a lighter set with race tyres. Partly to save swapping tyres for weekends as much as anything.
Wondering if this has some merit.
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sifter
Moving forward
Joined: Nov 13, 2003
Posts: 10,699
Location: Wellington
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 9:06am Post subject: |
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if you follow that route, you'll be needing to swap the cassette over. Might be comparable hassle to change tyres...
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sham
Scuffed
Joined: Apr 05, 2008
Posts: 334
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 9:08am Post subject: |
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| Lambretta wrote: | | Buy some cheaper heavier wheels to train on...then use your current ones come race day and it will feel like you've bought some nice new light jobbies |
This guys thinking... if you do want two sets id say go this way... a LOT cheaper.
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sham
Scuffed
Joined: Apr 05, 2008
Posts: 334
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 9:09am Post subject: |
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| sifter wrote: | | if you follow that route, you'll be needing to swap the cassette over. Might be comparable hassle to change tyres... |
...  this guys also thinking. I'll shhh now.
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ThingOne
Thrashed
Joined: Mar 05, 2007
Posts: 2,033
Location: 172.20.0.151
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 9:11am Post subject: |
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I run a set of Shimano R550s with Armadillos for training and a set of Mavic Ksyrium SL's with Michellen Carbons for races. Both have their own cassettes.
works great, I use the race wheels in the weekends and the training wheels during the week, it pays to alternate them occasionally so that the cassette wear keeps in-sync with the chain wear/stretch.
There is an amount of mental edge running nice wheels but I am definetly a bit faster on my SL's, especially on the hills.
All comes down to money, and how much you are prepared to spend on your sport.
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inzane
Wrecked
Joined: Feb 23, 2005
Posts: 6,571
Location: churchur
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 9:58am Post subject: |
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| jeremyb wrote: | | The only difference is on uphills, on the flat it won't really matter theres plenty of things including your own fitness to improve before you should bother with lighter components |
Now JB that is just not true. Every time you accelerate the bike the rotational weight of the wheels comes into play. Yes on a hill climb you will notice it more, but are you trying to tell me that on the flat, especially in a road race that you are not accelerating (changing speed) all the time?? Each time you roll through, corner, sprint etc you are having to accelerate the wheels. The heavier the rotating mass of the wheel, the harder it is to accelerate...
But as others have said, the wheelset you have is pretty good. You will have to lay out some serious coin to get something that is lighter.
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OnnoG
Worn
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Joined: Nov 28, 2007
Posts: 624
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 10:01am Post subject: RE: How Important Are Light Wheels? |
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| Gavatron wrote: |
I have seen an opinion that the best investment you can make mechanically is lighter wheels. |
I don’t think you’d notice the weight of new wheels would make too much difference unless you live in a place with lots of hilly type racing or riding. I guess biking against gravity would become more of a challenge and light wheels would be a more beneficial upgrade you would notice. If most of your races are on flatter terrain, I think instead of looking at weight savings in components like wheels I think an aerodynamic upgrade of wheels would be more beneficial. I think a deep section rim around 50mm or more would be a more beneficial upgrade that you would notice straight away. The reason I guess that upgrade is important is because they require less energy or power for the rider to push along at a given speed, I think the main resistance from going faster is wind not weight, meaning for the same power output you have you would go faster, saying that though if you have to accelerate your bike heaps like in a crit or sprinting light wheels take less energy to accelerate. A light and deep section rim wheel is even better in my opinion they cost a bit but you might see some used carbon wheels or something somewhere.
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Friendly Llama
Mangled
Joined: Aug 04, 2003
Posts: 9,442
Location: Hamilton
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 10:20am Post subject: |
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As and F grade racer, I wouldn't worry about it until you move up the ranks a bit You've got a sweet bike as it is.
Unless of course, you're suffering from the bling bug. Remember though, for the price you're thinking about blowing on wheels you could just buy a cheap traning bike, let alone wheelset.
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Kah
Flogged
Joined: Feb 23, 2003
Posts: 2,500
Location: Hilly Welly
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| Posted: Thu 3rd Jul 10:22am Post subject: |
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If you must have new wheels, either training or racing, talk to Tristan @ Wheelworks. He'll help you figure out what you need, and a nice custom wheelset is pretty hard to beat.
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