wheel upgrade- my thoughts

carrock
carrock Posts: 1,103
edited October 2010 in Road buying advice
saw a set of 1500 gramme wheels (Roval Fusee E5) on sale at local LBS for £225 ( down from £350 )

Was dubious about any actual benefit, but they looked nice, so I bought them as an aesthetic upgrade if nothing else

Saved about 700 grammes on std mavic cxp-22 std wheels- as i weigh 16 stone, didnt think I'd notice the difference

Just been on a test ride- my wife, who is 5 stone lighter and leaves me for dead up hills, was struggling to keep up. I'm getting over a bad cold, but just seemed to float along effortlessly- felt like a strong tailwind at my back

This is NOT a placebo effect as I wasn't expecting a noticable difference.

So yes, I can only assume that with every pedal stroke we are trying to overcome inertia, and 2000 grammes of wheel and tyre is much easier to accelerate than 2700 grammes

Comments

  • unixnerd
    unixnerd Posts: 2,864
    Good to hear :-)

    I just bought some 1500g Pro-Lite Bracciano's at Ribble for 186 (they've since reduced them to 175, grrrr). Can't wait for them to arrive and take them for a road test.
    http://www.strathspey.co.uk - Quality Binoculars at a Sensible Price.
    Specialized Roubaix SL3 Expert 2012, Cannondale CAAD5,
    Marin Mount Vision (1997), Edinburgh Country tourer, 3 cats!
  • twotyred
    twotyred Posts: 822
    This is NOT a placebo effect as I wasn't expecting a noticable difference

    You're kidding yourself and the physics doesn't bear you out.. You can't say it wasn't a placebo effect unless you didn't know what wheels were on the bike.

    Put the bike on a stand with the old wheels and spin the front wheel up to 20mph using your fingers. Didn't take a lot of effort did it compared to accelerating you and the bike up to 20 mph. Lighter wheels make a small difference but not to the extent you describe.

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