Help with wheels and tyres

andyboyce

Please help me....I have been to 3 'specialist' bike shops now and I am more confused than when I started !

I have been riding for about 18 months and am up to a 50 miler at the weekend and a couple of one hour ride or turbo session on the week.

I bought a Specialized Roubaix Compact before Xmas and am gutted as my 2 riding mates both bought Wiggle's own Verenti Rhigos for a few hundred pounds less and I am having trouble keeping up with them.

We have done a few tests from a standing start, or where we are all travelling at e same speed and then stop peddling and they just pull away from me in free wheel and I have to peel frantically just to keep up !

The shops have told me to look at new wheels and tryes, but it's just a mine field....which is where I need help please.

I am 5ft 11 and weigh 12 1/2 stone. Where I live is quite hilly, s I do a lot of climbing.

The bike I have has DT Swiss 2.0 wheels And Specialzied Espoir Sport tyres.

Many thanks.

unixnerd

Can't find a weight listed for those wheels but I'd bet they're not that light, manufacturers tend to skimp on the wheels these days to save money. I went from a 1900g set to my 1500ish Pro-Light Braccianos and it made a massive difference to acceleration and climbing, transformed the bike.

I paid 180 for them but they're more now, I'd also look at Shimano RS-80s. If I had the cash I'd get Mavic Ksyrium Elites. You can easily get 100g weight difference between similar looking tyres and it all adds up. Bottom line is that if you knock 500g off your rotating mass it'll really improve the bike.

andyboyce

That's really useful, thanks so much. I guess that Specialized would be able to tell me the weight of the wheels and tyres that come as standard. I was just not expecting when paying £1600 that I wouldn't get a descent wheel spec !

huuregeil

Bet it's the tyres! Heavy wheels make you less slow on a roll-down test (they carry more momentum), so these are unlikely to be the culprit (although light wheels are nice going uphill) - the main losses come from aerodynamics (which you can't really change) and tyre rolling resistance (which you can change). Buy a nice racy set of tyres, keep them at a suitable pressure and see what the difference is like then. You can't really go wrong with the top tyres from the likes of Michelin, Conti, Vittoria, Schwalbe - pick one according to budget and see how you go.

rake

its more likely your riding position catches the wind more. you will notice little difference from changing the wheels and then your specialized will have cost even more hundreds than theirs. if theyve both got the same bikes, borrow the wheels from one and test it against the other. After that fails to change anything slam your handlebars down a peg or two.

andyboyce

Any recommendations on tyres please, CP magazine recommended Continental GP4000S Folding Tyre, but I read in one form that they tend to recommend the brands that a paying of advertising space with them. Also, what's a folding tyre please ?Thanks so much

mfin

andyboyce wrote:

Any recommendations on tyres please, CP magazine recommended Continental GP4000S Folding Tyre, but I read in one form that they tend to recommend the brands that a paying of advertising space with them. Also, what's a folding tyre please ?Thanks so much

4000s are good tyres. All high end clinchers are roughly that weight, and those ones are a good choice. Folding tyres are of course 'tyres that fold', don't mean to sound daft, but you'll see tyres folded up in boxes, they're always more expensive than ones that you cant fold which will be be heavier, and unfoldable due to steel in beads where they mount as against kevlar etc which is foldable (and lighter).

andyboyce

Great, thanks so much

andyboyce

I see that some of the Continentals on Ribble website are listed with 'chili' compound. These seem to be a bit more expensive. Is this just a marketing gimmick or worth paying the extra for ?