Aero rear ??

nax-ian

Would there be any benefit from putting, say, a 50mm aero profile wheel on the rear but keeping a low weight climbing wheel up front?
Or are wheelsets supposed to be used together i.e. front and back the same.
Anyone...

racingcondor

There is a benefit from running the deepest wheels you reasonably can and as a result you do often see sprinters running deeper rear wheels than front but that's because they've already got a 50mm rim on the front and a deeper rim would be dangerous in the bunch (handling / side winds etc there may also be a max depth allowed).

The problem with what you suggest is that the front wheel gains most from an aero rim as it's the wheel that cuts through clean undisturbed air. If you're running a low profile front rim you're already giving up most of the potential gains.

That said, there's no reason you couldn't and presumably it would have some small benefit without impacting too much on handling. If you can run tubular wheels though then most 50mm tubular rims are no heavier than a normal Alu rim.

nax-ian

So, better to put the deeper profile rim on the front ?

velvetytoast

From everything I've read - yes

jibberjim

Although if you have a larger rim on the front than the rear it can make handling even worse with the wind, because the wind instead of pushing the entire bike sideways will push the front more and that will then increase the turning movement causing more wobbling as you compensate etc.

But you can run what you want.

inseine

Firstly, any gains/losses are tiny, but going with the topic, you're better being more aero rather than lighter in nearly all situations. So aero wheels are better. If you're obsessed with being lighter too, ride tubs or put the aero wheel on the front. Trouble is it looks dumb!

oldwelshman

Also depends if it is for TT or bunch racing. No point for bunch racing unless you plan being on the front whole race, better to save weight.
Anyway the benefits of such wheels are quite minimal for most average riders as said above, ok if you can puch 27mph plus, then benefits worth while.

racingcondor

inseine wrote:

Trouble is it looks dumb!

This is the problem . For the biggest gain you are right, just an aero front wheel would in theory be best (I'm sure you'd get used to the handling just like you do if you have deep rims front and rear).

In practice though it does look really odd (I've seen it on races where people have punctured and had to take whatever replacement rear they were given).