Another wheel question. Please don't hate me.

mattmaximus

Amidst the hundreds of similar threads I don't think this one has been asked yet.

I'm looking to get some wheels for TT and tri and the cycleops G3 hub built up with ENVE 65 rims looks good as it's the only way I can see to afford do-all-the-work-for-you-free-speed rims and PM.

The thing is, to get the most out of the PM I would want it for training on the road bike as well as racing on the TT bike, hence thinking about clinchers for day to day practicality.

Or, i could get the tubular version and cross my fingers / get good at replacing and mending tubs / prepare for spending money on new tyres.

OTOH this is obviously a rubbish idea if i'm likely to bust the rim by using it for training as well as racing.

Or, is there a different option that I haven't thought of? If the perfect solution is out there for around £2k I'm very much all ears!

BikeSwan

The ENVE's are pretty much bombproof so you shouldn't have to worry about busting them from training on them. If it was me I'd go for the clincher, as the marginal weight saved by the tubulars doesn't offset the inconvenience (for me anyway). Have you thought about the ENVE SES 6.7 as a slightly more aero option?

ugo.santalucia

As a wheel it won't be very long lasting... Huge flange and deep rims lead to awkward bracing angle and spoke failures... Barring that, everything is possible. There are much cheaper carbon clincher than Enve... I struggle to make sense of a rim that retails at 600 pounds

mattmaximus

Hi ugo, was hoping you would stop by. Does building a g3 hub onto solid handbuilts and then getting aero race wheels as well make more sense? If so, what would be your recommendations (looking mainly at flat 10 and 25 mile tts)?

ugo.santalucia

mattmaximus wrote:

Hi ugo, was hoping you would stop by. Does building a g3 hub onto solid handbuilts and then getting aero race wheels as well make more sense? If so, what would be your recommendations (looking mainly at flat 10 and 25 mile tts)?

You can build the PM on carbon rims, just maybe not 65 mm... You would need very short spikes at a very steep bracing angle... 38 mm?

on-yer-bike

Is steep bracing angle stronger up to a point? I've read reviews of hubs where they infer that the hub is better the wider apart the flanges are, but I guess that depends on the flange depth.

ugo.santalucia

on-yer-bike wrote:

Is steep bracing angle stronger up to a point? I've read reviews of hubs where they infer that the hub is better the wider apart the flanges are, but I guess that depends on the flange depth.

The wheel as a whole is stronger with a wide flange and a steep angle, but if the steep angle is combined with short spoke length it becomes too steep, hence the wheel is strong but the spokes tend to snap much earlier than they should.
It is trial and error, I have no idea how good the combination of PM and 65 mm rims is, but in principle is less than ideal... then it also depends how wide the flange is... at the moment I can't recall the PM flange width, if it's 51 mm it's OK, if it's 56 it just won't work... in the middle shades of grey

ugo.santalucia

An update...

I checked, the flange distance is 56 mm, which combined with a flange diameter of 57, makes this unsuitable for deep rims. The previous model had a shorter flange distance, 52 or so, better suited to that job, but less suited to shallow rims.
At Cycleops they probably realised most people use this for training...