is it worthreplacing my rims?

ashleydwsmith

See a lot of posts on wheels and they reduce the rolling resistance if lighter etc. However does this relate to the hubs or the rims as well?
The reason I ask is I have zipp hubs which are great laced to alex rims. Bog standard. So will there be any noticable gain if I were to chain the rims?

samvegg

The rims will be pretty much the most significant change in performance that you can do to a wheel. Changing your rims can, depending on the rim, make climbing and accelerating much easier as well as improve aerodynamic efficiency.
Bear in mind also that you will most likely have to swap out spokes while changing the rim though.

ugo.santalucia

What's the hole count for you front and rear hub?

ashleydwsmith

16 on the front and 20 on the rear.

ugo.santalucia

ashleydwsmith wrote:

16 on the front and 20 on the rear.

Not much choice of rims then... carbon is probably the only real option

Bobbinogs

Ugo, can a wheel builder do wheels with such low spoke counts? I recall reading that numbers as low as 16 create problems but not sure what those problems would be as spoke count and tension are not necessarily directly linked??

ashleydwsmith

I myself am intrigued now, I thought they were the original alexrims, however upin looking at a picture it appears not as spoke count is different

ugo.santalucia

Bobbinogs wrote:

Ugo, can a wheel builder do wheels with such low spoke counts? I recall reading that numbers as low as 16 create problems but not sure what those problems would be as spoke count and tension are not necessarily directly linked??

If Zipp and Shimano can, we can too... a 16 front is not a big problem, unless a spoke snaps, then you have to call a cab. A 20 rear is more problematic, as it's difficult to have a 20 spokes rear wheel which is worth riding. People these days ride all sorts of crap and don't mind a wheel that shatters in a pothole, but most builders would not want to have photos of their wheels shattered published on the web. A builder doesn't have the budget to buy enough advertising space to offset such episodes, so can't take the same level of risk.

I suppose for racing/TT purposes only the OP can look at what Planet X has to offer in terms of cheap carbon rims or stick to the Alex, which maybe are not so bad after all

ashleydwsmith

So in which case what would I replace the whole wheel with?

Barbarossa

samvegg wrote:

The rims will be pretty much the most significant change in performance that you can do to a wheel. Changing your rims can, depending on the rim, make climbing and accelerating much easier as well as improve aerodynamic efficiency.

Why is this?