Wheels and Crosswind.

andrewjoseph

skooter wrote:

Please read my post again..
I said deeper rims or aero blade spokes, I wouldn't deem a rise in rims from 24mm to 30mm as aero wheels..

well, on what bike were you getting blown across the road? does that bike have shallower rims than you spec above?

skooter

The bike I had trouble with was a Giant TCR 1 @£900 and it had Giant PR 2 wheels which I believe were 24-28 rim size and 1900 gms in weight..
It could be of course that they were just bad wheels or it was a crap bike and bad wheels.
I have on my bike now a Specialized Allez Comp some DT Axis 1.0's which have 30mm rims back and front but are very heavy at 2200gms..
But not affected by crosswinds until its a very strong wind.

andrewjoseph

so it seems you had more trouble with crosswinds on lighter and shallower wheels?

I don't think the old wheels were 'bad', this would have shown up as wobble rims/spokes or rough bearings.

maybe you were not used to riding in windy conditions? on the whole I'd suggest either:

buy the lightest, shallowest wheels you can afford, thus making hills and general riding easier,

buy the wheels you fancy.

skooter

Thanks aj..
I have two more snippets of info..

If I riding down the road on my new bike at let say 20mhp and I was riding one handed and drinking with the other and a lorry came by it would just rock me a little and move me slightly across the road but I would still have only one hand on the bars with no problem, but do the same on the old bike and I would have to drop the bottle and grap the drops with both hands other wise the front would wobble and the wheels would try an fold inwards...
Secondly..
Just by chance I went and measured the rims on my Spech Crosstail Comp and the wheels have 35mm rims.. thats odd..
Thanks for you help..

andrewjoseph

I think it may more a case of the geometry difference than a wheel depth issue.

I get blown around in strong winds, it's not pleasant but you get used to it. I get blown around even more when fully loaded.

it's difficult to compare, but I get blown around the same on my mtb or my Tourer, the difference is that usually on the mtb the speeds are lower and there's no traffic about, I laugh out loud at being blown across the trail or brought to complete stop.

it's just grim being blown across the road in heavy traffic downhill at 50+ kmh.

skooter

andrewjoseph wrote:

I think it may more a case of the geometry difference than a wheel depth issue.

I get blown around in strong winds, it's not pleasant but you get used to it. I get blown around even more when fully loaded.

it's difficult to compare, but I get blown around the same on my mtb or my Tourer, the difference is that usually on the mtb the speeds are lower and there's no traffic about, I laugh out loud at being blown across the trail or brought to complete stop.

it's just grim being blown across the road in heavy traffic downhill at 50+ kmh.

My new Allez Comp is deemed to be an endurance based bike built for comfort and distance and the geometry is brill for what I need.
But to be honest once I get to 50 kmh down hill I start to put the brakes on anyway, coz by then I'm going as fast as I want to go.

Did a bit of research and read loads of reviews yesterday and the 3 top selling wheelsets which are the Dura Ace 9000, the Mavic Elite S and the Fulcrum 3, and all three had someone moan about crosswinds.

Cheers Paul.