Which wheels to race on?

janesy

In a nutshell, light or aero?
I have two bikes and two sets of wheels.

My nice bike is a Van Nicholas Zephyr with full Duraace and lots of carbon. Which I train on when nice and will do road races (on roads)
With Stans Alpha 340 rims with AC hubs CX spokes - 1300g wheelset. Running Tubeless Schwalbe ones 23mm.

My Second bike is a Trek 2.1 which is my winter bike and is used for Crit racing.
This bike has my FFWRD 40mm carbon wheels. Running Schwalbe ones 25mm. standard clincher with latex tubes.

My logic of running these wheels with these bikes is as follows:

As crit racing is primarily flat, and the need for high powered sprinting, I have chosen the carbon deeps for this.
And in road races having more hills, a lighter bike giving me an advantage.

Is this the right way of thinking? I have my first road race in 2 weeks with some big hills. Bristol South RR. Mendips.
Shallow wheels or carbon deeps?

Shallow wheels are 1300g + with tubeless
FFWRD are 1600g + with 25c standard. estimate 500g difference.

imposter2.0

Use whatever gives you the lightest, most reliable combination - regardless of the type of race.

racingcondor

Personally I'd go light in the crits (easy spin up) and aero in the longer road races (assuming the light wheels are stiff enough). Neither wheelset is going to cost you a race though so the best advice is the one most of us could do with. Don't overthink it.

ongej

I'd recommend light wheels for crits too... when I changed my stock wheels to lighter wheels (about 100grams lighter per wheel), it made the difference after the out of corner sprints from "I want this race to end now" to "this is OK, I can cope ok-ish". and when I went from that to carbon tubs, this turned to "this is not bad, I can think of moving to near the front, or even attack".

janesy

ummm thanks for comments, I see the advantage of lighter wheels. But now what to do with my fast forwards f4r....

Probably right though, shouldn't over think it.

imposter2.0

Sell them, or keep them for TTs...

DavidJB

I race all year round on FFWD F4R Tubulars...great 'do it all' wheels.

DeVlaeminck

Carbon tubulars are pretty robust - never had carbon clinchers like the OP but I'd just use them for all the races they are only 40mm and if they break well you can use the other wheels then.

racingcondor

janesy wrote:

But now what to do with my fast forwards f4r....

Stop worrying, they're still lovely wheels. Seriously, you haven't got a problem if your 'heavy' wheels are around 1600g.

jibberjim

If you're running a 1300g wheelset, that van Nicholas frame must weigh a tonne to get you over the UCI limit if it's all dura ace and carbon components.

jibberjim

madasahattersley wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

If you're running a 1300g wheelset, that van Nicholas frame must weigh a tonne to get you over the UCI limit if it's all dura ace and carbon components.

I've never met anyone who actively adheres to the UCI weight limit, including those who regularly race UCI sanctioned (1.1/2) races

So they cheat? Of course cheating is well accepted in cycling, and weight limits on bikes is a bit better than drugs. Depressing that you condone it though.

DavidJB

jibberjim wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

If you're running a 1300g wheelset, that van Nicholas frame must weigh a tonne to get you over the UCI limit if it's all dura ace and carbon components.

I've never met anyone who actively adheres to the UCI weight limit, including those who regularly race UCI sanctioned (1.1/2) races

So they cheat? Of course cheating is well accepted in cycling, and weight limits on bikes is a bit better than drugs. Depressing that you condone it though.

Lol what are you on.

wallace_and_gromit

jibberjim wrote:

So they cheat? Of course cheating is well accepted in cycling, and weight limits on bikes is a bit better than drugs.

Whilst the bolded bit seems like a reasonable assertion, if you're going to cheat then you might as well do the job properly and I think a good course of PEDs will be better for you than a lighter set of wheels to get under the UCI limit!

What are the official sanctions for an illegal bike? Presumably disqualification but no ban?

janesy

So, I'm now using the Lighter wheels on my Trek 2.1 race bike. - Im thinking kack bike, but its actually very nice to ride especially with Tubeless Schwalbe ones.

And my 'nice' ffwrd f4r's on my nice bike, which will be used the majority of time when not pi$$ing with rain and roads are dry.

PS - Actually weighed the wheels with Cassette and tyres. 300g difference. NOT MUCH at all worth noticing.
Cheaper wheels on the Crit bike then!

jibberjim

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

What are the official sanctions for an illegal bike? Presumably disqualification but no ban?

DQ if after, same as junior gears violation etc. Which are often checked both before and after, not allowed to start if before.

No-one ever checks of course in BC racing... but as you say, if you're gonna break the rules, why not go the whole hog?

wallace_and_gromit

jibberjim wrote:

...but as you say, if you're gonna break the rules, why not go the whole hog?

I was only joking. My view is that PEDs are definitely the "Dark Side" but folk can race on what they like (so long as it's safe). I race on a nice but by no means flash bike and spend the money I've saved by not having a flash bike/wheels on holidays!

mamba80

madasahattersley wrote:

Well if it gives you a sense of self-righteousness then by all means add weight to your bike to make sure that it's above the limit when a commissaire goes around the pack weighing everybody's bikes. Suggesting that it's important to stay above 6.8kg is pretty absurd though. Do you really think he's getting an advantage from having wheels that make his bike 6.7kg?

Of course I don't condone cheating. I'm the most anti-doping person you will ever meet, as anyone that knows me will confirm, but I think the weight limit is pointless. My race bike weighs 8kg - maybe for a level playing field everyone should make theirs weigh the same? I know I've raced against 5.5kg bikes but I don't care. If I lose a race by a tyre width in a sprint to somebody on a 5.5kg bike then I might, but it's not going to happen.

I realized long ago, that with BC there are rules and there are guide lines and the 2 will be changed around to fit the prevailing view.
So a junior/youth with a gear infringement will get a DQ but a senior with a under weight bike will get ...nothing.

Its not self righteous to point out this, if its a rule, its to be obeyed or else what is it? if you can pick and choose which rule then why bother with any of it ?

So its easy to pick on some 13yo and say "your a DQ" far less easy to enforce an ancient rule on bike weight but its there, just as its illegal to use cold remedies when the adv is minimal if at all but athletes will get 2yr bans for using them.

jibberjim

mamba80 wrote:

So its easy to pick on some 13yo and say "your a DQ" far less easy to enforce an ancient rule on bike weight but its there, just as its illegal to use cold remedies when the adv is minimal if at all but athletes will get 2yr bans for using them.

Not sure there's any UK OTC cold remedies which are banned, the substances that do exist in some are all subject to limits which are much lower than you could get from using them in accordance with dosing instructions.

imposter2.0

UCI weight limit in regional racing? FFS. Nobody cares - not even the UCI. If they did, they would make sure BC enforced it.

mamba80

I wasn't suggesting that this should be enforced at all, let alone in regional racing, my point, badly made, is athletes cant choose which rules to obey or not.
Jauyie !

imposter2.0

mamba80 wrote:

I wasn't suggesting that this should be enforced at all, let alone in regional racing, my point, badly made, is athletes cant choose which rules to obey or not.
Jauyie !

Sorry, my comment wasn't directed at you - it was more a response to jibberjim, I should have quoted his post...

jibberjim

Imposter wrote:

mamba80 wrote:

I wasn't suggesting that this should be enforced at all, let alone in regional racing, my point, badly made, is athletes cant choose which rules to obey or not.
Jauyie !

Sorry, my comment wasn't directed at you - it was more a response to jibberjim, I should have quoted his post...

My point was the same though? It shouldn't be enforced but also shouldn't need enforcing in regional racing, because people shouldn't be breaking it...

Dark prince

Crikey jibberjim are you real..

Dark prince

Oh I race on mavic krysium es wheels,bombproof and light shod with veloflex tyres and latex tubes..fast and very smooth.