Wheels for the big fella

Simmo72

Hi

I'm in the process of sorting out a new ride, I'm building it up with a combination of new and left over parts. One thing I'm not sure about are the wheels and how much benefit a big rider like me 6ft5, 94kg, is going to get on the almost limitless amount you can spend on the things.

Right now I have pairs of fulcrum 7, fulcrum 5 and mavic ksyrium elites. All have served well, with only the 5's and the elites requiring a bit of tweaking following years of use.

the elites are nice and I do feel a small gain in speed over the other pairs, though it is hardly dramatic. My question is, will a big rider benefit by spending a lot on a pair of uber expensive wheels, or is a lot of the benefit by default lost because I am a bigger rider and any weight saving is going to be minute in comparision to my oveall bike and body combined weight. Likewise will deep section be a pro or con? I mainly ride the hills of surrey/hampshire/berkshire, I'm not going up mountains.

Confused.

Right now, I'm thinking a pair of fulcrum quattros will do the job just as well as something £600 more expensive. eating less would help more

ugo.santalucia

MOney buy you lightweight, fragile equipment, so the answer is obvious...
You need to get something solid, not necessarily weighing a ton and not necessarily 600 pounds

lostboysaint

I'm 6'4" and 98kg and have just binned a set of Fulcrum 5s that were "requiring attention" and went for handbuilts. Following the advice of a number of the recommended wheelbuilders on here I went slightly wider with the rim, upped the number of spokes and got a very nice, strong, light-enough, wheelset made. They've now got a few hundred miles on them and I'm really, really pleased. The extra torsional strength is obvious, they fatten the 25mm tyre out nicely, they're just good at keeping someone of our size going nicely.

Mine are Velocity A23 rims, Sapim Race spokes (32 of them), Miche hubs.

Simmo72

Cheers. I have heard some good things about the A23 rims, i like the idea of riding a wider rim. I've just stuck a pair of 28's on one bike, its great. I can't see a loss in speed and its great on rubbish british roads. matched with a a23 rim it might be just the ticket. Any tips on who to go to for a pair of handbuilt? the wheelsmith seems to get a lot of good press.

I have some old chorus/open 4cd on my old 90's bike, handbuilt, bullet proof.

ugo.santalucia

Simmo72 wrote:

the wheelsmith seems to get a lot of good press.

Mostly for carbon and low spoke count though...

wishitwasallflat

Simmo72 wrote:

Cheers. I have heard some good things about the A23 rims, i like the idea of riding a wider rim. I've just stuck a pair of 28's on one bike, its great. I can't see a loss in speed and its great on rubbish british roads. matched with a a23 rim it might be just the ticket. Any tips on who to go to for a pair of handbuilt? the wheelsmith seems to get a lot of good press.

I have some old chorus/open 4cd on my old 90's bike, handbuilt, bullet proof.

Ugo and cycleclinic both get rave reviews on here, if you are ok with your choices of rim and hub being limited by his only building with what he uses Harry Rowland is highly respected. I expect Harry would be hard to dissuade from 32hole open-pros for you but give him a call I may be wrong. Ugo and cycleclinic will give you a wider choice of rims and hubs - search on here for the literally hundereds of what wheel threads they have contributed to, both also have good sites/blogs.

http://paolocoppo.drupalgardens.com

http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk/

Just riding Along also get good comments.

Ugo has recommended people to use someone local to them before a few times which is also good advice if you need after sales, but I used Harry Rowland as there isn't anyone good local (AFAIK) and don't regret it at all.

lostboysaint

Simmo72 wrote:

Cheers. I have heard some good things about the A23 rims, i like the idea of riding a wider rim. I've just stuck a pair of 28's on one bike, its great. I can't see a loss in speed and its great on rubbish british roads. matched with a a23 rim it might be just the ticket. Any tips on who to go to for a pair of handbuilt? the wheelsmith seems to get a lot of good press.

I have some old chorus/open 4cd on my old 90's bike, handbuilt, bullet proof.

Your PM isn't working for some reason. Don't know where you are in Hampshire but you can always check mine out if you want. (Ooooerrrrr Missus) Stick a PM over to me and I'll give you details of who built them etc. and where to find me if you want to have a quick look and ride before committing.



And a couple of hundred miles later, looking wonderfully stealthy.