H+son SL42 rim thoughts?

lemonenema

I know its not a new rim at all but Im wondering what peoples views are on the aero-ness of this rim.

step83

They are OK, more a fixie rim though pretty weighty but very tough. They come in at 615g accoring to H+Son so I think you may need to readjust your numbers

By my maths using Sapims site as a guide (assumption spoke length is 260mm)

https://www.sapim.be/spokes/aero/cx-ray

So, 272 / 64 = = 4.25

4.25 X 20 = 85

Then spoke nipples (64 pcs weight Polyax 16mm 76.42)
76.42 / 64 = 1.194
1.194 X 20 = 23.88

So
Rim 615g
Spokes & Nipples 108.88g
723.88g

You'll still need a hub though

lemonenema

yep Novatec hub is about 110g

What makes you say its more for a fixie?

step83

OK so pretty much that weight then.

They are just pretty common as a fixed gear rim mainly because they are tough as boots. Had you considered the XR-380, its about 530g and only 4mm less in height and again a solid rim.

ugo.santalucia

lemonenema wrote:

yep Novatec hub is about 110g

What makes you say its more for a fixie?

They are heavy and narrow, more style than sustance. I did build a few about 5 years ago, mainly for fixies

lemonenema

aside from 85g in weight, theres not much in it between the SL42 and XR380, both quite narrow internally, i guess thats a bit of a put off

timothyw

The jury is very much still out on aerodynamics.

It seems safe to say that to get the best out of such narrow rims you will need narrow tyres - nothing over 23mm and less probably preferable - so if you are after 25/28mm tyres I'd say look elsewhere.

Hambini's somewhat controversial findings (https://www.hambini.com/blog/post/bicyc ... s-fastest/) do seem to bear out that depth is still king when it comes to aerodynamics, where a lot of the market had moved towards thinking that correctly shaped shallow rims (30mm say) lost very little to their deeper rivals - seen in the fashion for shallower rims in the peloton in the last few years versus the 50mm rims that were common a couple of years ago.

The Pro Lite A42 wheelset uses these rims (or at the least, an identically shaped rim) and the reviews for them on wiggle are excellent so I wouldn't necessarily be put off by their old school shape - https://www.wiggle.co.uk/pro-lite-bracc ... -wheelset/

lemonenema

thanks for the replies so far

the Pro Lite A42 rim does look identical in spec!

trek_dan

If I wanted not carbon deep rims (why?) I'd use them purely for the convenience of how easy tyres are to fit due to them not being tubeless compatible.

lemonenema

Thanks trek_Dan, Im not looking to use tubeless on my road bike yet, I just dont think the tyre tech is there yet, or is way to pricey for my taste.
Reason Im not looking at carbon is the braking performance and my concern over full carbon clinchers being. Ive seen some carbon wheels with alloy brake surfaces but they arent much lighter than all alloy ones.

trek_dan

lemonenema wrote:

Thanks trek_Dan, Im not looking to use tubeless on my road bike yet, I just dont think the tyre tech is there yet, or is way to pricey for my taste.
Reason Im not looking at carbon is the braking performance and my concern over full carbon clinchers being. Ive seen some carbon wheels with alloy brake surfaces but they arent much lighter than all alloy ones.

I feel the same about tubeless tyres, I tried them as I foolishly bought some tubeless compatible wheels that were impossible to fit clinchers to and didn't rate them. No real benefit for the significant extra cost (yet).
Never had an issues with carbon braking, its absolutely fine. I probably wouldn't take them to the Alps with me but then you wouldn't need deep rims for Cols anyway.

step83

Braking is very very much dependant on the wheel, My summers are the early OE version of Reynolds Strikes, I has yellow swisstops which didnt work very well. Put the "correct" Reynolds Cryo blues on an the stopping is nigh on the same as my alloys in wet or dry.

You can get the best of both so to speak as in an alloy brake track with carbon body but I don't know the weight of them I'm sure it was Mavic or similar that do them

lemonenema

Well just looking at a 38mm carbon/alloy one the built weight is 760g so a little shallower and a little lighter than my current idea but the internal width is 17mm vs 13mm for the SL42 and XR380. Hmm...

timothyw

It's a tough call to be honest.

SL42 is quoted at 615 grams, xr380 at 550 grams, which is actually in proportion - the weight of the XR380 is 89% of the sl42, the rim depth is 90% of the sl42.

Given that fundamentally you are trying to buy a deep rim, and that the price is identical (near enough) I'd be inclined to go for the SL42.

Although every time this question has come up for me I've gone for the cheaper XR31t which is wider, lighter and tubeless compatible, but obviously shallower.

lemonenema

youve misread my post - the carbon one I looked at is 17mm internal width, its the xR380 and SL42 that are 13mm width

timothyw

lemonenema wrote:

youve misread my post - the carbon one I looked at is 17mm internal width, its the xR380 and SL42 that are 13mm width

Yep realised that after posting and zapped that bit!

lemonenema

final thoughts?
Is it likely to be a disadvantage to go for a narrow rim (13mm internal) I usually use 25mm tyres.

ugo.santalucia

lemonenema wrote:

final thoughts?
Is it likely to be a disadvantage to go for a narrow rim (13mm internal) I usually use 25mm tyres.

FLO 30 is possibly the best alloy aero rim around... only 40 USD, plus a fortune to have it shipped over... probably not worth for one rim, but if you need a set and maybe a friend needs one too, then it becomes a viable proposition

timothyw

ugo.santalucia wrote:

lemonenema wrote:

final thoughts?
Is it likely to be a disadvantage to go for a narrow rim (13mm internal) I usually use 25mm tyres.

FLO 30 is possibly the best alloy aero rim around... only 40 USD, plus a fortune to have it shipped over... probably not worth for one rim, but if you need a set and maybe a friend needs one too, then it becomes a viable proposition

Looks to me like they're out of stock, end of line - and aero claims on that one seem somewhat dubious now that they were beaten by the xr31t in one test and other flo wheels underperformed in the hambini tests.

The Aforce AL33 is still available but incredibly expensive - https://dcrwheels.co.uk/products/rims/7 ... orce-al33/

But yeah, can't see the point of the sl42/xr380 with 25mm tyres - better to have a wider rim there.

lemonenema

huh funny you should mention that Ive just been looking at the xr31t again, Also looking at the Vision Team 30 / 35 but they only seem to come as a wheelset

ugo.santalucia

On the topic

https://whosatthewheel.com/2016/08/21/t ... vs-kinlin/

lemonenema

thats good to see, thanks.
Im going to try a 2nd hand FSA Team 30 and If thats good then Ill think about a similar rim next. Useful that its 19mm internal width, should sit much better with 25/28mm tyres.
Looks the same profile as the Kinlin 31 interestingly enough.