Rim depth

secretsam

So. I am considering new wheels to replace the stock DT Swiss R470s on my SL6.
But I am completely at sea as to which depth to choose.
I tend to ride (at the moment) on a mix of flat-ish areas (Vale of Aylesbury) and sharp, short hills (Chilterns) - I may move to the Bristol area in the future, where there's more...sharp hills!
I am a relatively stout individual (85kg on a good day) and I'm not going to do TTs or any of that sort of thing, but want something that feels nice on hills but also good on the flat.
I'm not quick, however!

TIA

mrb123

I got some new wheels built up with Light Bicycle rims last year. Ended up going for 46mm deep on the front and 56mm rear - that seemed to me to be a decent balance taking into account weight, crosswind stability etc.

The carbon rims are so light now I ended up saving a bit of weight over my old shallow alu rims so it seemed like a win win.

MattFalle

50/60mm all rounders, perfect for everything, look mega, loads available for choice, sound cool.

lob a set of Primes on at their sale price on and shooooooooooom off into the sunset.

ugo.santalucia

For the type of cycling you do, it doesn’t make any difference.I would probably try to go for relatively light rims, so nothing too deep, that are easier to bring up to speed. Aerodynamic analysis when tottering around at 15 mph on country lanes are overkill.

ugo.santalucia

… also, for what is worth, the DT 470 are excellent rims, very light and responsive. In stock wheels they are often built with cheap nasty plain gauge spokes, which yield a dead feel. If the spokes are J bend, a rebuild with something nice like Sapim d-Light, will transform the wheels… if they are straight pull spokes, it might turn out a bit expensive and maybe not worth after all

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Aero becomes increasingly significant from ~20kph (~12.5mph).

Unless you are blessed with "skeleton" weight (Ugo and DanB spring to mind from here, under 70Kg and closer to 60Kg iirc) and/or a monster power curve, for us mortals the benefit of aero over weight on hills will happen closer to 4% gradient than ~8%.

imposter2.0

ugo.santalucia said:

For the type of cycling you do, it doesn’t make any difference.I would probably try to go for relatively light rims, so nothing too deep, that are easier to bring up to speed. Aerodynamic analysis when tottering around at 15 mph on country lanes are overkill.

Absolutely this.

MattFalle

i'd ignore all light rim this and straight pull spoke that aero upside and u bend the other - for what you're doing you want something not lumpy, looks cool, hits price bracket, makes bike like groovy and makes you smile and want to ride your bike.


unless you're competing it doesn't really matter and even thrn its all a variance on 50/60mm tbh.

50 - 60mm Prime price range.

sorted.

#bangbangbang9dartfinish

First.Aspect

ugo.santalucia said:

For the type of cycling you do, it doesn’t make any difference.I would probably try to go for relatively light rims, so nothing too deep, that are easier to bring up to speed. Aerodynamic analysis when tottering around at 15 mph on country lanes are overkill.

You are doing it again Ugo.

MattFalle

if you're into that sort of thing, GCN aero dude also says go deep over light.

so 50/60mm it is then.

ugo.santalucia

First.Aspect said:

ugo.santalucia said:

For the type of cycling you do, it doesn’t make any difference.I would probably try to go for relatively light rims, so nothing too deep, that are easier to bring up to speed. Aerodynamic analysis when tottering around at 15 mph on country lanes are overkill.

You are doing it again Ugo.

Good advice can occasionally come with a condescending tone, it's still good advice.

Bad advice can come with soft spoken words of encouragement, but it's still bad advice.

The golden ticket would be to have soft spoken good advice, but that is rare like hen's teeth.

For what is worth, I used to live in the area, and there is a lot of tottering around lanes at 15 mph and not very many fast roads (that one might want to cycle on) to unleash deep aero rims.

ugo.santalucia

MattFalle said:

if you're into that sort of thing, GCN aero dude also says go deep over light.

so 50/60mm it is then.

It that Oliver Bridgewood? I met him at the National HC, much faster than I expected (digressing here... ).
Problem is, he is talking about performance in a race or wannabe a race context... I don't think it's what we are talking about here.
The OP is talking about feel good factor...

MattFalle

feel good factor is smiling and laughing.

a cool bike makes you smile and laugh.

deep rims make your bike cool.

buy the deep rims.

MattFalle

ugo.santalucia said:

MattFalle said:

if you're into that sort of thing, GCN aero dude also says go deep over light.

so 50/60mm it is then.

It that Oliver Bridgewood? I met him at the National HC, much faster than I expected (digressing here... ).

you're doing it again Ugo

MattFalle

ugo.santalucia said:

MattFalle said:

if you're into that sort of thing, GCN aero dude also says go deep over light.

so 50/60mm it is then.

It that Oliver Bridgewood? I met him at the National HC, much faster than I expected (digressing here... ).
Problem is, he is talking about performance in a race or wannabe a race context... I don't think it's what we are talking about here.
The OP is talking about feel good factor...

and no, he's not talking in a race or wannabe race context.

secretsam

Hiya all, I'm happy to take a little condescension from @ugo.santalucia, @MattFalle, as he does know a bit about wheels and the Chiltern lumpages. And he's not a million miles out with the "15mph" thing, although that's my average speed, I'd hope to go a bit quicker on the flat (it's uphill where it all goes lard shaped!)
But there is definitely some placebo going on here!!!!!

MattFalle

lots of other people on here know a bit about wheels, they just don't go on.

50/60mm. its all about the wooooooosh and the smiling.

secretsam

MattFalle said:

lots of other people on here know a bit about wheels, they just don't go on.

50/60mm. its all about the wooooooosh and the smiling.

Now, boys, play nicely.
And I really don't want to think about having a camera there...

pangolin

I live in Bristol and got some 50mm primes. Fun on the flats and not so heavy they make a difference to my average speed on the hills. Look nice compared to what they replaced.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Possibly worth mentioning that there isn't much weight difference between my Hunt Aero Light Disc (28mm alloy rims, just double-checked this, I thought they were ~34mm for some reason) and my new VEL 50 RL (50mm carbon rims)...

Roughly 1500g vs 1600g respectively.

ugo.santalucia

I had a look at the specs and like I said above, the wheels are laced with plain gauge spokes, which is what make them xxxx and give that wooden dead feel. From the picture, they appear to be J bend spokes, at least the front are, so easily upgraded if it is just a question of feel.
Of course there is also a modest weight saving, probably around 50-60 grams

MattFalle

deep rim. cool.

MattFalle

deep rim. cool.

MattFalle

deep rim. cool.

MattFalle

deep rim. uberfuckingcool.

MattFalle

shallow rim. crockofshit.

MattFalle

shallow rim. crock of shit.

MattFalle

shallow rim. crock of shit.

MattFalle

50/60mm is hat you need unless you want to look like de pfeffel or hitler.

mrb123

Deep rim, er...

MattFalle

tbh, its the handlebar position we love.