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So, I sold my little 34mm race wheels and ordered 52mm race wheels from November and it seems there is a massive problem, I'm guessing production, and he is out of the carbon-fiber wheel game. So, I have pink 20/24 T-11 hubs and no rims. Any thoughts on how I should proceed? I don't have Enve or Zipp money, don't really care to, not sure what to do now for a race wheel other than just keep one set of the T-11/DT-460 and race on that. What do you bros recommend? Gigantex?
I have bought rims from both ACE and Light-Bicycle with success. One set of the ACE hoops did not match the ERD published on the site. That cost me a some CX-Rays that were the wrong length and non-returnable. So borrow/buy a Wheelsmith ERD measuring kit or other way to verify before ordering spokes.
EDIT: If you don't have the tools, i'll lend you mine. If you don't have the skills (it's not hard, just takes time which I know you have a lot of), I can build them for you.
I have bought rims from both ACE and Light-Bicycle with success. One set of the ACE hoops did not match the ERD published on the site. That cost me a some CX-Rays that were the wrong length and non-returnable. So borrow/buy a Wheelsmith ERD measuring kit or other way to verify before ordering spokes.
Thanks for that. I saw those and hurt a little inside because I must have pink T-11 hubs. It's the last set of rim brake wheels I'll buy for a very special road bike, so these wheels have to come together, will probably do CX-Sprints.
Any thoughts on the Knight rims? The 65mm are $600.
One set of the ACE hoops did not match the ERD published on the site.
My light bicycle rims ERD didn't match the site, or each other actually. haha. So if you did man up and build a wheelset, order the rims before the spokes.
I've had luck with dengfu and hongfubikes. They are the same rims, but the price varies. The ones shaped like bontrager aeolius are what I use. 20/24. The Clincher rims are a little heavy but are plenty strong. I have the 38, 56, and 86mm deep. They are about $90/each plus shipping. I usually group buy 10 or so sets to split shipping.
I also don't have a wheel fetish. I know that I will destroy every wheel I own so I'm not very precious about wheels. $3k wheels wear out and break just like $300 wheels.
New bike is here, 19.5lbs as it sits. The Shimano RS80 wheels/24mm S-works tires that came with it were 10grams lighter than my Lightbicycle 35mm/Powertap G3/25mm Spech turbo Pros. Pretty cool for an old rim set.
I was able to get out for a shakedown run yesterday morning before the storm. My chinese Ti skewers would slip on the steel past ~400W so I returned home to swap to the Shimano skewers, no more issue up to my current max watts anyway. 175 cranks and a lower BB height means noticeably less clearance, woah. But these ugly 6600 shifters feel amazing. I planned on swapping to some hidden cable shifters but probably not now, they feel that good.
But the bike rides very nice, much closer to the Tarmac than I thought it would be. Not as scaple-like in handling while little sketchy in the drops/out of saddle on climbs/sprints. The bars are narrow though, probably 40's. Felt weird initially but I got used to them, makes me feel more aero scrunched up.
CaadX donated it's stem until I can source something appropriate.
On the subject of bars, I switched from the 44's I have run for the last 25 years to 42's to gain some aero and hopefully gain some comfort. It worked, 42's fit my somewhat narrow shoulders better even though I'm 6-3.
Wheels: Good functional wheels that last can be had for a few hundred bucks. If you can build your own, there is little reason to buy $3k OTS steel spoked wheels. The tiny bit of proprietary tech on expensive wheels is no way worth the $2400 extra over a nice home built set using CX-Rays, China carbon rims and hubs. Ditch the fancy CX-Rays and you're looking at sub $450 wheelset that can be every bit the match of some $2000 OTS wheelsets.
Emilio,
Why not use the Sapim CX-Sprints which are ~half the price of Rays? My next set of wheels will be disc, so I'm going to go the Gigantex route with CLDs; you know, on the bikes I don't own yet.
I'm starting to think that my Spesh Roubaix Tubeless 30/32s at 45/55 psi are not any slower than a 25mm tire. I recently did a 65 mile ride with five dudes and looking at their data on Strava I see this regarding my weight; average weighted power:
189lb; 189w
Compared to my friends' on "road bikes with 25-28mm tires:
195lb; 202w
165lb, 192w
195lb, 183w
150lb, 163w
What data should I compare to get a more accurate comparison? This can't be right. Also, my bike is an aero brick so that's a significant variable. I also don't really know what kind of data matters and I never really gave a **** about time over x-distance; more interested in how much work I'm doing compared to the guy in front or behind me at any given moment in a race. However, I want to know if its a good or bad idea to race my Stigmata with 1x and 32mm road tires in the Rouge Roubaix with absolute **** roads in rural Louisana and the HTFU Roubaix which is 40% gravel and definitely a CX-bike type race.
Emilio,
Why not use the Sapim CX-Sprints which are ~half the price of Rays? My next set of wheels will be disc, so I'm going to go the Gigantex route with CLDs; you know, on the bikes I don't own yet.
I think I mentioned earlier in this thread. the tensile strength of the CX-Rays is about double that of the other Sapims. Lighter, stronger wheel.
Thought I posted this but it disappeared. Got a sweet deal on some aero wheels. Bontrager Aura 5 with a cassette and gatorskins for $400. Rear fairing has a crack in it that's not even bulging and the guy out over 1000 miles on them after the incident. I'm excited! Too bad it's getting cold
Thought I posted this but it disappeared. Got a sweet deal on some aero wheels. Bontrager Aura 5 with a cassette and gatorskins for $400. Rear fairing has a crack in it that's not even bulging and the guy out over 1000 miles on them after the incident. I'm excited! Too bad it's getting cold
Sweet deal for sure. GF armwarmers and vest will keep you warm.
I'm searching for a 94-96 GT Zaskar to build an 8spd urban. I have been riding bmx for the last 22 years and recently riding a Dirt jumper for the last 4 years. Its time to grow up and get some speeds. It should be fun to build something new and here is a picture of the frame I'm searching for.
I think it looks good. They have a nice soothing hum when they spin fast enough. Excited to ride them. Def like the more discrete logos compared to the ones on the 2016/2017 models.