The Bike Butler - Your One Stop Professional Solution

IT'S TIME TO USE RACE WHEELS!

Climbing, sprinting, time-trialing, OD Triathlons, Ironman and all-purpose wheels - there are so many out there to choose from. Take your time to sieve through the real stuff from the wannabes.

Wheels apart from positioning and aerodynamics can significantly influence the performance of the ride. Different types of riders will also benefit differently on the same ride and same model of wheels. There are a variety of factors which you would need to know and understand before deciding on which set of wheels to go for.

Here are some which you should consider:

- Weight and power output of rider
- What you want the wheel to do for you
- What events are you planning to use the wheels for
- Hub bearings and tyres
- Tubular or Clincher

Let's first look at the weight of the rider. Typically a taller rider and/or a more muscular built rider would be able to generate more power. Wheels like the bike frames transfer the power to the tyres, hence providing propulsion. So the more rigid wheel, the better the power transfer. Wheels which are stiff and have a high spoke tension will do this job better.

The rims of a wheel will determine the dynamics of the wheelset. The deeper the section, the more aerodynamic it will be. Just take a look at a disc wheel. This does not mean that a deeper section wheelset is a better wheel if you want to cheat the wind. The thicker the section will typically translate into a heavier rim and will be at the mercy of cross winds. When in motion, the wheel will have stronger inertia and keep spinning more versus a light and thinner section version. Hence you need to have the power output to drive a deeper section wheelset. If not, you would end up being slave to the power hungry wheelset. So make the wheels work for you and not the other way round! Choose the appropriate wheelset to augment your cycling performance. At the same time, match the wheelset to your own power output and think of how it will shave you a couple of minutes off or make you faster in general.

There are also events like the Ironman distance triathlon that riders may be participating in. Here efficiency is crucial. Hardly will you cycle past 40 km/h. So a wheelset that has this combination of factors will be key to helping the rider use the least amount of effort. Look at rolling resistance of the race tyre, smoothness of hubs under load and the type of bearings being used. If several watts could be saved, why not!

For those who live on time trials, power output is the key (look at your training methodology first). With a high power output, you would want all this hard-earned power to not go wasted. So a stiffer wheel combined with superior aerodynamics with very low rolling resistance tyres is the way to go. Here weight of the wheel is not an issue. In fact for some high powered riders, a heavier wheelset would prove to be an advantage. The infamous disc wheel is a classic example. The disc wheel will typically weigh in at between 800 to 1200 grams. The stored energy in the spinning wheel will multiply with more power coming in from the legs to give a further boost to the already fast speeds. We are looking at riders averaging between 40s to above 50 km/h using these wheels.

Good hubs are always hard to come by. They are smooth even under load and these are the two areas where good bearings can make a difference. Several watts can be saved here if standard steel cartridge bearings can be swapped out with hop-up ceramic bearings. Not all ceramic bearings are equal. There is a price to pay for high grade ceramics.

On tyres, latex walled tyres have the least rolling resistance versus butyl ones. Latex tyres cannot hold pressure for more than one day and will require re-inflation to racing pressure on a daily basis. Recent advances in tyre technology have tremendously improved the efficiency of clincher tyres to a point where there is no significant differences. However some diehard fans of tubular still swear by them and there will be those who will just frown when they get a flat on a tubular. So depending on the event and how comfortable you are with changing tyres, make your choice.

The Bike Butler supplies various Zipp, Reynolds, Viner, Campagnolo and Fulcrum racing wheelsets and will provide the proper consultation to match your riding or race needs.

This article was contributed by SpinAsia magazine, the Sports and Lifestyle Guide for Wheelers.

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