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Cobbles, Carbon, Silk, and Dust

The Café Roubaix Arenberg paired to FMB Paris-Roubaix

I hadn’t planned to ride them every day. In fact, I had planned to only ride them once and let other people ride them. But, genius that I am, I forgot my ceramic brake pads and had to source some new ones which was a maddeningly difficult process given that Europe observes something in the neighborhood of 363 holidays per year.

I was more than a little apprehensive, to be honest, of riding a lightweight set of carbon wheels down the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix – let alone on three separate occasions and two days on the kasseien of Vlaanderen. At long last, I got my hands on some brake pads, but then my hopes of riding my Golden Tickets died with the harp hiss emitting from Stefano Museeuw’s back when when he took my FMB-clad Nemisis through a hole big enough to lose him in. One thing for sure, the young talent has the “Look Pro Stop at the Side of the Road in Disgust” nailed. I suppose it helps when you’ve got the Lion of Flanders as your dad and mentor.

But truth be told, the Cafe Roubaix Arenberg wheels were amazing to ride, especially on the tarmac. On the cobbles, they were noticeably less compliant than my box-rim tubs, but they more than made up for it in speed and featheriness on the tarmac bits. And that is the element we so often overlook about Roubaix: we identify so heavily with the 50km of Pavé, but we so easily forget there are 200km of tarmac to deal with as well – which is why Museeuw ultimately lost to Tchmil aboard his ill-fated Bianchi “Throne”. When judging a wheel, all these aspects must be weighed against one another.

One thing of note, however, is that on the roughest secteurs of pavé – in particular the Trenchée and Carrefour – I found it more difficult to discover my rhythm than I did last year. Could it be that the lightweight wheels bounced too much and spent too much time going up rather than forward? I find that notion easier to digest than the notion that there was something amiss with my riding.

I proclaim this knowing full well the wrath I’m sure to receive: even for the enthusiast, the carbon wheel is the future for every discipline of cycling. While my Ambrossios are much more lovable in terms of nostalgia and good-old-fashioned hardman looks, the strength and stiffness of the Roubaixs outmatched the classic box-rim of the Nemesis in every respect from weight all the way down to trueness. On the other hand, three-cross bladed spokes on a deep-dish rim are a real bitch in a Flemish crosswind.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Deakus says:

Apr 13 2013 at 2:57 am

@starclimber

Here's the forecast, verbatim, I shit you not:

SaturdayMainly cloudy with 70 percent chance of rain showers in the morning and 30 percent chance of rain showers or ice pellets late in the afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late in the afternoon. 70 percent chance of wet flurries over higher terrain early in the morning. Windy near the water late in the afternoon. High 10. UV index 4 or moderate.Yeah. UV index. Where, exactly, did I miss the part about 'glorious sunshine' in all of that?

You need a support vehicle!
strathlubnaig says:

Apr 13 2013 at 6:53 am

@G'rilla

Unrelated, I'm in downtown Dublin now through Monday noon. Are there any Velominati here who want to get together for lunch or a beer? Dr C? The Engine?

Email me: boss@topfunky.com

I am sure @The Engine would love to meet up, 'cept he lives in another country from Dublin separated by a great big sea. Love geographically challenged septic tanks.
RedRanger says:

Apr 13 2013 at 8:32 am

the carbon wheel is the future for every discipline of cycling

truer word have never been spoken. Have you seen the ENVE Twenty9 XC wheels? awesome. HED Stingers? awesome. Cafe Roubaix wheels? awesome.
frank says:

Apr 13 2013 at 8:43 am

@Gianni

Was Frank riding at his usual 8 bars?

Fuck no. I started at 6 bar and finished around 5.5 or so. Very nice and soft.
frank says:

Apr 13 2013 at 8:48 am

@Nate

we identify so heavily with the 50km of PavÃ©, but we so easily forget there are 200km of tarmac to deal with as well

Did you go to Flanders and Northern France to ride on tarmac, or cobblestones?

Come do the trip with us next year and put this remark in context.
frank says:

Apr 13 2013 at 8:49 am

@sthilzy

@Jamie

How long is that seatpost - it looks about a metre long?

Not far off! I scaled the crank arm on the iPad at 8.5mm and if the arm is 175mm therefore the scale is 1:20.6 then measured the BB centre to seat top at 44.7mm, so 44.7 x 20.6 = 941mm Not taking in the lean against the wall. Then there's that drop!

Camera distortion is a bitch. The exposed seat post is less than 300mm. And I ride 177.5's. But nice effort!
frank says:

Apr 13 2013 at 8:55 am

@starclimber

I wonder if it isn't a question of harmonics. Perhaps the Golden Tickets' rim rebound frequency is lower than that from the carbon rims, thus the bounce/flex energy is not directly transmitted up the fork but tangentially instead, resulting in larger fork/seat stay oscillations. This force would combine with the immediate impact force to lengthen the duration of the force but reduce its amplitude. So, at Frank speed, this longer wave rebound would result in greater apparent compliance.

A stronger, faster rider, say your Faboo or your Tommeke, moving many km/h faster, would find the harmonic tuning of deeper section wheels to be just right.

Heh. Or not. Russian Imperial Stout for the win. That bitch is ALWAYS at the right rebound frequency and wavelength.

BRILLIANT! I think you're onto it. Although for certain the pros were doing their fair share of bouncing in the trench.
frank says:

Apr 13 2013 at 9:00 am

@eightzero

I dissent from the majority opinion "even for the enthusiast, the carbon wheel is the future for every discipline of cycling" and write separately.

My Jan sized ass is insupportable on even the finest of Carbone wheels. While I might get away with it for a few hundred miles (!) the end result would be a crushed wheelset, and a crushed ego. All fine you you brave young cyclists and all, but I'm a traditionalist.

Metal hoops, please.

I love me my metal hoops - make no mistake - their feel, their ride, their look. But truth be told, the carbon is lighter and stronger. In all fairness, the carbon wheels survived a harder week of riding better than did my metal hoops last year.

My big concern is always the braking on carbon wheels, but the pads I'm using result in very good stopping power, though they are just a tad grabby.

In the end, though, these wheels would survive under you perfectly fine. This stuff is stronger than you'd think. The fact that our bikes don't disintegrate riding down even a single secteur is evidence to that.

Cost here is key, since little bits add up, and every dollar spent on a tub is a dollar I could spend getting to a cycling destination.
Like a Cogal.

That, my man, is just good prioritization.
RedRanger says:

Apr 13 2013 at 9:05 am

Carbon is plenty strong. Its used on transport air crafts. they even use it for brakes on air craft.

http://www.compositesworld.com/news/boeing-completes-testing-of-carbon-fiber-brakes
roger says:

Apr 13 2013 at 9:14 am

@RedRanger enve and hed design and engineer their rims. the enve does look best out of the lot, including lightweights. the hed stingers i had last season looked like toy squirt guns.

im not sure how involved cafe roubaix is with the rim other than sourcing it, slapping a decal on and building it up. Perhaps danr can shed some light on that for us.

Frank, what pads are you using? When i spoke with dan he mentioned reynolds seemed to play nice with the brake track...