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.
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@roger
That's really funny because in Dutch/Flemish, the word "Throne" is used to mean a toilet.
@ped
Four fucking aces. The developer's going to retire on that one, you betcha. Ima teach myself java and make one for Android, and I'll be richer than shit, too. I will.
Ahhhh....fresh fizik bar tape. Livin' large.
@eightzero
That's a Facebook "Like." Good feeling.
Another good feeling is watching this video. It got me out of the house today in what weren't really Rule 9 conditions until the hail arrived...
Goddamnit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbqZCrqV_wE
@frank
Shim? Seatpost? So you've got the wrong size seatpost in your bike? Fuck me with a pedal spanner I never thought I'd see the day. That's the equivalent of finding out our dear leader wears women's underwear
@frank
Cycling New's photo gallery pictured the entire Suasar Seujean team (or whatever the hell their name is) with Ambrosios rebadged as Corimas. Badly. So while Caley Fretz was whipping it out every time he say Faboo on the TV on rebadged HEDs, and ignoring the fact that the guy who came second had destroyed his front wheel, he mustn't have been looking very hard.
@PeakInTwoYears
Thanks for positing that. Fun to watch it well executed. Fast fast fast. Safe if you have trust in your companions.
All have white bar tape. Mrs/Dr eightzero informs me that if I go to white tape, I'll need white hoods. "Not pro" she says.
But see @Frank's pic at the top.
Comment?
@minion
Under the lycra.
You're probably quite right, Frank, but it still fills my heart with sadness. Raced on my golden tickets yesterday in the most piss-awful weather, never felt anything other than secure and happy (and on the verge of vomiting of course, but that should be taken as read.) I wonder what the alloy rim could be if development on it hadn't as good as stopped a decade or more ago while we got sold system wheels instead. I know if I ever manage to destroy a rim or when the time comes to get a set of proper carbon hoops that I'll be able to run the hubs for another zillion miles on training wheels - not entirely sure what kind of hub I'd be able to get with the level of carbon wheel I could currently afford - my budget would just about be maxed out at a set of planet x's. And I wonder about buying carbon second hand, for no other good reason other than my own preconceptions of hidden, irreparable damage somewhere. But I suspect in the next wee while, I probably will be. :-( Still think though, that if you can steal a set off ebay or trademe for good money, a set of nemesis's is probably about the best average joe race day wheel bang for the buck out there. (I paid 500 NZD for mine, dura ace 7900 hubs, vittoria paves, wheelsmith spokes, about 500k on the lot.)