Its hard to say precisely where the line lays, but I’m certain I’m well on the wrong side of it. I never notice lines as I pass over them but I can usually tell after I have because it feels suddenly liberating to leave reason, sensibility, and convention behind. I find them very restrictive – claustrophobic, almost. They force me into the same old way of thinking, always within a set of parameters of what is accepted. Parameters are a good thing, to be sure – especially for everyone else – but since I wasn’t involved in defining The Universal Limits of Reason and Sensibility, I can’t be sure they’re calibrated correctly so I prefer to roam freely and am quite satisfied to be considered crazy for the time being.
Just like most of us, I started down La Vie Velominatus rolling along on the wheels my first bike arrived with. I trusted them to be indestructible and always carry me about safely. Then one day while racing my friend, I locked up the back wheel coming into a corner too hard and destroyed it, the illusion of The Indestructible Wheel riding up the road alongside the friend I had only moments earlier been locked in shoulder-to-shoulder battle with. It was also at this precise moment that I faced the reality that a wheel is not only destructible, but a basic element facilitating productive locomotion aboard a bicycle.
I spent the next month shingling the roof of my family’s cabin in Northern Minnesota earning the money to buy a replacement wheel. And, having recently shingled a roof, I was suddenly a Shingling Authority, discussing in depth the merits of choice in color, material, and shingle pattern of every roof I passed by. Similarly, upon having been subjected to the myriad choices of replacement wheel, after purchasing my replacement wheel, I was a new inductee into the The Order of the Wheel and noticed (and commented upon) every bicycle wheel that passed me by. Due more to the volume of by observations than their merit, I was soon thereafter indulged by my Cycling Sensei – my father – to help him curate the wheels for his custom Eddy Merckx.
At the time, choices were more limited than they are today; quality of hub varied greatly, as did the rims, spokes, and tires. Everything was limited to an alloy of some kind, though you could have any spoke pattern you wanted, as long as it was 3-cross. At the time there was also a choice between tubular and clincher, which was a relatively new option. We labored over the choices and wound up having two wheelsets built – one clincher and aero; one box-section and tubular – a choice I stand by today.
That was my awakening, but nevertheless, I have throughout my life as a Velominatus had only one wheelset per bike. The lightest for Bike #1. Whenever Bike #n came into play, it received its own wheelset; as with all the other parts on Bikes #2…n; a hand-me-down from Bike #n-1’s upgrade. (Using the Hand-Me-Down Upgrade Methodology, a single upgrade improves not just one bicycle, but several – with the added benefit of filling a longer period of time moving bits from one noble steed to the next.)
It was only recently, during preparation for the 2012 edition of Keepers Tour over the cobbles of Northern France and Vlaanderen, that I took my own place in the realm of the Specialty Wheelset – which also afforded me another of those moments when I was strangely aware of having crossed one of Those Lines. After all, a big, fat Dutchman can’t be expected to ride over the pavé of Paris-Roubaix – unleashing the awesome wattage of his artillery – on just any old wheelset; certainly not any of those wheels which I already owned. This called for a set of wheels purpose-built for the occasion. Rims, hubs, spokes, and tires were selected with great care and assembled (four times) in a wine-enhanced rite.
Riding these wheels is a pleasure highlighted by the fact that I don’t always ride them. They hang on the workshop wall in a wheel bag, waiting for the Right Occasion to ride them. Those occasions are often anticipated several days – if not weeks – in advance and deliberated over carefully. Then, when the choice is finally made to pop them in for the ride, I wrap myself in the delta between my regular wheels and these. This contrast, like the negative space in a great painting, is the area in which I dwell while riding them. The difference in tire type, width, spoke pattern, weight. The way the wheel feels when the pedal is engaged. The way the wheels and tires flex over a bump in the road or hug the pavement in a corner.
I’ve since embarked on a journey to get each road bike in the house – mine as well as the VMH’s – on the same drive train in order to be able to maximize the wheel-swapping effect. Each wheel is a new language, each tire a new dialect, and inner tube a new turn of phrase. To paraphrase the nursery rhyme: one for sorrow, two for joy, three for hills and four for stones.
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View Comments
@Buck Rogers
Some say the swisstop yellow kings can be used on all braking surfaces(and some carbon wheels have alloy braking surfaces) without switching back and forth. Some purists say just use different pads for different surfaces; some of the specialty pads are soft, 'spensive and wear quickly. Some say the aluminum shard business is theoretical. YMMV.
@Cyclops
Nah. You just made the whole process more complicated than it needed to be. And next time glue 'em up in a small unventilated room. The glue high helps the 'bonding' experience.
@frank One point there, that very strength of the triangle can also mean the rim doesn't give so much on impact with a squarish edge, meaning that you can get damage to the brake track area of a rim that a box section rim could absorb - I've seen this plenty, in fact I've made quite some money from it.
@Oli
I thought about mentioning that the strength also means less comfort (possibly) but hadn't considered the "strength in being flexie" angle. Great stuff!
A timely piece Frank old chap.
Out with the club on Sunday and broke my fourth spoke this year on the rear non-drive side whilst heading up a not particularly steep hill . Limped 40k's home and noticed I'd lost another on the same side on the way back to the cafe.
I got my Ridley Damocles back in April - my first "proper" bike in that I didn't build it from salvaged parts. Me weighing 100kgs and relying on brute force and ignorance I needed a strong bike. Thus far (apart from the rear dropout failure which also happened to a friend of mine in the club who bought his Damocles this year too - check your bolts Ridley owners) its been a great ride and I've done some serious distance.
I don't race at the moment - I'm planning a comeback when I can get my carcass down to 85kgs or so - so absolute race performance is not the be all and end all for my wheelset and I reckoned the 4ZA's the Damocles came with would do the job. But they seem to be struggling. The LBS is doing a rebuild and I'll use that in Ullapool this weekend if its finished in time. If not I've got a pair of Easton 200's that were new about a year ago on the now scrapped alloy frame that I was using. They're Group-San but the LBS can make them Grouppo compliant if needs be
Apart from the Coagal that's probably "it" for the road bike this year and I'll focus exclusively on the mtb from the middle of October and come back to the road from the first of March or thereabouts.
So all being well I've got a little thinking time - I'd like new wheels for the spring.
They need to support someone who's presently too fat to climb and who likes to mash gears on road surfaces that are close to pave.
They need to be reliable.
Clinchers (sorry).
Flattering to someone who descends like the Schleck's great aunt - I suspect the 4ZA's suffer from speed wobble but have never managed to go fast enough to prove it - I do seem to be slower downhill on the Damocles even though it's a much better frame that the old bike.
It can be very windy here and my experience of deep section rims in the past hasn't been that comfortable.
I intend doing at least one really serious ride next year when I'll be 50 - maybe the Keeper's Tour maybe something else awesome (a separate topic post Cogal when I have time to write it) so the wheelset has to be reliable and strong enough to take on a challenging classic route whether Belgian or Alpine.
There's an excellent wheel builder locally so if I know the best bits I can get them put together most expertly - the LBS is pretty good at wheel building too - I suck at it.
I'm Scottish so price matters - but I'm really looking for value.
@the Engine You are the perfect candidate for the classic box section 32 spoke 3 cross wheel. I wouldn't underestimate the combination of strength, reliability and superb ride quality of a wheelset like this even if, at first glance, it seems somewhat pedestrian.
@Ron Here are two of my wheels for you to have a squizz at. Please disregard the aesthetics of the white tyre for now.
[dmalbum: path="/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/Oli Brooke-White/2012.09.25.21.28.33/"/]
Hmmm...Ambrosio Giro d'Italia on Campagnolo Record with 32x DT Competition spokes built 3 cross.
Mavic Open Pro on Campagnolo Mirage with 32x Sapim Race spokes built 3 cross.
@Oli
I've heard several people say Veloflexes become more puncture-resistant with aging. Your position on the matter?
@Nate I have had great good fortune with running Veloflex tyres on the rough Wellington roads so anecdotally I would have to agree! In several years of daily use I've only had a couple of punctures and one of those was a big slash that would have put paid to any tyre. I guess that as they are effectively an open tubular the same aging principles as normal tubs would apply, so the matured rubber and supple casing help protect the tyre.