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
@Chris
I do this too, and I also use valve stem adapters which are just wide enough to keep them from ticking. I've also never had any issue with the wheels being unstable on descents. @'clops, I believe I remember correctly that you aslo complained of a speed wobble on your 'Whale. Methinks you might have a stylistic thinking going on that brings that out in a bike; I've never heard of one person having so many wobble issues. Good to know the eastons and reynolds don't have this issue for you.
Careful with the Reynolds; I once saw a guy tear the first layer of carbon off the rim removing a tub.
random things I've learned from wheels this early cx season:
1. inexpensive carbon tubulars, a la planet x: a recessed spoke design is a bad idea. you've done a super pro glue job so you won't roll at 25psi in the mud. But then SOME DIPSHIT runs his bike into various obstacles during the race. wheel no longer so round and true. time to unglue, true and reglue. because there is nothing better to do...
2. sram/shimano cassette/hub interchangeability- one uses an inner spacer, one doesn't. remember?
3. on old pair of DA 7700 hubs built 3x to NOS mavic box section (IDK which exact model, were relabeled for some reason), light, bomber and truable. Assuming analogous to y'alls "golden ticket" wheel builds.
4. you still have to have a motor to make the steed w/ wheels fo whatever variety go fast. just sayin...
5. can't wait for road season to finally glue up those fmb's I bought for next season
6. I liked the negative space turn of phrase- nice writing Frank!
@Ron Yes. No idea what they're like though. I've got the tubular version.
@frank
The Reynolds are clinchers and there was not tubular glue involved in the building of your frame so you should be good to go.
@Ron
Yes, dark (anodized) rims and silver hubs/spokes. I have 2 such sets: Nemesis to Alchemy hubs (currently shod in black Vittoria Corsas), and Open Pro to Record (Black/green Open Pave wth latex). I'll try to post up some pix. Not really using any of my facory built wheels anymore. Enough of my riding on crap roads that I prefer the give (and gyroscopic momentum) of handbuilts.
@Overijse
I don't think we're particularly Campa-heavy around here; the Campa people just tend to be louder. The old 7400 was one of the most beautiful and well-working groups made. That is high class stuff and the finish on that era of Dura Ace hubs was a stunner. Great stuff.
@broomwagon
This is indeed why I went with clinchers (Mavic Open Pros) for the wheels on my Rain Bike...Its less romantic than tubs and the ride is worse, but there also isn't anything romantic about changing a frozen tub mid-winter. Great story.
@Ron
There are a lot of people who think carbon, deep section wheels are for racing only and anyone who rides them in training or on group rides is a douchebag.
I say fuck that; ride whatever makes you happy and enjoy cycling to the max. Deep section wheels look great, ride great, and sound even greater. On the other hand, classic wheels look great and ride great as well, so pick your poison.
I ride my Zipp 404's (older style with alu clincher rims bonded to the carbon deep section) and use them daily. A deep section wheel will actually be strong in a lot of ways than a box rim; the triangle of the rim is a very strong shape and is difficult to distort, so they actually make a great everyday wheelset.
I also don't see a lot of evidence of a carbon rim being weaker than an alu rim. What you need is a well-built wheel - a shitty rim in either alu or carbon will fail and a failing rim will suck majorly.
Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to your question, but I'd say this: the biggest upgrade you can make to a bike are the wheels, so buy the best you can afford.
Also, @Dan_R is starting a wheel business and I'm trying the first set this week and will also test a climbing-specific wheel on Haleakala in January. If they're any good, the wheels he's putting together are very competitively priced and built out of standard parts (carbon rims, standard spokes, etc), so unless you're in a hurry it might be worth checking to see what he comes up with.
@VeloVita
I went Spinal Tap Black on my rain wheels, but I've seen the black Record hubs laced to anodized rims with silver spokes and they looked great. The glint of light coming off silver spokes is like nothing else in this world.
@Buck Rogers
Keeper Jim got a pair of Ksyriums off eBay and they're perfect. eBay is perfectly safe to buy from so long as you know exactly what you're doing. Know your company, and what their seconds/defects policy is. A lot of discount eBayers are selling seconds and defects, so be careful. The company may destroy anything that's unsafe and only sell off blemished parts to discount retailers (hopefully that's their route) or they may also sell defected goods. If that's the case, be very careful.
Besides that, eBay has policies in place to protect the buyer; the item needs to be as described or the buyer has the right to return it and get their money back, so as long as you're confident the product doesn't have a hidden flaw, you should be safe.
@frank
For some reason I thought you had 11s on your VMH?
@frank
Other things being equal it would be nice if everything matched up. When I found my new old bike this summer my original plan was to buy the frame & build it up with 11s. But I saw the bike, it was basically all NOS, and it was a much better deal to get the whole thing. Besides, I had never run 10s Record before, a lot of people rave about it, the wheels were gorgeous, so I got the whole bike. With the Vice Whip I can swap the cassette very quickly, provided I don't have too much IPA in me.
I thought you had the VMH on 11s?
@Cyclops
Not the glue so much as I didn't think you were such a dumbass.
Rain Wheels, in Spinal Tap Black. Class.
Silver hubs, spokes, and anodized rims. Also class.
Carbon, carbon, carbon - class.
Carbon with classic rims - also class.
The moral of the story is less that my shit don't stink and more that so long as you're careful about choosing functional, beautiful parts, you can't really go wrong with the final setup.