Lightweight Milenstein Gen4 clinchers , Whats the deal?

[stang1]

I have almost combed through the whole internet with regards to ravings about everyone's LW's. WW, Google, Forums, Blogs, etc. What isit about my set of Gen4 Milestein Clinchers that doesnt feel right? Or does it sound about right

The Milenstein Clinchers is fantastic at any inclines . The reduced effort to power up each rpm at most inclines is to say, aaaamazing . But come to the flats, it's almost a plain comparison of hell and earth. The wheels doesn't feel like its holding any momentum at all. From past experiences with other wheelsets, most wheels at a certain rpm hold thier speed well and actually do roll alot better than my set of gen4 milenstiens. I need to actually grind on the LW's to even hold speeds of normal coasting km/hr (miles/hr) . I took into account being 4 months off the bike , but then again, stiff wheels on a brand new bike probably isnt the best gauge.

Can anyone enlighten me please?

PS: I'm using campag skewers

[bfno]

I can see where your coming from. I put it down to two things:

Lightweight rims are great for climbing and acceleration because of the low rotational weight, unfortunately the adverse effect of this means the wheel doesn't hold speed when finished accelerating.

The Milenstein and also the previous Standard wheels (I own a pair of Standard III) unlike the other wheels LW make have a very old fashioned V profile in the rim which according to modern day thinking (according to bike companies with the aerodynamic facilities, not me) is not a very aero shape.

I think this is one of the reasons why we are seeing less of LW's in the pro peloton, as other manufacturers are getting the weights of their wheels down to a good area where they are a balance of accelerating and holding speed. Also the LW Milenstein design is quite old in essence (there are pictures of pros riding them in the late 1990's if I remember correctly) and hasn't been updated as such to modern day aerodynamic U profile.

[stang1]

Thanks for the reponse, Im still determined to give my LWs a few more decent go's before deciding what to do with em

[kgt]

The question is whether the wheels make you feel you cannot hold your speed or you actually cannot hold your speed. Although I doubt the second is the case, even then, what you can only do is check and service your hubs. Sure, these are not the top in aero performance but for their profile they are pretty good as many tests indicate:







OTOH if the feeling of the wheels is not what you want then this alone is a reason to replace them. So, you may are among the few who just do not like riding LWs. There's nothing wrong with it.

[kode54]

could it be your new bike or fit that you still need to dial in? i had to remeasure my seat height since it felt like i was dragging my wheels. something that is sometimes overlooked. i have a pair of lightweights...but since i moved everything to 11-speed...i have yet to change the freewheel on the LW wheel or use a different 10-speed to 11 speed cassette.

[stang1]

Im taking all things into factors Ill do more rides.

[HermesSport]

As was mentioned earlier, what you're feeling is the aerodynamic effect of the Lightweight rims, not their light weight. "Flywheel Effect" is basically completely imaginary, which though appearing to be real has almost nothing to do with the weight of the rims themselves.

[stang1]

@hermessport
Could you care to elaborate abit further? My English isn't the best and I'm kind of getting confused here.

[TheKaiser]

"Flywheel Effect" is basically completely imaginary, which though appearing to be real has almost nothing to do with the weight of the rims themselves.

Yes, I would also love some more elaboration on this one. The "Flywheel Effect" in general is obviously not imaginary, as tons of mechanical systems use them to great effect, but I am surmising that you mean that the effect as it applies to typical bicycling conditions is imaginary. I don't necessarily disagree, but would love to see some of your figures and data that you used to form this opinion.

[eric]

Here's some articles. They all show through various methods that wheel rim weight's effect on accelleration or performance is very small.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Why_Whee ... _2106.html
http://www.biketechreview.com/index.php ... erformance
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2013/ ... parts.html
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2014/12/ ... ts-ii.html

[russianbear]

A bit off topic, anyone know why the Campy Eurus tested so well in the Tour mag? Fluke?