Weight Weenies

Martin.F wrote:I have to say I agree with Carbonsports/LW here. It's unfair to bring up results from 5-8 years ago. I do however agree with Zen cycles in that it's ridicolous to make a 3mm out of true wheelset at that price. Which also happens to be the reason why I believe that the reports of wheels this untrue is due to damage, wrong measurements or whatever. I find it hard to believe that LW ships out a wheelset that much out of true.
[...]

=> once again: we control 100% of the wheels we ship out. The results are documented in our production database, so we can retrace if there is a complaint about whatever with a specific wheel, e.g. untrueness.
I / we totally agree that shipping an imperfect product, especially at our pricing, is an absolute "no go" (even if, in my personal opinion, price does not really matter for this issue. I want a product that is within the production tolerances the producer claims - on that base I decide to buy or to let it be).

Martin.F wrote:Corima Aero+ mcc are in. They look cool, how good are they? Good enough to win olympic gold ofc, but that's because of sponsorship.

It seems they are great wheels. Take a look to Adrien's latest test. (I admit I am a biased fan of Corima and LW BTW).
http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-53429013.html

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1200€ for a generic chinese carbon wheelset that's not particulary aero and some random hubs? Sounds expensive... Also, I want tubulars

FWIW I hated descending on the set of LWs I demoe'ed- front felt a bit too twitchy, braking was so-so and if there was any wind it wasn't fun.

I have been racing an Enve 6.7 with Alchemy 20 hole with a Veloflex Record on the front most of the season. I initially had some scrub but found that I could take it out my adjusting the hub a little tighter along with a stronger quick release Salsa Ti. I have been pretty happy with the light fast combo. I have a older Edge 65 with in the back with an Extralite 20 spoke hub rear. I thought I might get a little more excelleration with the 360g rear but I think having a stiffer wheel that handes better is worth the extra weight, plus the aero dymanics. I swap size wheels around quite often I think there is an advantage to having a more aero wheel in the rear eventhough it is dirty air.

I will be upgrading the rear to a Enve 70 with a 24 whole Chris King now that they have a campy hub unless Enve release something newer and lighter. My guess says they will not be.

I ride a Time RXR with Super Record. I think the Alchemy / Chris King rear is one of the best combo's out there with the Record tire on the front. If $ are the issue, I would rebuild the Zipp Firecrests with the Chris King hub set 24 / 20 front since you are a more powerful rider and stiffness is an issue. I did have a friend with a pair of Firecrest that swapped them out for Stingers 6's. He said they were lighter but handled a little funny. I have three pair of Edge / Enve wheels over the last five years and I have had great luck with them. They are definitely over built. Alot of the guys ride the 65's in cross races in the states and the 6.7's are even stronger. I have never been thrilled with the old Zipp layup technology instead of the high pressure Lew / Reynolds/ Enve process.

I will be selling my 65 with the extra-lite rear after Nationals in two weeks.

My two cents.

AP

CCU, LW or Madfiber!

Enve SES 3.4 with Chris King R45 hubs (or Alchemy hubs if that's your preference). Everything that a race wheel should be. These wheels are dependable, light, aero, and rebuildable. You can also specify a higher spoke count if you need a bit stiffer wheel. My choice anyway.

New Dura Ace wheels also look pretty rad. My tentative idea right now is to sell my 808's and pick up a set of C50s or a C75/C50 set for next season.

I'm in the same shoes.
I currently ride a TIME RXRS, but moving to a 2013 BMC Team Machine di2 as soon as it comes in. Looking for wheels to match that bike. I really like the Enve's 3.4 with most likely Chris King R45's. They weight in at basically 1400 grams, I currently have the Mavic KSyrium SLR (which weighs 1400 grams as well). What am I getting for the $3,000 I'm about to spend on them? Are the Enve's that much better than the Mavics? I tried the Zipps FC 303 .. BLAH! not crazy about them at all. Thanks to Strava, I didn't see any improvement in my riding. Now, I'm being told to look at Fulcrum XLR's and even LW's.
There's a $1,500 difference between the Enve's and the other 2. GULP!
Any Ideas?
And does anyone know the difference between Alchemy hubs vs. Chris kings?
On another note, we tend to climb a lot around here. So looking for a lightweight wheel to compensate for the weight of the Di2.

Oh. And my local bike shop told me to hold off on buying Enve's till the mid of sept. .. i guess they're roliing out a 2013 model? anyone heard of that?

Enves or Lightweights are not going to make you noticeably faster than the 303s. Certainly not $3000 or $6000 worth, unless $6000 is pocket change to you.

aye wrote:I'm in the same shoes.
I currently ride a TIME RXRS, but moving to a 2013 BMC Team Machine di2 as soon as it comes in. Looking for wheels to match that bike. I really like the Enve's 3.4 with most likely Chris King R45's. They weight in at basically 1400 grams, I currently have the Mavic KSyrium SLR (which weighs 1400 grams as well). What am I getting for the $3,000 I'm about to spend on them? Are the Enve's that much better than the Mavics? I tried the Zipps FC 303 .. BLAH! not crazy about them at all. Thanks to Strava, I didn't see any improvement in my riding. Now, I'm being told to look at Fulcrum XLR's and even LW's.
There's a $1,500 difference between the Enve's and the other 2. GULP!
Any Ideas?
And does anyone know the difference between Alchemy hubs vs. Chris kings?
On another note, we tend to climb a lot around here. So looking for a lightweight wheel to compensate for the weight of the Di2.

Oh. And my local bike shop told me to hold off on buying Enve's till the mid of sept. .. i guess they're roliing out a 2013 model? anyone heard of that?

You're going to see a huge improvement over Ksyriums mainly because they kinda suck- narrow, stiff AL spokes that offer a harsh ride, and the freehub develops significant drag over time, however, you're not going to see huge Strava differences with any wheel most likely. Tire pressure, wind, etc will all affect average moving speed more than you think regardless of wheels.

You will improve your climbing more by the training/riding you do than the wheels you ride. My training wheels now weigh around 1700g and my VAM and times on a local climb that around 60 top local riders have done is sitting right at 5th place, up from my 11th a few months back when I was using lighter tubulars.

I liked my Fulcrum XLRs a lot because they had really smooth hubs, were very stiff, and held speed very well. They're a great all around wheel, but aren't particularly anything. I think they're a great race wheel because they're so well rounded for so many courses and I can't think of a wheel that has won more races if you lump them in with Boras since they're the same thing.

Alchemy hubs offer a greater bracing angle and supposedly build a stiffer wheelset. Lots of watt jockeys on the internet claim they need this as if hub stiffness is their limiting factor but I personally feel that the King hubs can build a super stiff wheelset if the builder uses the right spokes, lacing pattern, and tension. Somehow the pro tour riders manage to do just fine with DA and Zipp hubs, but people on message boards are convinced that they're so mighty that they need that extra bit of stiffness and can actually feel it. Personally speaking, I like the King hubs since they're durable, easy to service, and don't seem to have any problems ever. Alchemy is a smaller niche manufacturer that has had its fair share of issues and while they might be resolving them I personally don't want to deal with sending shit back and forth at any point to fix it. I like to put things on my bike and then not touch them and I have been very happy with my R45s. I've never met a single person that hasn't liked their King hubs, in fact.

Same problem here, looking for aero wheelset for 2013 which is not from planet x or straight from China.

Was looking at ZIPP 303 great but the price or on the other side AC 420 Aero 3 which I reckon is better option then Mavic/Easton.

Anything I missed? Just found govest Tyr C55, good price and weight.

P.S. will need them for my race 90km quite hilly but not steep thou.

Kwalker .. well said. Thank you

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Thanks to everyone for comments. I inspected my 404 wheel yesterday and found quite a bit of unevenness in tension. I trued them and evened out the tension and the wheel felt a lot stiffer and no brake rub. Must have been damage after the crash.

Anyhow, I bought LW for next year. Now to find training wheels....