November RCG36 Reviews

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vanmatthew
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:20 am

by vanmatthew

Hi All,

I searched the forum and didn't see anything pop up. Anyone ride the RCG36 wheels? They'll mostly be used for road for the time being (just sold my gravel bike) until I buy a new bike for gravel use. Would love to know how it compares in regards to stiffness and aerodynamics.

Thanks

by Weenie


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vanmatthew
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:20 am

by vanmatthew

bump

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

The thing you cant tell how stiff a wheel is by riding it. You can tell if its prone to brake rub but that is only related to how stiff the rim is (latterally) not how stiff the wheel is. Flexy wheels dont rub brake much at all, they are not stiff.

Those things have to be measured.

vanmatthew
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:20 am

by vanmatthew

ok thanks.

NovemberDave
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Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:42 am
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by NovemberDave

Without a wind tunnel and some very relevant reference wheels, how one wheel or another stacks up versus others in the aerodynamics department is largely unknowable. Even then, the applicability of the lab data to real world depends on a lot of factors. I'm not saying that aerodynamics doesn't matter, but rather that it's sometimes overblown (ha!). Among competently designed rim in the depth and width range of the RCGs, I don't think you'll see any outliers - some part of a watt here and there, and that's kind of it.

In terms of stiffness, certainly the major factor of stiffness is having enough to ensure the stability of the build. If the build is stiff enough to have structural stability, it should be stiff enough for any rider within the appropriate weight/power/etc range for the wheel. Nothing I've ever seen informs me that "more is better" in terms of stiffness. Not enough is clearly bad, as the wheels will work and then eventually suffer issues. But beyond "enough" as described above, I've never seen any evidence of benefit. All of the RCG builds (and there are several standard hub selections and nearly infinite customization pathways) will be stiff enough to meet our criteria for riders within generous norms of weight and power/torque.

Probably more efficacious for me to say how they are fleeter than a fighter jet and so stiff you'll think they were made in the Viagra factory, but since our basic premises are that a) no wheels are and b) it's unclear whether all of that is desirable, I can't.

vanmatthew
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:20 am

by vanmatthew

haha thanks. This is a big purchase so just trying to process the data.

by Weenie


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NovemberDave
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by NovemberDave

vanmatthew wrote:
Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:37 pm
haha thanks. This is a big purchase so just trying to process the data.
Oh I appreciate that. A purchase this size would be a big deal for me, too, and I'd research the heck out of it. I just prefer to help people avoid getting sucked into the hyperbole that so often goes into these things. There are a ton of nice things that a great set of wheels can do for you, but instantly going X% faster where "X" is anything other than a pretty small number is not one of them. Likewise, people prize stiffness so much (to my mind well more than it merits) that if we wheelbuilders chase that to the exclusion of other things on the market's behalf, I think we'll wind up building wheels that are worse overall.

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