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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More wheels are also good for motivation. Once started a group ride by breaking a spoke right at the start. Rode directly home -- grabbed another perfectly good wheel -- removed and installed same cassette -- mounted the tire -- and was done in 12 minutes. Rode harder than I would have guessed to intercept the group. Success!
And I am building a stable of 36 hole low profile tubular wheels for certain occasions.
@Ron
I too am a fan of of black rims with silver spokes and hubs. Bike #1's wheelset is Black Mavic Open Pros with silver DT Comp 2.0/1.8 spokes laced 3X to silver UItegra hubs. Pedestrian perhaps, however, the machined brake track on the black rim looks great with the siver spokes and hubs. At 90kg with crummy roads left and right, I'm strictly a box section, 3X kind of guy. My next set of wheels will either be another set of of the above or a set of Hed Belgiums laced to Chris King hubs. I'd still go black rim, silver spokes, but with the CK hubs it would be hard to just go with silver rather than one of those luscious colours.
@ErikdR Good to knw. I have always been leery of buying wheels off of ebay/used. Have you done this and has it been okay so far?
@Ron
Ambrosio do a clincher version of the Golden Tickets
Yjese are dura ace but still nice and shiny.
@Skinnyphat
how are the EC90 carbon aero tubs? I am considering a pair of these.
@Buck Rogers I actually bought mine as a kind of "clearance" offer at the LBS, I must admit - they went for rougly 4,000 Danish crowns - or roughly 700 USD. They were 'New Old Stock' so to speak - Great deal.
I've had very good experiences with the Dutch equivalent of EBay - a site called 'marktplaats' - they have some sort of 'Money back guarantee', which I think EBay has as well? Not sure though - what say the experienced E-bayers out there?
FWIW: I think that a lot of the higher-end offers on this type of wheelset (that I came across during a quick E-Bay search) were actually NOS sets - but as you point out, it could get difficult to judge the real quality of what you're bidding on
@Chris
Those Ambrosios sure look the business... Yum
@Buck Rogers I got my Nemeses off ebay and it's worked out fine for me. I new that I'd need to get them re-laced and allowed for that in my bidding but in the end they came in way under what I would have been willing to pay. If it hadn't have been for the ebay option I'd still be on the OEM wheels.
Nice! Lots of good feedback! Cool. Chris - are they still just called the Nemesis rim? Hmm, I have some nice older Shimano 600 hubs in polished silver and then some black Record hubs. Gonna have to think about this hub/spoke/rim color setup.
@Nate
This is a perfectly reasonable approach and at the same time makes me crazy. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, just thinking about having to do such a thing before swapping out a wheelset, but that's my issue, not yours.
@Gianni
Yes, damnit. I will not be upgrading to 11spd until I absolutely have to for this reason. Plus, I love the look of the old 10spd group - best looking setup since they went to Ergo.
I did that once, to the VMH's bike. She broke the chain on the very next ride. I am indeed happy to report that I have a wipperman on every bike now. You don't often need to remove a chain, but I sure do love having the option.
@Cyclops
I don't know what to tell you about your tub experience, other than that you did it wrong. Don't take off the old glue, never take a razor to any tire EVER, and every decent tire/tube in the world has a removable core.
This account of yours makes me very nervous about your having built my bike.