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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@frank
Do you now have 2 Nemesis wheelsets?
I really like the direction this thread has taken, which is getting better by the post! This is also gonna prevent me from having to ask 57 questions in other places. Nice!
Frank - strong advice! I particularly enjoy this:
"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'm going to employ this opening advice often - I say fuck that. Short, simple.
And, loving all the wheelset/bike photos. I think some of them also prove that just like overall bikes, any wheelset can be classy, no matter what the rim/spoke/hub combination. You just gotta have good taste.
@frank
The dumbassery was more a result of being fed up with the Zipp tubular bullshit than being an actual dumbass. I thought it better to take the razor blade to the tubular than my wrists.
Let's make a deal;
You say that unless you are a pro there is no reason to have a power meter.
Fine.
Then I say unless you have a personal mechanic to do your bidding tubulars aren't worth the hassle. Unless you have a wheel car behind you I'll have my flat fixed on my clinchers and be on my way long enough before you're done messing with your tubs on the side of the road to ensure that you won't reel me back in no matter how hard I blow up ala last year's Whidbey Island Cogal.
Arrrgghhh... this thread has rekindled all my wheel angst.....
My issue is I keep searching for perfection, and not sure I'd know it if I found it. Have two bikes, rain/cx/etc with C10 shifters and and a jtek to allow me to run a set of Shimano-compatible A23s I built up 32 3x on Ultegra hubs last spring. Not many miles on the wheels, but the ride is comfortable, albeit not super responsive.
My #1 (Hampsten ti) started with a set of 32 3x Hed C2 clinchers, wearing Open Pave CGs w/latex tubes. They measure out 26.5 on the wider rims and at 80/85 PSI are the proverbial "buttah." I feel at no disadvantage due to wheels on the Wed night world championships.
Thought I'd go back to my old-school sewup roots (when someone uses sewups vs tubular that dates them, right?) and built up the mythical Nemesis on sliver Campy Chorus and shod them with Veloflex Roubaixs. I was looking for the OMG experience, but while they're subtly different than the C2 w/Open Paves, I don't think they're better, just different. Finally wore out the rear VF Roubaix so have just glued up a Challenge Strada, and we'll see how that rides.
So I'm thinking I'd like to try some another set of tubulars, maybe Heds or some 38mm carbons in a 24/28, and try some 27mm Vlttoria Paves on the Nemesis. Or I could see if Vittoria really is coming out with a 27mm Open Pave, and build up a set of C2 clinchers in 24/28 or , or Archetype clinchers maybe 28/32, or the Kinlin wider 27mm clinchers ....
And that's where my brain goes aarrgghhh.... What's a fellow to do???
What I do know: sliver hubs, Campy or WI. Silver spokes. Tan sidewalls for my tubular tires. At least I can make some decisions
Yeah, great stuff Frank! Pretty sure that I am going to pull trigger on the Eastons. Such a great deal.
One question, though: Do you need special brake pads to run carbon rims?
@frank
If you're in a group, wearing skin suits, with tri bars, rolling full carbon tubs, on a $10K Cervelo (or whatever plastic bike) doing 24Kph on the flats with a tailwind. You're a douchebag.
My offset Reynolds tubs on White Industries hubs are the bomb diggity. I reserve them for racing only, tho I did bring them out for the Seattle Cogal. Just 'cause.
@scaler911
Fixed that.
@teleguy57
You poor bastard. Any wheelset is a compromise. If you can (I know it can be hard if you are in fact a perfectionist, I have one in my life) think instead about the right tool for the job at hand and/or what makes you happy when you are riding.
Great article and thread! There're few things I enjoy more than dreaming up hand-built wheel combinations, but I keep coming back to Open Pro's for the price/availability and because that's what I've got. I got taken out by an idiot on a scooter the other day so this weekend is wheel-building time. Open-Pro black 28h Record Silver, DT Revs. I've got the DT pro lock nipples coming, is there anything I should know about using them?
There may be a set of tubulari in my future if our plan to get a house in the country (clean roads) comes to fruition.
@Cyclops
The dumbassery that I'm referring to is confusing your incompetence with Zipp's manufacturing. Zipp was not at fault here, my friend, you were.
Had you been less of a dumbass (pick one: not removing the old glue from the rims, realizing the tires had replaceable cores, having absorbed any of the 1000 sources here and elsewhere recommending remedies for loose valve stems, not removing the glue from the tire - especially using a fucking razor) you would have had the perhaps the ultimate Velominatus' experience which is the ritual of gluing tubs.
You still have more to learn, Pedalwan.