I’m a lighter rider and I’m on 60mm rims. I haven’t had a crosswind situation on a group ride yet. That said, I typically train indoors if the weather is cold, which includes at least part of the spring. So I haven’t really cycled extensively in high winds.
I run 50mm wheels for brevets, I feel like a few watts over that length of time ends up being worth it.
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I have mavic cosmic and a set of mavic ksyrium. Both are carbon and 40-50mm. Idk if you call that deep, but I ride them on every outside ride, regardless of distance. Buy yourself some of you’ve can afford it. They are fun to have (got them both <$1000 from eBay new)
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All my wheels are 45-65 mm. I ride them to race, I ride them to train, I ride them to the coffee shop. I’ve been in two races in the past 10 years that I threw on a shallow front wheel due to extreme crosswinds, but other than that, I don’t know why I’d change wheels.
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Practically every social road ride I do is 60km +, and before I moved my 62.5mm rim to my TT bike I had no qualms about using them for everything and recently I acquired 50mm deep sections and have used them for social rides up to 250km. They will be changed when the weather gets grotty to extend the life of them, but it would be too much effort to continually change them.
I ride deep wheels as personal preference. Used to ride 60/88 deep Boyd’s on my Felt DA without worry. Had a pair of Zipp 404 Firecrest that I put over 30k on with the crap brake track and junky Zipp hubs being far more annoying than any issues with depth. Currently have 2 pair of custom Lightbicycle wheels, Falcon AR 45 and 56’s, basically zero regrets or issues. I live in a very windy area with wind speeds above 15 mph fairly routine on many days. I wouldn’t likely ever contemplate buying shallow wheels again, modern deep wheels can be very light abd there is no denying the speed. Ultimate comfort could be a sticking point though but I can confidently says I don’t find that to be an issue.
I don’t change wheels nearly as much as I used to. If I do it’s probably to put off changing a tire or topping off sealant till I have time.
Between hydraulic brakes, better profiles for crosswinds, aligning calipers, decent crr and acceptable durability in many tires, there are not many of the former motivations left for swapping wheels like the past.
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Late to the party, but I’m struggling, trying to see if anyone can weigh in. I have a Trek Madone SLR Disc aero bike, but I went cheap on the wheelset, I bought a take-off BMC CRD-501 50mm wheelset from a guy on eBay after I sold my ENVE Foundation 65 because they were slow and heavy. The budget wheels are fine, but I want to go lighter and more high-end. I don’t race, but I ride some group events, but most solo 50 - 75 miles rides. Will do a century in the next month or so.
I want the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DiCut wheels, but should I stagger the depths? I was thinking of doing 50mm in the front, and 62mm in the rear. There’s a slight weight penalty if I do this, 50mm in the rear would save me a little under 100g. My OCD didn’t like staggered depths before, but I’m warming up to it, especially after seeing the ENVE SES 5.6 TL. It isn’t going to cost me more to go 62mm in the rear, just trying to figure out if it’s worth the weight penalty. I’m usually around 17-18MPH, so I doubt I’ll get any aero gains if I go deeper in the rear. In my particular case, does it make sense, or should I stick with a 50/50mm combo. A 62mm rear wheel might look cool, but I think that’s the only benefit.
What’s your goal?
No specific goals per say, I can do everything I want in my current set of wheels, which is about 400-500 miles a month in the summer, but a lighter wheelset that’s more agile and spins up to speed faster would be great. Something more stable in crosswinds too because I do ride 30 - 50 mile rides in the fall/winter.
I’m on 50/50 now but I used to ride 62.5mm on my road bike before the 62.5mm front went to my TT bike and tbh I don’t think I have noticed any difference between either; especially on the rear. If you like the look of the 62/50 now I would go for that.
That’s helpful insight. I figure it would just be for aesthetics, I know I’m not getting any meaningful aero gains. I just wonder if the look if worth the extra weight. I’ll have to do soul-searching to figure that out. I do like the look though, like I said it’s giving me ENVE SES 5.6 vibes, which looks dope, but the DT Swiss ARCs are hooked instead of hookless.
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I can’t advise on aesthetics…I try to care what other people think but most of the time I just can’t…but I can tell you the difference between a 60mm back wheel and a full disk back wheel is HUGE in an x-wind time trial.
But huge to a time trialist might amount to 36 seconds over a 25 mile time trial. So to a normal group ride warrior it probably doesn’t matter that much. And the difference between a 50mm and a 60mm rim profile is going to be a lot less than that.
Maybe what you should do is just ask the people who you ride with what they would like. That way you’ll know for sure & you can’t guess wrong.
Long-time Enve 5.6 owner, and last couple years on Roval Rapide CLX and Terra wheelsets. The 5.6 and Rapide CLX are staggered.
Honestly I don’t feel any aero benefits at those speeds. Maybe it’s measurable, but I don’t feel anything.
Buy something that makes you happy.
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Not sure I’m reading this right, but FWIW 5.6s are last generation and are hooked. The Reserve 52/63 are like modern 5.6s: same depth but with 25/24 mm internals. They’re also hooked.
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Get something that fits the frame AND makes you happy. Compared to a few other bikes in its class, the Madone has somewhat narrow chainstays and limit how wide of a rear rim and tire you can run.
The 5.6 TL are on closeout, and are well behaved in crosswinds. Some great deals out there.
My Rapide CLX are a little better in crosswinds, and about the same weight.
Above 22mph both really start to feel faster, and in certain crosswinds I can feel small gains in speed. My Terra are ~1300g which is about 200g / 0.44lb lighter than 5.6/RapideCLX, and maybe just maybe feel a little faster initially spinning up but I’m normally running much wider tires on those.
This year my fastest 10 minutes above 25mph this year were solo with a moderate tailwind on Terra with 48mm actual width Pathfinders on my gravel bike, and group ride sucking wheels on the Tarmac with 33mm GP5000 All Season TRs. Body position is bigger deal, and I can hold a better aero position on the Tarmac, so it feels faster. And the mid-aero 51mm deep front and 60mm deep rear wheels on the Tarmac subjectively feel like they hold speed better when solo or taking pulls at the front.
Riding in canyons (Napa, Sierras, etc) and gusty unprotected flats of the SF Bay, on a gusty day, will, depending on the wheel, provide more or less “feedback.” Going downhill the 5.6 made me nervous in the low 30-35mph range. The Rapide are a little more well behaved. And if you ride in the wind enough (even the flats of the SF Bay delta), you learn to relax and absorb the sharp torque steer on the front wheel.
Back in 2008 maybe 2010 I did a 60 something up front and a 50 something in back. It looks stupid IMO and I didn’t notice squat. Matter of fact back then the rim shapes sucked compared to today so it was just a bad idea with any cross wind greater than zero.
As far as your weight savings idea, I also at one time was a WW and I can tell you it’s just a complete waste of time and money to chase such small savings. Get the wheel set you think looks the dopest (you’ll want to ride more and that’s what important); not all rim shapes are equal so spend some time and find one that handles cross wind; spend more money on better hubs and tires. Good hunting!
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I ride them everywhere.
That’s good advice. Here is my experience.
Toroidal not v if you find your front wheel getting jerked around in a crosswind. In my experience, 60mm back wheel, 80mm back wheel, disk cover…no difference in crosswinds.
I have a firecrest 404 (toroidal) front & purchased a superteam v-profile wheel of similar depth to compare. The 404 definitely outperforms in a crosswind (not just ride feel but actual, real deal performance). But that experience definitely highlighted how much more sketchy a v-shaped rim profile is in a cross wind.
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