I’m looking to buy a bit of speed and just upgrade for fun too. I’m considering upgrading the wheels.
I currently have Alexrim Race 32 wheels with GP 4000S II. The Alexrim’s weigh in at 2.33 kg for the pair.
I’m looking at either the Ultegra RS-770 C30 wheels. They weigh in at 1.639 kg. Price $1,150/pair.
Or Duraace R9100 C24 wheels. The Duraace’s weigh in at 1.389 kg. Price $1,550/pair.
I’ll likely go with GP 5000 tires on either wheel I buy.
My question is do I either:
Stick with my Alexrims (Option A)
Go with Ultegra (Option B)
Shell out for the Duraace (Option C)
One thing I am doing for sure is upgrading the brakes regardless.
Lets keep this simple and please don’t give me a bunch of different wheels cause I’ll get shoppers fatigue just A, B or C please (and why).
Note: I live in North Vancouver (lots of mountains) and I have lots of elevation rides like the 122 km Whistler Gran Fondo…
Of those options, I’d just stick with what you have, but I think you can do much better for an upgrade with your budget TBH.
Aero is going to be faster almost all the time. That’s why he asked about climbing speed. If 80% of your riding is at 10+mph, aero will be faster for all of that time. You can get Roval CL50 aero wheels (for example) at 1515g for not much more than DuraAce. There are other aero rims out there with 40mm and less cross sections where crosswinds won’t bother you as much, but some aero rim profile will be faster almost all the time, and many aero rims are close to the weight of the dura ace set you’re looking at but will be faster in all conditions.
Because the weight penalty for aero wheels is very small
I just quickly googled Enve 4.5 depth wheels and they weigh 1541g - so between the weight of your options B and C
Most riders, even those doing lots of climbing, will go faster with an aero wheel set than a super lightweight wheel set because the weight difference is relatively small and the aero benefit outweighs it at nearly all speeds
As for getting blown around by the wheels - I feel this is largely overblown in nearly all situations, but I’ve been riding deep dish rims for years so maybe I’m just used to it. It takes a very severe wind for me to even notice it
The owner at the bikeshop said that my bike isn’t an aerobike. Adding aerowheels with the frame I have would create too much of a blocked space (i.e. not designed for it). I’ve known this guy for a while and he’s legit rider. He said I’d like looking to swap out my frame to do that properly. I’m not prepared to shell out 5k for a major upgrade right now.
I run 60mm depth on a 2009 Cannondale SuperSix (fat, round tubes). It’s markedly faster than it was with box rims and negligible handling and climbing penalty. YMMV. My vote is already in!
Honestly I have no idea what he’s talking about - I ran aero wheels on a CAAD12 for a season and it was great
I just can’t see shelling out >$1,000 for a ‘climbing’ wheel set. Doesn’t make sense to me, sorry.
That said - go with who you trust. I’m just a random guy on the internet as far as you’re concerned and if you’re going to be second guessing yourself for going against the local expert that you know and trust then you should go with his opinion no matter what
So Duraace sells a 24, 40 and 60 mm versions. What’s the difference (aside from the cosmetics)? Is one supposedly more aero due to the larger rims? I have 32 mm at the moment. I do find I get thrown about with the ocean winds sometimes. Why would anyone pick a 24 if a 60 is more Aero (aside from the crosswind thing)?
Yeah, the deeper the rim, the more aero gains you’ll get from it. Most rims are designed with shapes that absorb crosswinds quite well and don’t throw you around as much as stock rims do.
There are lots of online tools to calculate/estimate weight difference and/or aero difference. Weight wise the difference between your two choices is .25Kg or .55lbs. Up a 8% slope for 5 miles at 300W that equals 0.16kph or 0.1mph. Or a difference of 19 seconds.
Aero…this is pretty general (they don’t define deep or shallow) but, just a quick search says 2% a deep section wheel would have to be 2.8kg heavier than the shallow wheels to see equal speed performance; 4%=940g heavier and 6%=390g and 10%=50g.
I picked up new Hed Jet 6+ (not Black, alloy rims) in January for my old roadie and my TT bike for under $700. Way faster than my box rims and not much heavier. I’ll set them up Tubeless and run them on my TT/tri rig once my new bike arrives. Totally awesome value.
