Ah Yes, I did not look at the disc wheels. @mwglow15 I was looking at the rim braked ones. And I now realise it is their R series rim braked, not the AR series rim braked. Thanks
- Please overwhelm me. I am happily over-thinking this
(Though I might only skim read the 705 pages you referenced) - Isn’t “Bro-science” stuff not backed up by science!!!
(My limited internet jargon knowledge)
More usefully…
-
Can I just check are they mph or kph?
-
My TT speeds vary from averaging 27/28mph (a fast 10), to averaging 20/23/25mph on 12hr, 100s and 50 milers. However at times on each of these I can be doing over 30mph or struggling to get over 20, depending on the hills and wind speed. & direction.
-
In the real world… open courses, dual carriageways (You know the UK TT scene I suspect) I find my deep section (90) round tail FFWD F9R is horribly twitchy with side wind gusts above 10-12mph. I resorted last year to a tear drop (pointed end) 38mm for anything long or very windy. So for next year I am trying to find a decent 50/60mm (or deeper) modern shaped wheel that will be more aero…
…but you seem to be saying a classic teardrop would be better… (more aerodynamically efficient)
Have I mis-understood?
Yes, I’m talking about Light Bicycle’s wheels specifically. They’re one of two or three well-reviewed Chinese carbon wheel manufacturers. If you’re interested, there’s a ~105 page thread on Weight Weenies about them, overwhelmingly positive. I’m not at a stage in life where I want to drop 2-3 grand on name brands, even though I may be…Envious…of a few…
1 Like
Thanks @AustinPT Likewise, I had looked at them and considered buying. A couple of mates have their rims and are very happy with them. They report they are only as twitchy at 50mm as any other 50mm wheels. I take that as a good sign.
1 Like
Thanks @simonicusfacilis , I will also give your post some thought when I get a bit of time later. I will get a picture of the FFWD for you. It is a long while since my fluid dynamics colleagues mistook me as an engineer (and when I was a CEng. it was not a proper one). Take care
On top of this. Gigantex are the manufacturer of FFWD wheels among others, they do their own wheels and are very good. the website is trash but if you email them they will send you their catalogue of rims etc. http://www.gigantex.com.tw/
roughly 140usd a rim
Cool. I’ll take a look. The Light Bicycle website is great, as it lets you build the wheel from the ground up, with a rolling tally of the total weight and price (ie, pick between hubs, spokes etc and see what impact it has on weight)
I think someone’s hand slipped while drawing a couple of those rim profiles…
And not sure what the pointy bulges are accomplishing…
But the rest look as expected.
1 Like
@AustinPT If you were in the UK I would suggest a look at Hunt wheels. Road Bike Rim Brake Wheelsets | Cyclocross & More | Hunt Bike Wheels
By the time I had added shipping etc they were within £60 of the LightBicycles equivalent. A load of my mates in the club group rides have them and swear by them. One has both Hunt and Lightbicycle (built up from rim locally) and says they are both very good.
I have heard Gigantex make a lot of other firm’s wheels, but as said, that website is pants. The Lightbicycle one is much more reassuring and I found they were very good on customer service and response when i was looking at them.
Yep, I have a set of Hunt on my gravel bike. they have great customer service. But don’t have the build from the ground up option Light does
1 Like
Yeah I’ve seen those 
they’re well funny. like i said, website is crap but their pretty rapid with emails.
Hi there,
weight-wise I‘m right in your ball park with some 58 kg. Being a sucker for all things aero I splurged on a set of Enve 5.6 and I am really delighted after 4k of riding on this hoops. They handle gusty crosswinds way better than the Roval CLX64 I had before - I don‘t know if it’s the shallower front wheel of the blunter edge of the rims (or both). From my experience I think you should be fine with a set of deep wheels.
Thanks for the input. Still trying to figure out what is going to actually fit on my 2012 Colnago EPS - that’s a whole 'nother can of worms
@AustinPT You mention:
On this fit issue, I am not sure what you are referring to, but if it helps, I had two problems with newer wider wheels on older bike frames on various bikes:
- I had a problem with tyre clearance between the rear tyre and the band on front deraillieur. That led me to run 622x19 rims (27mm outer) with a 23 on the back and a 25 on the front. This seems common to bike frames over 6-8 years old before the trend for wider (and therefore sometimes taller) tyres came out. (I borrowed a mates wheel to check clearance with different tyres as well).
- The other issue I had was brakes and rim width. On one bike I had to remove some spacers and washers behind the brake shoes to fit a wider wheel rim, and also use slimmer dished washers and the the shallower swissstop brakepads to get enough clearance. On another bike I upgraded the brakes themselves to a later version that seemed to have more clerance.
I admit I am second gyuessing your fit issues, but this is what I hit with older frames and newer wheels. I managed to get around all these with some thinking, playing and fettling.
I think for mine it’s more an issue of vertical clearance - top of tire almost touching the brake and/or crown of the fork. taking the bike to LBS to see exactly what fits (I want to get a set of Light Bicycle wheels built, but debating between a couple of sizes)
So it is the same problem as my rear tyre, except my issue was the frame/clamp and yours are the brakes. The same solution might apply. A 23mm tyre seems to sit the same height whether it is on a 622x13 wheel, a 622x17, or a 622x19 wheel. In each case a 25mm tyre was too high for my rear wheel, but a 23 would provide the clearance.
What I would say is having modern wider rims , even with a 23 on the rear (I could get a 25 on the front) there was a real noticable difference in feel and comfort, compared to exactly the same tyres (GP4000s) on a narrower rim. Also some tyres sit differently, even though supposedly the same size, so if one make does not provide the clearance, another make may.
Of course it you are going for a much wider tyre, then sideways clearance might come into the equation.
I hope you find a solution.
thanks. I’ll have a better idea thursday when I take it to the LBS. I’ll post results
So the LBS tried to mount a set of Roval CLX’s on my 2012 Colnago. these are 21mm internal/28mm external width. Technically they did fit, but there was zero wiggle room for braking, even with modifications (like sanding down the brake pads). So I will probably be getting a set of Light Bicycle rims that are 17.9/25mm internal/external. Any thoughts on 23cm Conti 5k (w/ tubes) vs 25 mm? Better handling vs better aerodynamics? 23 in front, 25 in rear?