Paris-Roubaix wheels comment...

[Evan Pickett]

http://www.velonews.com/article/74628/slipstream-s-maaskant-4th-into-
roubaix

"Maaskant’s finish stood as sweet vindication for Slipstream, which
saw its classics man, Swede Magnus Backstedt, felled by mechanical
difficulties during the race’s 18th sector of pavé, the dreaded 2.4km
slog through the forest of Arenberg. Backstedt, the 2004 Roubaix
winner, emerged from the forest with two cracked deep-section carbon
wheels. During the wheel change, one of the Swede’s brake pads
slipped out of the caliper. He remounted his rig and began riding,
but soon required a complete bike change and lost contact with the
front of the race. He did not finish. "

So if you are a 200 pound Swede who rides tempo at 350 watts... don't
use deep-section carbon rims on pave.

Rob, did you win the eBay auction for those box-rim tubulars?

Thanks,
Evan

[Robert Meyer]

i read some poor reviews of 2/3 of the rims in that auction and decided not to get them.  They were vintage, and the manufacturing quality of stuff like that has improved a lot.  The Mavic reflexs may be the best bet if you want a bomber tubular.  We are having a wheel building party for the bike class later this quarter.  You guys can probably come if you want, but you won't be first in line for the truing stands.  i still havent figured out what i plan on using, seeing as my first choice for a front wheel went flying off my roof last week.  i may go with dt swiss r1.2 clinchers laced to dura ace hubs.  we'll see.

[Evan Pickett]

I'm still looking for wheels, but I found this site selling euro-
tubulars:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/index.html

The author's tone aside, it seems like a good site. I asked if he had
recommendations for riding on cobbles, and he responded with the
following info:

"For cobblestones, the largest tire you can fit on the bike. Tires
like the old Paris Roubais and Del mondos were made for exactly that
purpose. Using smaller tires only makes the bike feel faster. You
don't actually go faster, unless accelerating or climbing. Rolling
resistance is lower on a larger tire of the same design."

I'm tempted to go with a ~25 mm wide tire to be on the safe side.
We're only doing a few races (me fewer than most), so I don't want a
flat or choice of cheap tire to ruin anything. We're probably not
doing a ton of climbing or accelerating, just hammering along. This
trip also already costs about $2500 anyway, so saving $100 by picking
"cheap" tires (that might end your race) doesn't seem like the right
place to save money to me.

Cheers,
Evan

[Andy Will]

Has anyone tried Veloflex tires.  I hear that they are the closest thing to tubulars due to the super high tpi count.  Probikekit.com has them for the cheapest price that I've seen so far but they are still a little expensive. 

 

 

                            Andrew

 

 

 

 

ick...@stanford.edu> wrote:

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