Upgraded Wheels Benefits

On 27/09/12 01:26, Duane wrote:
On 09/26/2012 11:23 AM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
I remembr many years ago when I bought my Columbus SL frame bike with
Dura Ace groupset and tubular tires. That bike made my commute aceoss
Toronto, Ontario, Canada much more enjoyable. Acceleration from a stop
was much better as was the ease of climbing hills. Acceleration around
dawdling bicyclists was also much easier. I figure that better/lighter
wheels allows one to reach the same speed and to maintqin that speed
with considerable less effort. Another way of looking at is that you
can go faster with the same amount of effort. Either less effort to
maintain a given speed or more speed for the same effort can be a real
advantage to acommuting bicyclist who has a long commute.

I think that there are a lot of people who commute on racing-style
bicycles because they enjoy the ease of getting up to their cruising
speed and the ease of maintaining that speed compared to a heavy bike.
Also, a lot of people use their commute rides for training or
improving the person's fitness level. When I lived in Toronto I used
to do a lot of interval training on my commutes. Sprinting from one
stop light to the next was great fun as was seeing just how short a
time I could get my commute down to.

Different bikes and or wheels for different folks.

Sounds spot on and very familiar to me.

And here too.

--
JS

On 27/09/12 07:17, Jay Beattie wrote:
On Sep 26, 1:26 pm, Frank
wrote:
Jay Beattie wrote:

Another reason why I wouldn't use expensive wheels is because during
the fall/winter/spring, the rims would get ground down by the road
grime and rain, and fussy lightweight stuff may lack reliability --
and the last thing I want to do is get stuck in the rain or snow at
night dealing with a mechanical problem. Not saying that light wheels
necessarily lack reliability, but there is that issue.

I sagged our club's century about a week ago. One of the guys I helped
was on a nice CF bike I'd never heard of - some small manufacturer in
Massachusetts, I think he said. Anyway, he didn't carry a pump, and he
was out of CO2 cartridges because of a puncture, followed soon after by
a blowout.

I found the chip of glass he missed, so he decided to patch his tube. I
pumped his tire, we put it in the frame, and I noticed the brake
scraping at one point. Turns out the rim's sidewall was bulging out.
At that point, I didn't know if he might have hit a pothole that he
didn't mention or what, but the bulge in the rim was almost certainly
responsible for the blowout, and it wouldn't make sense to try riding it
that way.

I asked him if he wanted me to try to squeeze the rim inward so he could
ride back to his car (not far away at that point). He said yes, so I
got my Channel Locks plus some stuff to protect his rim, and I was
astonished at how easy it was to squeeze the rim back in. It certainly
looked like the brake shoes had ground away enough rim to put it right
on the edge of failure.

Sorry, I didn't note the brand of rim. I could describe it if anyone's
curious and non-snarky.

I've ground down rims -- even pretty stout rims like Mod 51 and MA2s,
although not to the point of failure. My usual bit of stupidity is
wearing tires to the cord without noticing -- until I start flatting
in the middle of nowhere.

My Mavic OpenPro Ceramic front wheel is still going. I was trying to
determine just how old it is. I think about 12 years. I use it pretty
much exclusively. Judging by that, it's seen about 120,000km of action,
and the brake surface doesn't look more than a day old.

It's not *stupid* light, but...

--
JS.

On Sep 26, 2:26*pm, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I sagged our club's century about a week ago. *One of the guys I helped
was on a nice CF bike I'd never heard of - some small manufacturer in
Massachusetts, I think he said.

[snip]

--
- Frank Krygowski

Probably a Parlee. Well known and liked in racing circles. But, by
golly will you look at THAT!
http://www.parleecycles.com/tour/

DR

DR

FIRST WE HAND OUT PRESCRIPTIONS FOR HGH

THEN DECALS, APPAREL...AND SCHEDS FOR TRAINING AT BALI

I've not ridden one...only one aluminum, breifly...I was impressed.

Point there...get the potential buyer zaaaaaap once and sell. Before he ralizes itsnot really THAT FASTER...

or izzit ?

we read 1 pound less equals 5 extra collonade/acre/ergs over 10 miles and everyone goes ahhhhhhhoutsite Ima gonnna runout and buy one.

but never tried it over the 75 mile course run here in the flatwoods.

but if you don't ....like coke or sex with heidi klum then you don;t know

tree falls in the woods so what ?

taking an opposing position...

On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:06:19 PM UTC-4, datakoll wrote:
I've not ridden one...only one aluminum, breifly...I was impressed.



Point there...get the potential buyer zaaaaaap once and sell. Before he ralizes itsnot really THAT FASTER...



or izzit ?



we read 1 pound less equals 5 extra collonade/acre/ergs over 10 miles and everyone goes ahhhhhhhoutsite Ima gonnna runout and buy one.



but never tried it over the 75 mile course run here in the flatwoods.



but if you don't ....like coke or sex with heidi klum then you don;t know



tree falls in the woods so what ?



taking an opposing position...

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

points made bike X isnot made for course B....right that's the market effect..if you ride course B then you trip over bike B at the LBS...everthing else looks kinda wierd.

ypu get to THAT ROW and your mind sez


ohhhh thatsa my bike in bahama blue powder coat from Portland

25 years ! incroayble...izthere a rut ? yeh if there are 4 tricky sections of grass where you can go to avoid problems then FAT is good.

I wondered abt trick wheels....here at retirement central we see what ?
TRICK WHEELS like its an in thing running bowteak wheelsets,,,ahem wheelsets itsa contagious...

so I asked LBS...say Clem dem bowteak wheels bring in $$$

and Clem said...dem bowteak wheels are an expletive deleted PITA fersureDude.

On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:16:41 PM UTC-4, datakoll wrote:
25 years ! incroayble...izthere a rut ? yeh if there are 4 tricky sections of grass where you can go to avoid problems then FAT is good.



I wondered abt trick wheels....here at retirement central we see what ?

TRICK WHEELS like its an in thing running bowteak wheelsets,,,ahem wheelsets itsa contagious...



so I asked LBS...say Clem dem bowteak wheels bring in $$$



and Clem said...dem bowteak wheels are an expletive deleted PITA fersureDude.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN


yeah i remeber...this was aways back...at one LBS I then said "ya know the bowteak wheels withn fiberglass spokes running straight thru the hubs...I seenum on Cholera Psychlist...now daze cool...

n Clem then rooled his eyes back into forehead for 10 seconds

Dan O wrote:
On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:56:41 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Sir Ridesalot wrote:

I remembr many years ago when I bought my Columbus SL frame bike with Dura Ace groupset and tubular tires. That bike made my commute aceoss Toronto, Ontario, Canada much more enjoyable. Acceleration from a stop was much better as was the ease of climbing hills. Acceleration around dawdling bicyclists was also much easier. I figure that better/lighter wheels allows one to reach the same speed and to maintqin that speed with considerable less effort. Another way of looking at is that you can go faster with the same amount of effort. Either less effort to maintain a given speed or more speed for the same effort can be a real advantage to acommuting bicyclist who has a long commute.



I think that there are a lot of people who commute on racing-style bicycles because they enjoy the ease of getting up to their cruising speed and the ease of maintaining that speed compared to a heavy bike. Also, a lot of people use their commute rides for training or improving the person's fitness level. When I lived in Toronto I used to do a lot of interval training on my commutes. Sprinting from one stop light to the next was great fun as was seeing just how short a time I could get my commute down to.



Different bikes and or wheels for different folks.




I think a lot of the upgrade benefit depends on what you're upgrading

from, and what you're upgrading to. And, since this discussion group is

labeled "tech," I'll mention that a lot of the benefits are reasonably

quantifiable. IOW, we can work out reasonably accurately how much extra

acceleration you'd really get, how much more speed for the same effort

you'd get, how much faster your commute would be, etc. The physics of

the bike have been worked out for at least 100 years; it's not rocket

science. Websites like Damon Rinard's (who is a respected professional

in the bike industry) make many of those calculations pretty easy and

automatic. And although it can be fun to ride a bike that feels...

And there it is. You've said it. Absolutely right.

... snappier, it's hard to pretend that the performance gains really amount

to anything practical, at least for a typical commute.


Does it occur to you that a rider having fun may perform better?

Of course. I've talked before about the psychological effects of
changes to the bike.

And what's a "typical commute"? (I asked nicely.)

It's 7.2 miles. Almost exactly the same as what mine was, it turns out.
Mine was 6.9 miles by one favorite route, about 7.5 by another, and I
always kept it under 30 minutes riding home. (Home was uphill.)


From A SURVEY OF NORTH AMERICAN BICYCLE COMMUTERS By William E. Moritz,
Ph.D. available at http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Library/Moritz1.htm

"COMMUTE DISTANCE / TIME

Usual Bike Usual Bike

Distance Distance Time Time

Average 7.3 mi 7.2 mi 20.4 min 30.3 min

Median 6 6 20 25"


I actually like your whole post here quite a bit, but I notice that you seem very focused on measured data, which can really get in the way of fun.

Well, it is a "tech" discussion group.


--
- Frank Krygowski

DirtRoadie wrote:

My SL bike is my version of a sports car and my Sport-Touring bike is my version of a heavy duty pickup truck.

I have to point out what a laughable standard that is for "heavy-duty
pickup". Sounds more like a sports car that has a small trunk versus
one that doesn't even offer that much.

I have a flat bed sidecar bike that has toted six adults in the past,
and now sports two sturdy chairs on the load bed. I have a 2.5' x 6'
cycle trailer that my wife used to carry home our washing machine, and
which I use regularly to carry up to about 400 lbs of groceries,
laundry and what have you. When my wife goes to gigs within a few
miles, she loads up one or the other of these machines with her 50"
wide keyboard in its case, a keyboard stand, an accordion, a ukulele,
PA speakers, a couple of mic stands, an overnight bag full of cords
and stuff, and a hat box full of merchandise. Try that with your so-
called "heavy duty pickup", why don't you?

These are not one-off stunts; they are just examples of what you can
do with a bicycle if you don't have a ridiculously myopic notion of
what constitutes "heavy duty". Actually doing useful things with your
bike is way more gratifying and can be more fun than just adding 2mph
to the speed you'd be riding on a versatile, practical, durable
bike.

Chalo