Wheelbuilding

[S.Giles]

So how do they compare? I'd love to regale you with tales of how they "spin up quickly", or have a wonderfully "low rolling resistance", or indeed extoll the virtues of their "vertical compliance and lateral stiffness" but I can't! What I can say is that I noticed no difference at all between them and my old wheels. Now there could be several reasons for this:

• Family situation means that I haven't been riding that much recently and my fitness has suffered. It's difficult to make a comparison between equipment when it's been so long since I've ridden, and any major performance change will be due to my lack of fitness.
• I am far from being a pro cyclist and my senses are just not attuned to the subtle nuances of equipment upgrades.
  
• My old wheels were actually pretty good anyway and the new ones are just rather similar. Or the new ones are pretty average.
  
• The performance benefits of new wheels have been massively overstated by the cycling industry and all this marketing talk is just a load of old bobbins.

The psychological aspects of having something new often outweigh any practical advantage gained. Those marketing absurdly-priced bicycle wheels use this fact to their advantage. I've said it before - the 'purple prose' used to induce customers to purchase £2000 wheel-sets is risible and bears no comparison with reality. Compare it with the hyperbole used to sell top-end Hi-Fi equipment and the similarity is striking.

I've also just put a newly self-built (rear) wheel on my bike, to replace an ancient out-of-true relic with a warped rim, damaged cones, and rusty spokes. One might imagine a huge difference in performance would have resulted, but... nothing. The bike feels exactly the same as it did with the old wheel. I'm not disappointed, BTW. I imagined there would be very little difference, and I was correct. I value objectivity too much to kid myself about these things. As you mentioned, the new wheel certainly looks nicer, and brake adjustment is easier with a properly-trued wheel. In this case, non-corroded spokes that can be easily adjusted for tension is also an advantage well worth having!

Congratulations on your wheels, BTW. They look great, and I'm sure they'll provide you with thousands of miles of enjoyable, trouble-free cycling. And that is all that can be reasonably expected of a pair of bicycle wheels!

 

[MrGrumpy]

I wouldn't argue with your assumption of expensive wheels and pure marginal gains but lightweight stiff wheels do spin up easier . However that can be had for a fraction of the price, however nowt wrong with a bit if bling :-)

 

[S.Giles]

...however nowt wrong with a bit if bling.

Agreed, but only if it's marketed and purchased as merely a 'bit of bling'.

It's marketing dishonesty leading to false expectations on the part of the buyer that bothers me.

 

[Smurfy]

Agreed, but only if it's marketed and purchased as merely a 'bit of bling'.

It's marketing dishonesty leading to false expectations on the part of the buyer that bothers me.

I gave up buying cycling magazines for a similar reason. I was sick of reading all the ridiculous stuff that passes for a 'product review', excerpts of which then sometimes appear in the same magazine as a paid for advert. Nowadays I look for online reviews.

 

[Smurfy]

Well, they're not the same. There are oxides and oxides. For instance, aluminium oxide that occurs naturally on aluminium, is self-arresting. If you polish a piece of aluminium, it becomes shiny as chrome but very quickly, within minutes, the top layer oxidises and self-arrests. The layer does not penetrate and remains extremely thin, but most importantly on top. In other words, it is a true coating.
Anodising on the other hand is also an oxide, but a form of ceramic, containing Nitride. This does not form on top of the substrate but penetrates to one half its thickness. Because this is hard and inflexible, it creates stress risers and propagates cracks when the item is stressed.
The oxide coating on spokes sits on top and isn't a hard glassy substance.

Anodising is just a means of thickening the natural layer of aluminium oxide. The most common anodising baths contain sulphuric or chromic acid, so where is the nitrogen going to come from to form a nitride?

Black spokes suffer no fatigue problems over and above what silver spokes suffer from. This can be proven chemically and experimentally.

Got any evidence?

 

[S.Giles]

I gave up buying cycling magazines for a similar reason. I was sick of reading all the ridiculous stuff that passes for a 'product review', excerpts of which then sometimes appear in the same magazine as a paid for advert. Nowadays I look for online reviews.

The problem is that whole markets become infused with the BS that some charlatan originally made up in order to charge more for what would otherwise be considered a fairly basic item (like a bicycle wheel, for instance). Ordinary people become converts and start to propagate the meme themselves. Eventually, objectivity becomes obscured in a sea of marketing hyperbole, pseudo-science, and hearsay.

I've seen it happen in the eighties with Hi-Fi and now the whole process is being repeated with bicycle components. It's such a shame.