Last Updated 2021.01.22
Road Bike Wheels
Wheels are one of the first parts you want to custom when you get a road bike.
Currently, road bikes are mainly sold as finished cars that can be bought and serviced as soon as they are installed, but most of the wheels attached to the finished car have a fair weight to reduce costs and are generally called iron geta wheels.
Why everyone wants to change wheels when custom road bikes looks great.
That's because it's a joke or half-serious, but it's lightweight and air resistance is reduced.
If a road bike beginner replaces the wheel with a budget of about 50,000 yen, it can be reduced by about 300 g to 500 g from the iron geta wheel that was about the finished car.
It is 300g, but the 300g weight reduction of this foot is more effective than I thought, and one to two gears become custom so effective that I can feel light when I turn the pedal.
The custom world of the wheel is so deep that there are people who change the wheel of the structure of the deep with carbon for hundreds of thousands of yen for race-oriented users.
Even brube and long-distance long ride-oriented users can feel a big change in terms of fatigue reduction just by reducing the weight of their feet by around 300 g with middle-grade wheels.
Wheel configuration
Here's a little digging into the wheel.
A wheel is a wheel consisting mainly of three parts.
- Rim
- Spokes (nipples)
- Hub
Rim
The rim is a ring-shaped part of the outer circumference of the wheel, and it is the part where the tire is put on and the shoe of the brake hits.
The shape of the rim varies depending on the tire used, and there are three main shapes.
- Clincher applications
- Tubular applications
- Tubeless applications (clincher and tubeless support available)
Clincher
A clincher is a tire that is used for a general road bike because the tire and tube are separated.
The outside tire is inflated by putting a tube in the tire and putting air in the tube.
Since the middle grade adopts almost a clincher tire from the introduction even in the road bike, the rim is also a rim for the clincher.
The advantage of the clincher is that when it is punctured, it can be repaired simply by repairing the tube or replacing the tube, so there is no need to change the tire body and the running cost is cheap.
The disadvantage is that the tire and tube are separate bodies, so there is a tendency that the weight becomes a little heavy.
However, the clincher type is recommended unless you are just starting out on a road bike or are race-oriented.
Tubular
The tubular inflates the tire directly by the role of the tire and the tube together.
The advantage of the tubular is that the tire itself is lighter and the rim is lighter because it does not require a part to fit the tire compared to the clincher.
Tubulars are the mainstream in the world of professional road racing. In addition, it is said that the tubeler has a constant way of inserting the tire when cornering and has better grip than the clincher.
Therefore, even hobby users who are race-oriented tend to prefer tubular tires.
The disadvantage is that if it is punctured, it is necessary to change each tire. It seems that it can be repaired if it is a puncture of a small hole, but if it becomes a puncture with a large cut puncture etc., it is essential to change each tire.
Therefore, there is a certain running cost to enjoy a road bike with tubular tires.
Tubeless
As the name names say, tubeless is not a tube in the tire, and the structure is in the form of a tire called a clincher.
The tire is put in the rim like a clincher, air is put as it is, and the tire is inflated.
It is difficult to explain, but it is positioned as a road bike version of motorcycle tires.
Since tubeless tires are placed on the rim like a clincher, the rim side is sealed so that air does not leak.
Therefore, the valve for air is fixed to the rim side and the spokes do not go out inside the rim.
Because it is a form that came out from around 2006, tubeless compatible wheels are expensive and have a little threshold for road bike beginners.
As an advantage, there is no tube in the tire, so there is no symptom of rim hitting puncture, and the tire itself has high puncture resistance performance, and even if a foreign object is stuck, it is possible to run without air missing for a while.
Spoke
Spokes are parts that connect the rim to support the hub at the center.
An elongated bar that extends evenly toward the rim around the hub.
The role of the spokes is to pull the hub and rim together to provide strength and support the rim around the hub.
The tension of the spoke is important, and if the tension of the spoke goes wrong even if there is one thing, the rim will rotate so that the rim waves from side to side when the wheel is rotated.
It is called the left and right swing of the wheel, but when this left and right swing is taken, the tension of the spoke is changed and the swing of the wheel is corrected.
In amateurs, it is necessary to have knowledge to shake the wheel, so when the swing is out, it is better to go to the pro shop and have it corrected.
There is also a type of spoke tension, but in general, the front wheel is a radial assembly rear is generally a way of tensioning the spoke called tangent set.
Hub
Hubs are an important part of the wheel.
The difference in price between the complete wheels is mainly the accuracy and weight reduction of this hub.
The hub of the road bike rotates by transmitting power in the direction of movement, and when the power is transmitted to the reverse rotation side, it is generally a free format that is idly and does not convey power.
One of the key factors in choosing a hub is how smoothly you can keep it rolling when you move it by transmitting power with the hub.
Currently, when it comes to wheels, it is common to have a complete set of wheels that align rim spoke hubs with their own parts and sell them in a finished form, so to choose a hub alone, you have to ask the pro shop to assemble the wheel by hand or put your own knowledge together, If you want your own original wheel by matching your favorite parts with a hand-assembled wheel, choosing a hub is an important factor, so it is one of the pleasures to choose.
There is another element on the rim called rim height rim height.
It is one of the options for choosing a wheel, but it is also an element that changes the nature of the road bike whether this rim height is high or low.
The rim height of a typical wheel is around 24 mm, and if the rim height is about 24 mm, the weight of the rim can be lightened, so it is easy to use in hill climbs, long rides, and races, and it becomes the height of the all-round rim.
On the other hand, if the rim height is high from 35 mm to 50 mm, the weight of the rim will be a little heavier, but there is an advantage that cruising at high speed is easy to be easy. The rest is the look. It's cool.
Instead, if the rim height is high, the rowing will feel heavy and you will receive wind resistance even when you receive a sideways wind, so you will need to get used to the road bike and have leg strength.
When changing wheels for beginners on road bikes, it is better to be aware of the height of the rim depending on whether you are going to race-oriented or long-ride-oriented such as brevet.
Shimano
Shimano's wheel is sober in a single way, but it's solid and robust.
If you buy artegra grade wheels if you are a grade with a budget of about 50,000 yen, 300 g will be lighter than the iron geta wheel of the finished car, so even beginners can experience the difference in running.
In addition, shimano's hub is reputable and is said to go around very well.
The way of assembling the spokes is radially assembled at the front, and the rear is an orthodox combination with the tangent set, so the appearance is sober, but I think that the strength is not a problem.
1640g front and rear spokes, 16 front spokes, 20 rear spokes. I think it's a well-balanced configuration.
The wheels included with the finished car are about 1800g to 1900g, so you can reduce weight from 200g to 300g.
It's pretty cheap when you look at it on Amazon.
Campagnolo
Campagnolo's wheels are characterized by the way the rear wheel spokes are assembled.
It is characterized by the combination of radials and crosses in seven directions from the hub to the rim called MEGA G3.
I think that there are many people who are made by the look of this rear wheel. I'm one of them.
The hub is different depending on the grade, but the grade Zonda with a budget of about 50,000 yen is reputed enough to be used habitually by professional road racers for training, and it is a grade that is an important indicator in speaking of campagnolo wheels.
If you want to make Campagnolo when you buy a wheel for the first time, you can recommend that you choose Zonda first and you will not make a mistake.
1596g front and rear spokes, 16 front spokes, 21 rear spokes. Rim height is front 26mm and rear 30mm.
There is one thing to note when purchasing Campagnolo wheels.
When you put a rear sprocket (gear) on the hub, it is divided into Shimano and Campagnolo.
If you want to unify the components of your road bike with Shimano, choose the free body format of the hub for Shimano.
The hub itself is no different for Campagnolo or Shimano. However, when the rear sprocket is put on, the bumpy shape is only different between Shimano and Campagnolo.
So, if you want to attach Shimano's rear sprocket, you need to choose Shimano, and if you want to attach a Campagnolo rear sprocket, you need to choose for Campagnolo.
Fulcrum
Fulcrum is a subsidiary of Campagnolo.
Fulcrum wheels are also characterized by the way the rear spokes are assembled.
At first glance, it is a combination of the general tangent pair and Campagnolo's MEGA G3 combination in a 2:1 combination.
As for the hub, it seems to be generally popular even if you look at the net, etc., and it is a feeling that it is not particularly possible and is not possible.
As for the ride taste, it is often compared to Campagnolo's Zonda, but it is said that fatigue accumulates in the legs if Zonda is more shock absorbent or soft and fulcrum is hard and rides for a long time.
On the other hand, the wheel of Fulcrum has high rigidity, so I think that it can be said that it proceeds without losing power when the pedal is turned.
It is the same middle gradeRacing 3 as Zonda in Campagnolo.
1555 g front and rear, 16 front spokes, 21 rear spokes. Rim height is front 26mm and rear 30mm.
Almost the specs are similar to Campagnolo.
When installing rear sprockets, Fulcrum is also separated from campagnolo and Shimano, so be careful.
Mavic
Mavic is a traditional rim manufacturer and a true wheel manufacturer.
Now, if you look up shimano campagnolo fulcrum and road bike wheels on the net, these three manufacturers will come out in the top, but Mavic will also be a manufacturer that can not be removed.
Mavic wheels are even more expensive than the manufacturers listed above.
When it comes to the grade of about 1550g in front and rear weight, it is a little expensive with 90,000 yen fee in Amazon.
Instead, if you buy Mavic wheels, there is a little addition that tires and tubes will follow.
It features technology that improves rigidity and strength by cutting screws directly into the rim and inserting nipples.
Front and rear weight 1550g, front spokes 18 pieces, rear spokes 20 pieces. Rim height is 24mm before and after.
I chose this grade to compare weight and aluminum rims.
The number of spokes at the front desk is large.
If you look at the reputation of Mavic's wheels on the net, you will see that the hub rotates poorly.
And mavic official view is that the bad rotation of the hub does not affect the running.
From a personal point of thought, if the rotation of the hub is bad, it seems to come out due to the impact on cruising at a certain speed, so I think that the hub should rotate better after all.
I don't think it's helpful because it's an amateur's idea.
2017 wheel trend is wide rim
If you are considering starting a road bike or buying a road bike, please note that the wide rim of the wheel is wide rim.
Until 2016, the trend of road bike tires × 700 and 23c size tires,
Since the 2017 season, manufacturers have × wider rim widths to optimize for 700 and 25c tires.
Originally, 700×25c tires were used in the professional road race scene, and it seems to be a flow to penetrate it to general users.
Theoretically, 700×25c is less grounded than 700×23c, and the rolling resistance is lower, so the weight is a little heavier under the feet, but the running becomes lighter.
So, if you are thinking of buying a road bike in the future and upgrade the wheel, please also pay attention to whether the wheel is a wide rim.
Looking at the finished models of each manufacturer of the 2017 model year, almost 700×25c tires and wide rim wheels are adopted.
From now on, it × era of 700-inch 25c tires and wide rim wheels.
