Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

This is from Faster, because I happen to have it on the kindle app on my phone.. You can read the Epstein book for more info or do your own reading...

One study from 2008 set out to look at 23 polymorphisms known to be beneficial to endurance sport, and how frequently they occurred. Most of them were relatively rare. The researchers calculated the probability of any individual possessing all of them. So for the ACE gene, the probability was 21%. For the next gene on the list (ACTN3, which encodes a protein found in muscle fibres and has a role in determining muscle fibre type), the probability of the ‘right’ polymorphism was 18%. At this point, just two polymorphisms in, the cumulative probability of someone having both of them is 4%. When you keep on adding more sporting polymorphisms, you eventually find that the probability of the ‘perfect’ athlete, based on these 23 variances, is one in 1,212 trillion. There is a one in 200,000 chance that anyone in the world possesses the perfect set. Even if you settle for 21 of the 23, the odds for a single worldwide occurrence are only one in ten. In the UK, you might find a handful of people with 12 of the 23, but it’s very unlikely you’d find anyone with 13. There is also a very good chance that more than the 23 polymorphisms studied are actually involved. So you can add a few more zeroes across the board. All that is before you start contemplating the odds of one of these rare flowers actually taking up the right sport, enjoying it, and being supported into building a career in it. No one knows just how many of these polymorphisms the current top athletes have, but it’s almost certainly relatively small. The question the study didn’t answer is the one that most athletes would find themselves turning over in their minds in the small hours of the morning. Given just how gifted some riders clearly are, just how good would this one in 1,212 trillion athlete be? It’s the kind of question guaranteed to keep you in a state of anxious wakefulness. It’s almost impossible to answer it in a meaningful way, because the quantitative contribution of each of the polymorphisms is as yet unknown. That didn’t stop me asking one of the authors of the study, Dr Alun Williams of Manchester Metropolitan University. 24 ‘They’d be off the scale,’ he said. ‘They would be unbelievably good.’ I asked if ‘unbelievably good’ would extend to my own personal nightmare, the athlete so gifted that they need never train, someone who could be a world beater after preparation not significantly more taxing than setting down their cigar and climbing aboard their bicycle? ‘I would think so, yes,’ said Williams. ‘They probably couldn’t get off with actually staying in bed all day, but I would think they could manage without specialist training.’

I think this is where we fundamentally disagree. I believe that 'genetic predisposition to be good at cycling' is only really relevant in a competition between people with no training (beginners) or equivalent amounts of training (such as pro riders, for example).

When you fall somewhere between those points of training, you can be faster than someone with a 'genetic predisposition to be good at cycling' by doing more training than them.

Also this:

Given that, and given the probabilities show that however wonderful they might be, the ‘perfect’ athlete is a practical impossibility, what is the real world influence of genetics on sporting performance? How much is you, and how much is your parents? The best available answer to that seems to be from the Heritage Family Study – a long-term US-based public-health study that investigated variations in VO2 max and its response to exercise across a large number of families. 26 It found that there was a much greater degree of variation between families than within families. The bottom line is that in practical terms both ‘base’ VO2 max and its degree of responsiveness are about 50% inherited. So if you want a simple answer to the question, there it is.

Dan repped.

FWIW Ferrari laughed when he was asked if Armstrong was close the perfect athlete (for the TDF). He said LA was not even close, but he's the best he's yet seen by a margin.

...then he gave him loads of drugs ;-)

When you fall somewhere between those points of training, you can be faster than someone with a 'genetic predisposition to be good at cycling' by doing more training than them.

Well of course and this depends on the genetic disparity in suitability, and the training.

'genetic predisposition to be good at cycling'

An athlete is not 'good' or 'bad'. It's a lot more subtle than than.

I have 'faster' on my kindle. I havent read it yet. But side with the genetics crew. I was training hard for international basketball fame, but fell cough short cough.

we have no idea of his natural capability without the juice.

Actually we do...

Sub 2kg, wider rimmed disc Aksiums for £175. Sounds like a winner.

http://road.cc/content/news/129510-mavic-launches-aksium-one-disc-and-ksyrium-pro-disc-wheels-2015

The interesting (and frustrating) thing that I take from all this is that we all have a point that we can reach that is defined before we are born, but that only a tiny fraction of us will ever get close to that potential.

Quit your jibber jabber, Neil, if you just trained twice as much you'd be twice as good.

Hutch really might be one of physiological freaks I mentioned before, like Tony Martin. He might manage to keep his heart rate and muscles at peak racing condition for ages without significant upkeep.

In his last book, he mentioned about jumping onto a bicycle that his girlfriend's dad lend him, and despite poor outfit and fit, he kept blewing everyone at Richmond Park much to their annoyance.

It's probably possible that Hitch could beat you, if you two turn out for the Hour.

How would Mitch fare?

Sorry, no chance.

Most tour riders will gladly recount the time when they were 8 years old and smashed a whole bunch of 16 year olds in some race.

Genetics > Race smarts > Training

Were you there when badtimmy's running friend won Rollapaluza? Never rides a bike, smoked everyone...

Does anyone produce a 25mm wide alloy clincher rim, bar the HED Ardennes+? I'm basically looking for the Ardennes+ but cheaper? I'm looking for a winter wheel set.

Rigida and mavic and velocity.

Thanks! Sorry, I should have been more specific.

The Rigida / Ryde rim is a touring rim that only comes in 32+ spoke holes. One of the Velocity rims is the same. The other wide Velocity is disc-specific, annoyingly, and this is for a rim-brakey roady-bikey.

I can't find a 25mm Mavic? What model is the rim?

All the mavic touring rims are 25mm (about 19mm internal).

I don't know of any rims like that for 28h or less. There is no reason to have fewer spokes for a training wheel. If you wanted to go faster you'd use a deeper rim and/or bladed spokes before thinking of weight.

The reason you see lots of people training on low spoke count wheels is mostly because that's what factory wheels are. They work OK, are cheap, but can be a PITA to rebuild.

All this arguing just tells me something absolutely terrifying ... the next logical step in doping of athletes is almost certainly going to be (or already is) gene doping. How long before parents can pay for little tommy to be born with those 23 polymorphisms? And how do you test for that?

...yeah, I meant "deep rims, gene doping, bladed spokes". My bad ;-)

Kinlin XC279

Agree with @miro_o low spoke count winter wheels are pointless. Unless you're planning to build 20h front/ 24h rear, or lower there's no significant aerodynamic or weight benefit... And loads less robust.

Mail ordering rims from the US seems a bit counterintuitive for winter wheels that will need the rim replacing more often than summer best wheels.
In any case - something like a 32h hope rs/sapim race/open pro build only comes to 1650g ish, which is plenty light for training wheels. Archetypes would be a good alternative if rim width is really that much of an issue.

All Kinlin rims can be bought in the UK here: http://spokesmanwheels.co.uk/

Cheaper than H plus son come in various drillings.

Amey/anyone know what the build quality is like on wheels from spokesman are like - any good? The prices are great for Archetypes on novatec, getting tempted to buy a built set

Pretty good; a mate got novatecs on A23 from them for £250; decent build quality, quick turnaround, good service etc. Cant give you long term review as his bike got stolen within a month :P

I recently bought Kinlin rims from them.