Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

probably

Which reminds me, I need to swap the hub in my Time Machine rear wheel from a 10 speed to an 11 speed.

Is this something I could do without totally FUBARing the wheel, then take it in to be tensioned?

Just detension the spokes say 5 turns each moving around the wheel till the hub and spokes fall out.

Are you switching the freehub from 10 to 11 speed (which will mean the wheel needs to be redished, unless you just fit a Campag 11 speed freehub) or changing the whole hub? If it's the former then swapping the freehub and asking your friendly LBS to redish it should be easy enough. If it's the latter then you'll have to strip the whole wheel down anyway, spokes, nipples and all. Then it's just a question of whether you want to re-use the spokes. Either way, building up the wheel with a new hub and new or used spokes would be easy enough, even if you leave the final tensioning and truing the LBS rather than DIYing.

I'd DIY the whole thing, but then again I do have the parts for 9 wheels which I haven't quite got round to building yet.

First question's got to be what's the price difference of your LBS doing the final truing and tensioning going to be over the cost of them switching the hub?

If it's worth it then it should be fairly straight forward. I can't image there would be enough difference in dishing to warrant new spokes and as the wheel hasn't been used (right?) then I wouldn't worry about the spokes.

"As ridden by a national champion..."

This will add at least £20 to the price, significantly more if you sell it to someone who takes Strava seriously.

Anything ridden by me would take more than £20 off the price.

I think the phrase you're looking for is "virtually worthless" ... or "ridden into a pile of dust"

This is why I don't sell much stuff - I do ride as much of it to destruction as possible.

First question's got to be what's the price difference of your LBS doing the final truing and tensioning going to be over the cost of them switching the hub?

If it's worth it then it should be fairly straight forward. I can't image there would be enough difference in dishing to warrant new spokes and as the wheel hasn't been used (right?) then I wouldn't worry about the spokes.

According to the sales person from Bdop hte flange diameter and spacing is close enough between the 10 and the 11 speed hubs to simply swap them with the existing spokes.

This is why I don't sell much stuff - I do ride as much of it to destruction as possible.

only reason I bought that HED from you was because you said you'd never ridden it

Simple test- was the axle U-shaped?

no... and when I took the hub apart there was no sports drink residue. It's a well documented fact that Australians use carb drink as lube.

It's a well documented fact that Australians use carb drink as lube.

Yes. But its not a bike mechanics thing.......

Well, that was interesting. I've just had a reply from Harry Rowland in response to my build enquiry. One of my preferences was for a wide profile (23mm) rim and he's said he doesn't believe the hype. I have to say the set of A23's I had built for commuting duties have been lovely and comfortable, more so than the Open Pro's I had on before.

The guy's been building wheels for decades - i think it's safe to say his advice is 'good' advice.

If you want fashionable wheels don't ask Harry.

conventional wisdom innit?

Warning, irony levels are approaching maximum safe dose in this thread

Badly worded. I meant that I was looking forward to some good advice, not that I consider his opinion to not be good advice. No arguments from me as to his experience and wisdom, that's why I went there.

How does a wider rim affect total tyre/rim width? I can't run anything wider than 23/24mm tyres in my R5. 25c Open Corsas on my 7900 C24s will just clear standing still, but in use they rub on the seat stay.

Would a 23mm wide rim with 23c tyres still only have the same max width as the 23cs on a 19-21mm rim?

no... and when I took the hub apart there was no sports drink residue. It's a well documented fact that Australians use carb drink as lube.

I have actually done this. Chain lube anyway.

I know, Scarlett told me that story. Oh how we laughed.

I don't understand the way people agonise over alu clincher wheel choices in this thread...

If you want wide rims , there are about 3 to choose from that are readily available and sub £100.

Spokes / spoke count is always a question of weight and how much money you want to burn on fancy spokes.

Hubs: Ambrosio/Novatech for budget, then Hope, then Royce /CK for bling.

Pretty much self-selecting.

But some people need validation of their choices to give them a sense of satisfaction.

Jesus, half the postings on this site ask stupid questions about "which should I buy?"

and then go on to ignore all the really good advice given by the internet experts here. How very dare they..

Forum advice = people telling you the thing they piled their own money into must be right.

How does a wider rim affect total tyre/rim width? I can't run anything wider than 23/24mm tyres in my R5. 25c Open Corsas on my 7900 C24s will just clear standing still, but in use they rub on the seat stay.

Would a 23mm wide rim with 23c tyres still only have the same max width as the 23cs on a 19-21mm rim?

It should reduce it a bit. A wider clincher rim with the right size tyre should make it less of a light bulb shape and more round.

But obviously this only works to a certain extent. A 23mm rim isn't going to stop a 32mm tyre from making a light bulb shape.

Strange that it rubs on the seat stays. I've always found the chainstays the main limited width.

^^ I don't know. I just start with what the Fairwheels blog says and then validate it by reading WW.