October 1, 2003

• About Wheels

  
  

  There are three kinds of wheels (no they are not classified as cheap, expensive, blows-a-hole-in-your-pocket).

  
  

  Type 1 - Box Section Wheels

  
  

  These are the most normal wheels you have, at least on a road bike.  They look like normal wheels.  Heck, they are normal wheels.  The reason why they are called box is because of the shape of the rim.  The rim is the part of the wheel which connects to the tires, and are held there by spokes (long straight metal pieces without which the rim will be floating in air).

  
  

  The more expensive (sometimes prohibitively) box wheels are extremely light, and very useful in climbing hill/mountains/vertical walls.  However they are not very aerodynamic, being less than 23mm deep on the average.

  
  

  Type 2 - Deep Section Wheels

  
  

  These wheels have very very deeeep rims.  An example is the HED DEEP (90mm).

  
  

  

  
  

  Yes, that's about as deep as it gets.  Even the Zipp 404 (the standard deep section used by pros) are only 58mm deep.  These are usually very heavy wheels but extremely aerodynamic.  Good if you are doing a time-trial but not very useful in (1) a pack, (2) climbs and (3) strong side winds.

  
  

  Type 1.5 - Mid Section Wheels

  
  

  Somewhere between the box and the really deep are the mid Section wheels.  Zipp 303 and Mavic Ksyriums fall under this category.  I'm using the Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL.  They are one of the lighter wheels available and they are semi-aerodynamic also.

  
  

  Okay, so there's a fourth type of wheel

  
  

  Type 3 - Disc wheel

  
  

  When you talk about deep section wheels even the deepest section wheel with just three spokes causes air turbulance.  A disc wheel is a totally covered wheel (meaning it's soooo deep, there's no hole!).

  
  

  They are the most aerodynamic (and expensive) wheel you can get.  They are pretty heavy also and are difficult to manuever in strong side winds.  That is one reason why disc wheels are never used in the front, only as a backwheel, unless you are in a velodrome (which is an indoor stadium) where there is no wind.

  
  

  Being heavy they are difficult to accelerate, but once you get up to speed... there's no stopping you.

  
  

  Now imagine a group of four riders, all with disc wheels, drafting each other 

  • 2:20 am
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