My New Wheels Rule.

After much envious perving of bikes and their bits at race starts, a couple of months ago I decided it was high time my bike got some new wheels. The stock wheelset that came with my bike have proven to be more than durable and have endured countless encounters with potholes and inadvertent offroad excursions, but they certainly aren't anything special in terms of lightness and aerodynamics.

After a bit of net research and some sweet advice from the GCs on Vorb, I decided on some American Classic 420's. I read a lot of reviews and the only faults I could see were issues with riders 70kg+ (the rim lightness has to mean a compromise somewhere!) and comments on inadequate braking surface. At 55 kg and with an increasingly blasé attitude toward my personal safety when it comes to the exhilaration of caning down hills, I figured they were just about perfect for what I wanted - something light for climbing but which would also help me roll faster for longer on the flats and in bunch riding.


They are by far the lightest alloy set (1440g) within their price bracket (~$1000) and with a 34 mm deep rim are much more aero than what I'm accustomed to - but certainly not deep enough to be much of a burden in cross winds.

My maiden ride with them (along with a shiny new chain and cassette) was pretty fragile to say the least, I was climbing pretty gingerly and freaking out at the spokes intermittently pinging (that settled down after the first 2 kms of climbing) upon standing. After 3 laps up and down Reid Road I decided this nervousness was all a bit silly, so I pumped up the decibels on my iPod to drown out any potentially disconcerting clunks and creaks and pings and hauled up the hill and caned down a couple more times and much more recklessly.

That weekend I rode over the course for the Wild West Mountain Cycle Challenge in west Auckland which I am doing next week. I was very pleased with how they felt. I also took them up a lap of Mountain Road, a notorious mother fuck of a hill to climb with portions gracing a grade upward of 17%. I figured if the front wheel can endure that, with as much of my weight as could be possible laboured onto the front half of my bike, then they must be fine.

They have now endured about 1000 kms and a few gnarly potholes with no apparent detrimental effect so my qualms about their fragility have largely been quashed.
The most notable improvements I have found are how much more 'responsive' they feel, especially accelerating out of corners and on pinch climbs, as well as an obvious increase in speed along long flat roads.

Most importantly, they look killer. And I was certainly not oblivious to the riders perving on my hot steed at the last event I did. So yeah, I'm pretty stoked with my new wheels!