[BigPiece]

Just a poll. How many people race on a wheelset they use only for racing? If so what do you train on vs. race? I just bought a pair of Eurus to race and ride 2-3 year old Ksyrium Elites to train. Not a huge difference but maybe a placebo effect on race day as climbing and sprinting do seem improved and overall stiffness and snappiness seems improved. I couldn't afford anything carbon and got a great deal on the new Eurus so went for it.

 

[wzq622]

I train on Mavic Cosmos and race on Ksyrium SL.

I plan on building some bombproof training wheels with XT hubs, 14 gauge straight pull spokes, tire liners, Slime tubes, and some heavy tires. Hopefully, the pair will weigh around 5-6lbs.

 

[sol 518]

I train on a Ultegra/Open Pro wheelset and I have Ksyrium SL's for racing. My bike came with Shimano 550's. I found out the hard way that low spoke count + broken spoke = walk home. That's when I got the other wheelset. This spring I upgraded my race wheelset.

 

[stihl]

I have a set of Ultegra/OP as a training set and my race only wheels are Rolf Elan Aero's. I ride the OP's so much that I think I'll use them for crits. The OP's feel a lot more solid and snappier than the Rolf's during bunch sprints. Maybe it's all in my head..I do have Michelin Pro Race 2's on the rolfs and they feel mushy IMO.

I want to like my Rolf's so much because I paid $$$ for it..

Sometimes you ride a set so much that when you switch to a lighter setup for race day, it feels as though something is lacking.

 

[llvllatt]

All of last year I trained and raced on a pair of Campy Proton wheels, but this season, hopefully I'm going to get a pair of Ritchey WCS DS wheels to race on, I can get a pretty good deal on them through my team

 

[Argentius]

Most people will say that it's great to have a wheelset you use only for racing.

I do it so that I can have a set with expensive tyres that I KNOW are in great shape, etc., and I can save money on cheap training tires for a set of open pro wheels. It also means wheels for the wheel truck.

My "race wheels" are Campag Zondas. Not much lighter than record / open pro wheels, but definitely stiffer.

 

[Gnarly 928]

I try to train only on my sturdy wheels, but dang, it is hard to resist picking up the nicer ones when you know you're going out with some fast company, or when it is a really nice day and you have a special smooth ride planned, or a huge climb, or or or..
Good wheels seem a bit of a waste if you just use em for an hour or three every month..
Don Hanson

 

[Merlin]

Good Stuff

I buddy has a pair of Kysrium SL's he was going to sell me real cheap. I've been doing all my training and racing on D/A Open Pro's and wanted a dedicated set of race wheels

 

[RivMac]

I train on Cosmic Elite's ( read heavy as all hell ~2100g) and Race on 'Bonners. The Carbones are not super light, but I really don't need it. They are areo and Strong. I figure training with the elites is like adding weight to my bike and the race wheels make me stronger.

-G

 

[rapwithtom]

Do I have it backwards?

I train on Ksyrium Elites, and am going to (future tense) race on a new set of DuraAce/OpenPros. I figured the wheels are about the same in stifness and weight....am I wrong?

(I went with the DA/OpenPros because I weight 195 pounds...)

 

[CC09]

Most of my teammates train on the bonti selects that came with a bike they once owned (or their current bike) and some durable, cheap, heavy tires. For the occasional training ride and all their races they bust out their nice wheels. Most of them roll on pro2race's. As for wheels, easton circuits, ksyrium sl's are the two most popular, followed by the reynolds (i forget the model, but they are full 30mm deep dish and cost around 500 i think). Personally I'm saving for a set of race wheels/pro2races so i can use my bonti selects to train on. I'm looking at neuvations, a custom set from ligero, mike garcia, and also the eastons....

 

[BugMan]

Bike 1 (road races) - train on Ksyrium ES, race on Zipp 404 (normal) or Ksryium ES (hilly/rough)
Bike 2 (crits) - train on Shimano Ultegra, race on Ksyrium SL
Bike 3 (time trials) - train on Shimano DuraAce, race on Zipp 808/909
I love wheels

 

[llvllatt]

Bike 1 (road races) - train on Ksyrium ES, race on Zipp 404 (normal) or Ksryium ES (hilly/rough)
Bike 2 (crits) - train on Shimano Ultegra, race on Ksyrium SL
Bike 3 (time trials) - train on Shimano DuraAce, race on Zipp 808/909
I love wheels

Train on Ksyrium ES's? Hmm.. mind if I borrow your credit card for a few weeks?

 

[Argentius]

you sick bastage, you don't need all 'them.

Gimme some!

 

[K-Zero]

Ksyrium SL for races only?

For those of you who use Ksyrium SL for races only -- do you guys find the wheelset too fragile for everyday training? I bought a pair few months ago and I use them for all my rides except on a trainer. They feel pretty durable to me.

K-Zero

 

[BugMan]

For those of you who use Ksyrium SL for races only -- do you guys find the wheelset too fragile for everyday training? I bought a pair few months ago and I use them for all my rides except on a trainer. They feel pretty durable to me.

K-Zero

Ksyrium SL is a tough wheelset. I keep mine for races not because I'm worried about riding them everyday, but because they're a better race wheelset than my Ultegras and have nice, supple race tires mounted onto them (which aren't so durable).

 

[BugMan]

Train on Ksyrium ES's? Hmm.. mind if I borrow your credit card for a few weeks?

Here's how you do it - just ride along on your one bike with your one wheelset minding your own business, have an @sshole truck driver come along and try to buzz you but end up hitting you while descending at 30 mph, manage not to get killed, spend 3 months off the bike recovering, and sue his @ss!

Note there is some risk with this approach!

 

[EricNM]

I train primarily on the Bontrager Race Lite's that came with my bike, and have been using Michelin Carbons tires on them.

I race on Bontrager Race X-Lite Aeros (Rolf Vector Copy) with Pro Race 2 tires on them.

We have a pseudo race at lunch on Tuesdays, and I have been using them for that as well else they would be sitting around collecting dust as I only did a couple of races last year.

 

[andrello]

It seems to me that most people only wreck their wheels during racing. I've never damaged a wheel in training.