FearlessFife

Hi all. I have had my Trek Émonda SL6 for just over a year now, and I have said for months that really all it needs is an upgraded set of wheels to be an ideal bike for me. I was able to complete my research and find the right model of carbon aero wheels for how I use my bike, and then sourced a set of lightly used Bontrager Aura 5s for half of what they cost brand new.


Bike before:




Bike after:




Baseline test ride, stock wheels (5 mph wind):




Initial ride, same route (13 mph wind, also did a leg workout in the morning, prior to riding in the evening):




My guesstimate to what the gained speed would be was about 1 mph on my average speed each time I go. I would say that if you remove the wind (rode into it quite a bit), and the fact that I killed my legs in the gym earlier in the day, I got the gain I estimated. I would say the two main differences I was able to take note of are that one, it is easier to maintain your momentum and speed - but that leads me to the other difference I noted, which is it is slightly harder to climb. That said, however, in my research I did find that these wheels are not the best carbon clinchers for climbing. Even still I wonder if some of the windy hills last night had a placebo effect on my impression of how they climb. Stay tuned for more feedback on these.

bgoetz

That is a good wheel, yeah for the most part anything over 10mph and aero is the way to go. You may have felt the increased stiffness of the wheel as well when climbing and the associated increased power transfer.

I have ridden tons of different aero wheels. My favorite wheelset by far were my ENVEs, although they were recently purchased by Amer sports who make Mavic. Hopefully it is a good thing as all the Mavics I have ridden have been bomb proof. Value wise I loved the Reynolds Assaults, it is hard to find a better wheel at that price.

I never used Roval road wheels, but I currently have 2 sets of their Control SL MTB wheels and I can say that I have never used a better MTB wheel.

But yeah you can't go wrong with aero anything, those wheels are good for an easy 15-20 watts which is huge.

FearlessFife

Truth. I am trying to put together more specific data to show the improvement, but it has been really difficult to do so far because we have had a lot of wind in the midwest recently.

I can say this though, there is a definitive difference. Much faster down descents and flat areas as it is far easier to get to and maintain speed. However, that said, my previous wheels were definitely more effective climbing. These are heavier and you can feel it going up a hill. In spite of this being the case the lost speed up the hills is completed negated and then some by the increase in speed everywhere else. If the wind is not a factor it's pretty easy to be at least 1 mph faster in most places than I was previously.

TW00Si

Nice!

I want aero wheels but I don't ride enough and too damn slow to have them.

I like the name sticker you got going. Did you make yourself?

FearlessFife

Thanks! Go here, you can make them to your heart's content:

http://www.velostickers.com/

TW00Si

Thanks. The heart says to make some for the S2000 OEM hardtop.

FearlessFife

Why not? As long as you can color scheme them appropriately they would be subtle on a car, and they aren't overly expensive. Quality product too.