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This wheel upgrade worth the money?
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 2013-10-01 10:36 AM |
 57  , California |  Subject: This wheel upgrade worth the money?I bought a 2011 Slice 3 that has the standard Mavic Cosmic Elite wheels. I was thinking of upgrading to FLO 60 in front and FLO 90 in back. Would this upgrade be worth the $900 upgrade? Would there be significant time savings in IM by doing this? I'm hoping for a direct comparison between the wheels, not suggestions on buying ZIPP's or an aero helmet instead  Thanks for any insight! Here are the existing wheels for reference.. -Ryan (Cannondale Slice 3.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Cannondale Slice 3.jpg (2622KB - 12 downloads) |
| 2013-10-01 10:43 AM in reply to: cbr shadow |
Champion 9407   Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Probably worth about 2-2.5s/km at race speeds and another .5s/km if you add a disc cover for the rear wheel. Whether that is worth $900-$1000 is a question only you can answer. Shane |
| 2013-10-01 10:48 AM in reply to: 0 |
Veteran 2842 Austin, Texas | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? I so want to say that the seat's too high (kidding!), but all I can come up with is that your ride looks SWEET! As for "worth it," depends on how YOU define "significant." Will you save time or ride the same time easier with the FLOs? Yes. How much? Kind of depends on how you ride (faster the avg speed, the more effect they'll have, etc.). Is that worth it? Really depends on how much $900 means to you personally in comparison. I bought used ZIPPs (similar price range per set), so it was worth it to me in HIM down to sprints, but I love me some toys! Sorry I don't have a hard answer or how many seconds you'll save on an IM ride for you... (I will look for a comparison - I recall a nice table but don't recall if it had Cosmic and FLO). Matt Edited by mcmanusclan5 2013-10-01 10:48 AM |
| 2013-10-01 10:50 AM in reply to: gsmacleod |
Veteran 2842 Austin, Texas | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by gsmacleod Probably worth about 2-2.5s/km at race speeds and another .5s/km if you add a disc cover for the rear wheel. Whether that is worth $900-$1000 is a question only you can answer. Shane Just curious here: I thought that was only at or above something like 20-22mpm. Does that same difference hold when you get down into the 15-18mph range? Not sure what the OP plans to ride at, but it might make a difference (IF the effects vary significantly by average speed). Appreciate your insights, as always. Matt |
| 2013-10-01 10:52 AM in reply to: #4868043 |
| Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Or you can just go with the front wheel, add a disc cover to the mavic wheel, and get roughly the same benefit shane mentioned above for 500 and then decide if it's worth it. Generally speaking though... I would make sure you have good race tires and latex tubes before even thinking about wheels. Probably the same if not more benefit (depending on what you already have) at a fraction of the cost. |
| 2013-10-01 10:58 AM in reply to: #4868072 |
| Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Matt, 2-2.5 s/km is a rough estimate that takes into account that the faster you go the higher percentage of speed gain you get. If I am traveling at a rate of speed of 90 s/km, then saving 2 seconds is a pretty good improvement. If I'm traveling slower at say 130 s/km, 2 seconds isn't as much proportionally, but its still 2 seconds. In fact, the math usually works out where the slower rider saves more net time because they are out on the course longer, but still a smaller percentage of time compared to faster ones. |
| 2013-10-01 10:59 AM in reply to: mcmanusclan5 |
Champion 7136 Knoxville area | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by mcmanusclan5 Originally posted by gsmacleod Probably worth about 2-2.5s/km at race speeds and another .5s/km if you add a disc cover for the rear wheel. Whether that is worth $900-$1000 is a question only you can answer. Shane Just curious here: I thought that was only at or above something like 20-22mpm. Does that same difference hold when you get down into the 15-18mph range? Not sure what the OP plans to ride at, but it might make a difference (IF the effects vary significantly by average speed). Appreciate your insights, as always. Matt aerodynamics matter at pretty much every speed. At 15-18mph you are going to be out there longer than somebody at 20+... you have longer to reap benefits |
| 2013-10-01 11:02 AM in reply to: mcmanusclan5 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by mcmanusclan5 Just curious here: I thought that was only at or above something like 20-22mpm. Does that same difference hold when you get down into the 15-18mph range? Not sure what the OP plans to ride at, but it might make a difference (IF the effects vary significantly by average speed). Appreciate your insights, as always. Matt Just using a rough rule of thumb that 5W saved at 25mph is worth about .5s/km at race speeds; it won't be exact but it'll be pretty close to what an athlete can actually expect to save. The full rule of thumb is: 5W saved = 0.005m^2 CdA reduction = 0.0005 Crr reduction = 0.5N drag force reduction = 0.5s/km saved Shane |
| 2013-10-01 11:13 AM in reply to: Jason N |
Veteran 320 Littleton, CO | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? This is what I did Originally posted by Jason N Or you can just go with the front wheel, add a disc cover to the mavic wheel, and get roughly the same benefit shane mentioned above for 500 and then decide if it's worth it. Generally speaking though... I would make sure you have good race tires and latex tubes before even thinking about wheels. Probably the same if not more benefit (depending on what you already have) at a fraction of the cost. |
| 2013-10-01 1:58 PM in reply to: gsmacleod |
Master 2094 | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by gsmacleod Probably worth about 2-2.5s/km at race speeds and another .5s/km if you add a disc cover for the rear wheel. Whether that is worth $900-$1000 is a question only you can answer. Shane I'm not trying to be argumentative but isn't that the difference you would expect when going from non-aero box rim to something more aero? In this case it looks like he is going from fairly decent aero wheels (bladed, low spoke count, fairly deep). I would think the benefit of changing to Flo would be mostly cosmetic. A disk cover might make the only difference? A better conclusion can be drawn if there is a head to head comparison between the Mavics and Flo |
| 2013-10-01 2:14 PM in reply to: pschriver |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by pschriver I'm not trying to be argumentative but isn't that the difference you would expect when going from non-aero box rim to something more aero? In this case it looks like he is going from fairly decent aero wheels (bladed, low spoke count, fairly deep). I would think the benefit of changing to Flo would be mostly cosmetic. A disk cover might make the only difference? A better conclusion can be drawn if there is a head to head comparison between the Mavics and Flo That's why I put the range of 2-2.5s/km for the wheelset but also, everything that I've seen on those wheels is that they're a very small improvement over a box rim. They aren't deep enough to be much more aero than a box rim, the bladed spokes only make a small difference as do lower spoke counts (compared to the actual rim). Shane |
 2013-10-01 4:31 PM in reply to: Leegoocrap |
| Subject: ... This user's post has been ignored. |
| 2013-10-01 4:46 PM in reply to: Fred D |
Expert 3126 Boise, ID | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? |
| 2013-10-01 6:16 PM in reply to: #4868084 |
| Veteran 348 Houston, TX | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Mavic Cosmic Elites are $600 wheels so it's not like you are upgrading from chump wheels to the Flos. You may not notice a difference. |
| 2013-10-01 6:33 PM in reply to: Aarondb4 |
| Member 124 The 951 | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? Originally posted by Aarondb4
Sexy factor of carbon aero wheels = totally worth it! This trumps all to me  |
| 2013-10-02 5:24 AM in reply to: cbr shadow |
| Pro 5892 , New Hampshire | Subject: RE: This wheel upgrade worth the money? If you're choice is wheels or putting dinner on the table for the family, then no, not worth it. If the choice is wheels or something else for fun, then yes, definitely worth it! There's few things that makes more of a different in how a bike feels that wheels. Not only will they be faster (clearly discussed already), but the bike will also feel different. |
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