Tom A. wrote:
Toby wrote:
If you don't mind, why Altamonts? Not that they're a bad wheel (the wifey uses them), but are they the most aero aluminum rim available? I'll be looking for a new set next year and it'll probably be these, Al33, Belgium+, or 30 Course (I do want a wide bed for lower pressure). I would have expected you on the old Zipp 30s, since I thought you didn't like the wider trend, so seeing you run 24mm rims surprised me.
So yeah, are you willing to share your thought process in getting the Altamonts? Are they just that good?
These surprise you...but my previously running Hed Jet+ wheels on that bike doesn't? Those are even wider...
I'm basically agnostic on the wider rim thing, but mostly because I realize what most people are ascribing to them as benefits was really just widening up their tires...they can say they're running 25s, when they're really running tires 27+mm wide :-/ Wide beds aren't needed to run lower pressure...just wider/taller tires. It's sort of like in MTBs where people ascribe certain qualities to wheel sizes that are really a function of the other geometry differences required to run those wheel sizes (i.e. wheelbase, trail, etc.)...but, I digress...
So...why the Altamonts? How much time do you have? ;-)
Anyway...short(er) version is I was looking to run some lower profile wheels than the Jet 6+ on the bike (more "general use", plus I was migrating the Jet 6+ set to my TT bike), and I wanted to run my G3 PT hub in the rear wheel so I could go compact on the crankset. Ideally, I would just pick up some Hed Belgium rims, but they don't sell them with the Turbine (black) brake track. I next considered the new Mavic Open Pro rims when they said they would be out with the Exalith treatment...but, then that got delayed when Mavic couldn't figure out how to implement a technology they've used for ~10 years onto that rim :-/
So...I then started looking at the AL33s and the Boyds. At the time I was doing this, the AL33s weren't easily available, and I was also intrigued at trying the PEO coating on the Boyds to see how they compare to the Hed Turbine treatment. So, I had my local wheelbuilder (Jones Precision Wheels) order up a pair of rims (24H front, 28H rear) and while he laced up the front wheel into a "matchy, matchy" blue anodized hub, I swapped the rear rim onto my PT wheel. Bladed spokes and blue anodized nipples on both :-)
I may have missed the Jet6+ in my pre-coffee haze. These things happen at that hour. :)
Thanks for the info - so there's nothing particularly magic about them? That helps. I'm still hoping that the Jet6+ will come back on stupid-discount again and I'll just pick up a pair of them. Your wheels with the ceramic and the blue touches look amazing, though! How's that ceramic coating holding up?
And for whatever reason, I get rubbing with 25c tires on 23c rims, but not with 23c tires on 25c rims, so that limits me from just increasing tire size.
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
