Hi all…quick question regarding what triathletes seem to discuss often on this forum…race vs training wheels.
Coming from a road background, just getting into tri’s now, I never have had to deal with this.
I pretty much just kept my Mavic Ksyriums on my bike and went.
I just bought a new tri bike that comes with San Remo rims, the kind with about 4" of carbon at the outer diameter, with spokes on the inside.
Should I not be riding these for regular use? If not, why so? Is it a durability issue?
If these are kept then as ‘race’ wheels, what’s good to look for in a ‘training’ wheel?
More importantly, what do i need to spend on said training wheels. What’s a good brand or type?
Chicago is one hell of a bumpy, pothole-filled place.
Thanks!
Practically, it’s about cost/durability - if you’re lucky enough to own a pair of $1000+ race wheels then why inflict all the wear and tear of 1000s of training miles on them when you don’t really need that extra speed? Top-end race wheels shouldn’t really have durability issues but carbon has a tendency to pick up little dings and scratches, and reduced spoke count can cause issues. Plus, sometimes you hit a pothole or have an accident that would damage pretty much any wheel - better to do that damage to a cheap wheel than an expensive one.
Psychologically, it’s also quite nice knowing that turning up on race day that just by switching your wheels over you are getting free speed over your training rides.
In terms of what to look for in training wheels, the key things are cost, durability and serviceability. Afraid I have no idea about the San Remos.
Since the roads there are so bad, protect the good wheels.
Use one of your road bike wheelsets when you train on your new bike.