Anyone been riding the Stratus DV’s for a while? Any issues?
I work at a shop and the Reynold’s rep sent some samples of cross sections of rims from Zipp and Reynolds. The Reynolds were waaaaaay stiffer. After seeing two of my favorite customers bust a pair of 404’s on a pothole, we’re looking for a more durable option. It seems like Reynolds wants to make a durable carbon rim, not nec. ultra light - even though they are 160g lighter per set (404’s vs Stratus DV UL). White Industry hubs too… cool factor.
That’s convincing. I wonder why Reynolds are not more popular than they are.
Those sexy dimples are so cooooooool.
The Reynolds are popular with us roadies because they are durable. I think many poeple are oversold on the aerodynamic studies. Alone, in the wind tunnel, the Zipps really shine. Now add a tire, fork, bike frame, bars, cables, brakes, sunglasses and rider; the “advantage” is nothing over 40K.
In WA last year, the guy who won the Cat 3 State TT was on his road bike with Mavic K’s and clip on bars that came loose in the first mile. He rode a 56:37 40K.
Kind of like real estate…it’s the motor, it’s the motor, it’s the motor!
I find it hard to believe that dimples are going to overcome a weight difference of 160g per set. I know the white hubs are heavier that the zips, so that means the weight is being trimmed off the rim and spokes (though I think they both use very similar spokes) - that much weight off the rim is a MAJOR improvement in acceleration.
Anyone been riding the Stratus DV’s for a while? Any issues?
I work at a shop and the Reynold’s rep sent some samples of cross sections of rims from Zipp and Reynolds. The Reynolds were waaaaaay stiffer.
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First, that’s a completely meaningless test, it’s like pushing sideways on the bb with your foot to measure bb stiffness. All you are measuring there is tire pressure. Most bicycle frame tubes you can squeeze if you take a small sliver of a cross section of them, but not if you make the cross section a bit wider or if you squeeze it in a complete frame.
Second, even if it was a valid test, the test result does not support the conclusion. If the rim is very stiff, it has a very good chance of breaking on impact. If the rim is flexible, it can absorb the impact. In fact, the 404 rim is designed to have the sidewalls flex, that is ow they can get away with riding them in cyclocross and the cobblestones. The 404 (which has flexible sidewalls) is much better for those circumstances than the 303, but in the “test” you describe the 303 would be way stiffer than the 404.
No idea which rim is more durable, but this is not the way to determine it one way or another.
I agree completely with your statement about durability and stiffness.
My father is a professional mechanical engineer. After my first airline flight and landing through a gale, I commented to him about what it was like to look out the airplane window and see the wings flexing up and down almost like a bird flapping its wings as well as the ripples moving across the wing surface as the wings twisted in the storm. I said it was more than a little unnerving.
His response was that the flexing should have been reassuring. Had the wings been so rigid that they didn’t flex, they would have snapped off. End of story.
Now, when I experience significant air turbulence on a flight, I find the wing flex thing neat instead of unnerving as I had at first. I also understand that stiff can mean brittle. This is not always a desirable attribute.
I agree with your statement that squeezing a cross section of any wheel is no measure of quality or durability.
However, and Gerard I know you know this, to be clear to everyone else, stiff is different then brittle. Nobody would wish to ride a brittle wheel or bike or handle bar.
Brittle, to my view, would be an apt description of a material that is not impact resistent or fails due to stress. A more elaborate description could be had from a materials expert. Dry pasta is brittle, al dente is just right.
Stiff would be better related to how a material or component resists movement.
Airplane wings are stiff but not brittle. Wings are very resistent to movement but they do move as engineered to survive the loads they support. The carbon wings on the Lancair composite airframes are also very stiff yet they can flex as needed without breaking as they are not brittle.
The Reynolds wheels are also popular cross wheels and able to handle impacts and stress of that brutal form of self-torture. Reynolds build a specific wheelset with extra spokes just for the crossers.
The Zipps are fine wheels and very popular. In the past, they’ve also been known to be easily damaged during impacts with potholes or rough surfaces. Zipp has evolved their wheels and they may be very tough today. My buddy rides 404’s built in 03. He weighs 185 and has nothing but great things to say about how they ride and handle crits. He is very powerful and fearless in the corners. He has no complants.
I offered my view on the Reynolds from first hand experience.
Let me expalin the test better. The section of rim were about 10" long. The test was not to squeeze the sides of the rim, it was bending the rim laterally or twist it. Both rims were very stiff radially, but the Reynolds was much stiffer laterally.
Though I cannot speak for the brittleness of the Reynolds, I can say two things that convice me that it’s not a problem. The Reynolds still had flex, it was not completely rigid. I would bet serious money that an Open Pro would flex less. That being the comparison, consider that carbon has about a bagillion times less memory that aluminum AND consider that there are very few occurances of an aluminum rim cracking in half. The fact that all reynolds does to their wheel to make a cross version is add more spokes is also very reassuring.
Lateral stifness is everything… otherwise people would be riding handbuilt wheelsets. The stiffer a wheel is laterally, the more efficient it is. That’s the basis of making higher tesile strength spokes, stronger nipples, and assembling wheels with freakishly high tension. How can you argue against that?
Either way, I was just hoping for some testimonials from people who acually got out and RODE them. Those people speak very highly of them, so I am satisfied.
By the way, the two customers I have that busted a Zipp rim were women @ 120# and 140#. One of the potholes they hit was nasty, but the wheel should have survived, and the other was about a 1 1/2" rise that I ride over every day on my way to work with no problems. I got interested in Reynolds because I was dissapointed in Zipp.
I have broken several Zipp rims, including yet another one recently. I have also had the same set of Lew wheels for 5 years now, with no problems.
1 year ago, I replaced the broken Zipp front rim of a wheelset with a Reynolds, and that wheel is now in need of a replacement rear companion - I have broken that Zipp rim as well.
I like Zipp wheels, but they only seem to last about a year for me before they begin to disintegrate; from now on, they get e-bayed after 9 months - or I buy something else to begin with.
(I should mention that although these wheels are race only, I DO race 'cross on them, as well as RR and TT/Multi events.)
I have a pair of the DVs, technically they are for cross. I bought them off a pro cross racer, I use them for road, tri and cross. They are sick. I have one a bit out of true right now, I’ll fix that before I put the road tire back on. So far, 2 full seasons of cross, 1 road race and tri. I weigh about 180, don’t baby them and love them. For the record, the cross version has 4 more spokes front and rear and a “beefed up spoke bed” according to the Reynolds guy on the phone. Not a bad insurance policy if you are concerned about durability, and only 40 or so grams more for the pair. Get 'em.
I have a set of Stratus for the past 2 seasons for road races. They have been very tough, including the local Mt Humboldt road race with gravel road, washboards and bunny hopping drainage ditches. Last year in a race an unexpected pothole I hit at speed, the rider ahead of me with Zipp 404’s actually dented his rim, I hit the same hole and didnt have any damage. He actually weighs a little less than me and we both had the same pressure.
Having said that I am after a 404 rim for the front of my TT bike. If I was using the wheel for tri’s or TT’s where you get a good view of the road, I would go for the additional aero benefit of the 404’s over the Reynolds.
I’m not sure why you addressed this to me, I never mentioned brittle. And I would never assume brittle and stiff are the same, my point was different altogether. Take for example the UCI wheel test. The stiffest rims have trouble passing that test, because the rims are so stiff that they either shatter or they pull the spokes right through. In either case the wheel is deemed to have failed the test. A more flexible wheel (often the same rim shape but with HS instead of HM fibre after the manufacturer made some changes to the lay-up) will pass that test, as now the rim flexes enough that it can absorb the energy of the impact without ripping out the spoke. The rim is still damaged (that UCI test is pretty brutal, it’s like riding into the curb at 50kmh) but teh wheel is still in one piece.
Anyway, it appears that the poster was talking about lateral stiffness. In that case, a lot of the stiffness obviously comes from the spokes. I wonder why one would demonstrate that with a rim section instead of just putting both wheels in a fork and seeing how much effort it would be to pull it laterally towards the fork leg. Not much of a test either, but more telling than just holding an awkward piece of rim in your hands.
At any rate, I ride what is generally viewed as one of the worst carbon wheels in recent history, the old Shimano carbon DuraAce wheels with paired spokes, so who am I to talk. But I love them, they are really comfy and make awesome training wheels.