going with the american classic 58 mm. drilling patterns of just about any available. any suggestions? 16/20, 18/24/ i weight 153 race weight, never over 164. guage? going with sapims.
thanks
to be used for crit, rr, tt, and tris
need stiffness, but what is the best balance?
I got those wheels and couldn’t quite believe it when they arrived. The standard spokes are round. I didn’t even think to ask because I couldn’t conceive of someone making a 58 deep aero wheel with anything but bladed or flat spokes. So I sent them back and got the Sapim Cx-ray spokes. I got 16/20. I weight ~150 and have had no problems. They have stayed true as can be.
–jens
Those rims are so stiff you hardly need any spokes for vertical stiffness. If you plan on doing crits with them however, I’d expect that you need a greater torsional stiffness than what you could get out of 16/20 15 guage spokes. Crits will frequently have brick crosswalks/ bumpy traffic rutted straights and lots of people bouncing into you. The torsional and lateral stiffness gained with a 18/24 spoke count and 14 guage bladed DT spokes would be worthwhile compared to the performance losses (weight and aerodynamics)
I’m 200#s and just couldn’t get used to all the wheel flop on a Zipp 909 with 18 Sapim spokes.
-SD
I would go with the 18-24 spoke count, negligable weight or aero difference, but if you do break a spoke then you can continue riding as it wont go far out of true.
If you want to use them for crits you must be out of your junior mind. They are strong enough for riding, but crit=crash, and if another rider slides out and takes you out, then everyone else falls over the top of you, those wheels could probably be toast. At 300 bucks to replace the rim, that is one expensive race. I have seen far too many expensive carbon rims destroyed in criterium crashes. I use a set of dura-ace/mavic CXP 33 for crits, rather than my Reynolds Stratus. If I do trash them, then it only costs me 50 bucks to have our sponsoring bike shop replace the rim and rebuild the wheel.
Save the zipps for TT’s, Tri’s and the road races where climbing shreds the field and you dont have 50 people all fighting for the same corner in the last lap.
KR
You can’t use standard bladed spokes on zipp carbon rims if you want a durable and stiff build. Sapim’s work fine.
Standard flat/bladed spokes serve no aero purpose, but require higher tension and allow for less spoke wind up. The required high tension cannot be obtained on many carbon rims, including zipps, without the rim prematurly cracking.
I agree on the whole crit thing,but they will come out at the nationals crit for sure. my shop is getting me a great deal on them, a new rim will run about 150. expensive, but not killer. thanks for the help. i will call american classic, but probably with 18/24 pattern. any suggestions for tires now? how about a good matching disc? probably a corima.
thanks
I’ve got an old Zipp 440 with bladed spokes that is going on 10 years old now. Bladed spokes build up just like any other spoke. They are more prone to wind-up during the build process, but unlike a round spoke it is obvious when it is winding up. I find it easier to build up wheels with bladed spokes than with 14/17 Revolutions.
Personally, I would go with bladed or oval spokes for the wheels. The Sapims are nice as are the DT bladed spokes.
And unless you are planning to break away solo at the gun, I would agree with the other not to use the Zipps in a crit. Their benefits in pack riding are small and the risk of crashing and destroying the rims is too great.