The Wheels I have...

Ok, I swore it would never happen, but I'm a wheel slut. I've started in one of those programs, that meets nightly, so that I can stand up and stammer, Hello, My name is Karen. I'm a wheel slut. And then the crowd murmurs... "Hello, Karen."

Alright, its a dream. Maybe. Cliff swears that wheels are breeding in my house.

The wheels I love...

I have a Hed 3 clincher (aluminum rim) for my tt bike. Is it even possible to knock one of these wheels out of true? Its fast. Like I tell everyone, any absence of speed on the tt bike is not the fault of the equipment. Its fast, it spins up fast, and it holds speed. On a non-windy day, its just a dream. Go down to the Dismal Dash and that cross wind section in the last 5 miles is a different kind of dream. Nightmarish.

Pete told me once that I wasn't one of those "weensy" girls and that I should just go. So I do. I think weensy is a euphemism for flat chested. He didn't say...

I have a Renn 575 disc on the rear. It absolutely does the job. And at $500 it was a sure whole lot easier to swallow than a Zipp disc. And since I have never seen ANY concrete evidence that one disc is substantially faster than another, I'll pocket that savings, thank you. Needless to say, its a clincher, like all my wheels. There has been some interesting studies on the speed of clinchers vs. tubulars, and besides that, gluing tubulars is not my idea of fun.

For race wheels I won a set of Zipp 404's, clincher, dimples, with a wireless powertap. Yes, I'm a lucky wheel slut. How do I like them? Jury is still out. The ride is ROUGH. Yes, they are fast, but there have been races where I think my hands are going to quit and leave for China. That said, they are pretty, they are fast, and they are mine. And I think I'll keep them.

What do I ride everyday? Mavic Kyrium SSL's. I'm also a cheap wheel slut and I have been lucky to find great deals on great wheels. Yes, I know there are lighter wheels. And there are cheaper wheels. But these wheels are bomb proof and rarely, if ever need to be trued. It is a pain if you break a spoke as Mavic has different spokes for all the wheels, but that's why I have friends like Ben at 3Sports, and my team mate Brian. They always have stuff laying around to get me back on the road in a jiffy. So on sale, these are the go to wheels in the house.

My favorite road wheels... the great Mavic Kyrium SE wheels- I think they were a limited edition, have a red spoke, and I got them for a song on sale, with a coupon and a double secret handshake. I ride them, race them, hit pot holes with them, and love them.

Last summer Chainlove was on a Reynolds wheel tear and I got a set of the Reynolds Attack wheels. Sharon whined so much about how I got the deal that I let her have them. Chainlove... now Bonktown, my kind of place. There is nothing like getting a 1000 set of wheels for less than 500... carbon to boot. Now they live at the Sweatsalot residence and just dream of coming to Camp Runamuck to visit their friends...

I think the best wheels for racing are the ones that are fast, that aren't going to give you heart failure if you break them. Same with a frame. I can race the Zipps because I didn't pay for them. If I had, they'd probably sit in the den. The rest of the wheels will probably outlast me, and were not so expensive that my cheap little heart would break if I had to replace them.