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Tri spoke/aerospoke wheels

EricinIkebukuro

Speeding Up
Jan 30, 2011
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So I've been thinking about making my fixie a little bit lighter and faster.
I'm swapping out the steel fork for a carbon one and looking to put full carbon wheels on it. Eventually I would like to use the bike for time trials and track racing.

Can anyone suggest a decent tri spoke carbon wheel? Right now, the Aerospoke wheels are a last resort for me as I know they are quite heavy and probably don't preform as well as I would like.
Let's say my budget will be between ¥100,000 and ¥200,000. If possible I would like to stay on the cheaper end!
 
Pro-Lite....... they make them for some of the top riders out there. The owner is an ex Olympian track rider so he knows his stuff.

Price range is very good and they provide products for a lot of other companies out there that just rebrand it and sell it for a lot more!
 
I'm noticing that there are many companies out there that don't sell a tri spoke wheel with track hubs in the rear. Pro-lite does it but fast forward, cormia, Hed, etc don't seem to or it's not listed on the sites I'm looking at. Is it possible to switch these hubs after purchase or is it not possible to remove the hubs after it's made?
 
No idea.... need to contact them as I don't really know enough about track stuff to comment.
 
So I've been thinking about making my fixie a little bit lighter and faster. ... Let's say my budget will be between ¥100,000 and ¥200,000.

Being a student I have a limited income so I need to find ways to get money to be able to join the tour. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can collect money or get sponsored to ride in the Tour?

You found a sponsor then ;).
 
No, I wish it was a sponsor though!

The settlement from my taxi accident is going to pay for the wheels. Since I can't ride that road bike anymore I thought I would invest into the fixie some more and make more geared for the races rather than the fashion fixie that it is(~_~;)

The JCRC holds a few track races and I thought I might do a track TT with it.
 
We had some 3spoke and 5spoke prototypes laying around - but honestly, I think best way is to get a workable set of 88mm proper track wheels then use a cheap disc cover for the rear. Then you are covered [sic] for multiple riding conditions. Track conditions (and road) around Japan tend to be blustery and front tri is a pretty specialist wheel. Gain over an 88mm front 20 spoke is marginal. Rear disc / open is more important.
 
No, I wish it was a sponsor though!

The settlement from my taxi accident is going to pay for the wheels. Since I can't ride that road bike anymore I thought I would invest into the fixie some more and make more geared for the races rather than the fashion fixie that it is(~_~;)

The JCRC holds a few track races and I thought I might do a track TT with it.

I would hold on to spending so much on it, if you don't have the money sitting really loose. Try to get in those events first, try to get in shape.
A trispoke is a pretty specific piece of equipment that you wouldn't use except for doing 400m and 1000m tt's on the bank. Apart from that you got keirin and elimination heats at such events, but I would hesitate using the wheels then if you don't have a sponsor. That's the behavior of other riders at these events too. High price for a fairly limited use.

If you are serious about contending in the JCRC races up to the level, where you have to rely on marginal advantages from trispokes, you will have to invest a lot of time on track specific training (where I wouldn't use the trispoke) including long train rides to velodromes around Tokyo to attend the limited training opportunities on the track and serious paperwork/organizational hurdles to get in the events proper.

By all means try it, as track is fun, but maybe hold of on the aerospokes until after. I don't know about the rest of your equipment, but switching from steel to a stiff carbon frame would give you a far bigger advantage anyways.

As for manufacturers, I second prolite although difficult to source. They make a discwheel with switchable hub, that can be used both for track/road TT. Called "pavula" or something like that...
 
Thank you for the advice. I've been sleeping on the decision and finding what I need compared to what I want.

I need to save my money to race a full season of the JCRC road series but I really want to upgrade the fixie for races... Fighting my impulse buy reflexΣ(゚д゚lll)

Ultimately the road series is most important to me.
 
I don't even want to think about crashing my bike that hard againΣ(゚д゚lll)
 
BTW - I was watching some of last year's TDF clips. Did you notice that quite a few riders in TT are using 85mm front wheel (spoked) and rear disc. Some were using 85mm front and rear. Perhaps there was significant wind on the course. Also - I don't believe there are any (correct me) 'tri spoke' type wheels approved for UCI events. Anyway, Eric, don't sweat it - when / if you do TT, we'll just toss on the 88's. I have a set here for that purpose. Remember, you ARE sponsored in some small way :) I think we have you covered with every possible wheel combination, including track if you go that way.
 
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