New rolly bits

Here I am finishing the 2008 Tour of the Battenkill Valley
Notice the mismatched wheels:
Ksyrium up front, trusty Mavic Open Pro on the rear

It must mean that I've reach some kind of milestone in my career as an amateur racer that I've now worn through a set of wheels. Like many cyclists who ride anywhere from 200-300 miles a week, I use a separate set of "training wheels" to ride during the week. These aren't training wheels like the outriggers that you mount on children's bikes. Rather, they are wheels you use while training. For races, I break out racing wheels.

Now in retirement
For use on the trainer, and perhaps in the winter
But they have been trusty

I've always used Mavic Open Pro wheels for my training purposes. Since 2004, I've been using a set of yellow Open Pros, which I bought used off of Ebay. Not only are the wheels a very unusual (read: old) color, but they were also built with red copper nipples, which are slightly heavier than alloy nipples, but which hold the wheel truer for longer. Same deal with the 32 single-butted spokes, not the lightest, but strong, and with 32 spokes, that's plenty of strength. And that's what you want in your training wheels: Strong wheel that will stay true and round over thousands and thousands of miles. These wheels were laced to Shimano Ultegra hubs, which I had overhauled shortly after buying the wheels, but had not needed to maintain since. Not the fanciest hubs in the world, but again, durability is the name of the game.

And these wheels have been durable. I've ridden over some rough dirt roads in Vermont and around here on these things. They've been trued from time to time, but other than that, I've never had any maintenance issues. They've ridden as my backup "pit wheels" in many races over the years, including this year's Tour of the Battenkill Valley, when my Ksyrium race wheel flatted at mile 10. I was angry and disappointed as I watched the field roll away that day, but at least I had my tried-and-true wheel to ride home on.

12-25 cassette
Dura-Ace
Nothing but the best...

But even the most durable wheel can't last forever. The yellow Open Pros have now lasted through three bikes, and thousands and thousands of miles. In fact, I tried to calculate how many miles I've logged on the old yellow wheels. In this season alone I've ridden an average of 250 miles a week aboard the wheels, 1,000 miles a month, every month since March. That's nearly 7,000 miles this year alone. I didn't keep good track of my miles until this year, so an exact estimate is though, but let's say I rode 6,000 miles each year, 2004-2007, for a grand total of 33,000 miles. And that's only the miles I rode... remember, I bought the wheels used, with God knows how many miles on them. that's one durable wheel set!

But alas, even the most durable wheels have to meet their end some day. The last time I had the yellow wheels trued, the mechanic alerted me to a disturbing reality: Both wheel's braking surfaces had become worn to the point where they were concave, meaning that breaking would be negatively effected, and the rim could fail.

The new wheels in town.
32 spokes, ball bearing hubs, alloy nipples
Now in black. Proper.

I had two options, buy new rims, spokes and nipples, and overhaul the hubs, or replace the wheels. the cost, once you factor in labor, was about equal. So I opted for new wheels.

Of course, I bought the exact same wheels, only in black, figuring the color would look good on my white bike. The new wheels don't yet have much character, but they will. I rode them for the first time on Sunday, with Continental tires and a brand new Dura Ace cassette. They felt about the same as the old wheels, although they rolled noticeably better. So here's to another 33,000+ plus miles on tried-and-true wheels.

It's the little things
The black rims are a huge aesthetic improvement from the yellow
They roll better too!