My three custom Riv Roads have been made for 559 or 571 wheels (no, I'm not short; I ride a 58 to 60) and they are by far the fastest bikes I've ridden.The light wheels are amazingly different when accelerating and climbing, at least compared to my heavy (24 mm Alex DH rims, 32 X 14 g spokes, 30 mm IRC Tandem tires, which aren't bad) 622 wheels. The 559 wheels weighed about 1525 grams the pair when they had Ultegra hubs on them.On the flats I expect they don't maintain speed as well, because when riding fixed -- all my road bikes are fixed -- they don't have that "flywheel" feel like the much heavier 700c wheels; but they are certainly faster overall. Of course, very many variables are involved beside wheel size, tire quality being the most important, so I read. The fatter tires for 559 are, unfortunately, all heavier, stiffer and slower, even the 1.25 Pasela, than good road tires like the 559 Turbos or 571 Conti GPs I use.
FWIW, years ago I had a '92 XO-1 set up as a light 14 speed gofast (Sampson drop bar gripshifts! Sampson Stratics pedals! Purple 360 gram Sun rims! 22 mm Turbos!) and it was certainly very fast -- I did my lifelong PB on it -- (don't snicker) of 30 miles at 20 mph clock running, from my parents' house in RR down 528 to Bernalillo and back via 2nd street and back up the 528 hill, averaging 21 until the hill slowed me down. Headwind on way back, too. 1994, age 39. Again: say it loud: We want a racing quality 559 X 28, and we want it NOW! On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 6:11 PM, rcnute <rcn...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Based on my experiences with the LHT, XO-1 and Atlantis, 26" wheels > are great for everything except fast road riding. Fat or skinny, it > always felt like extra work. For me 650b is the perfect compromise. > > Ryan > > On Feb 3, 4:39 pm, Angus <angusle...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > The TCO discussion appears to be morphing into a 26 inch wheel > > discussion. > > > > My 59cm All-Rounder has 26inch wheels. I have received a grand total > > of two comments about the wheels size during the 12 years I have owned > > the bike. > > > > One was "what's with the small wheels?" the second (apparently not > > realizing the wheels were small) said "Wow, I've never seen a frame > > that big!" He seemed so excited about the frame size I didn't have > > the heart to correct him. > > > > When I got the bike it was much easier to find BIG tires for 26inch > > wheels...650b wasn't that popular back then.... > > > > Angus > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Patrick Moore Albuquerque, NM For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW at resumespecialt...@gmail.com (505) 227-0523 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
