I've been struck with the desire to spend money, likely only some chinesium specials but has anybody gone deep section for road outings, or even general use in their gravel bikes?
by ForeignAdagio9169
I've been struck with the desire to spend money, likely only some chinesium specials but has anybody gone deep section for road outings, or even general use in their gravel bikes?
by ForeignAdagio9169
15 Comments
What I’ve gathered 50mm is the recommended max due to crosswinds
Go for it, they’ll look great! Elite wheels are very affordable.
if you dont mind the wind having a say in where you go sometimes go for it. i have 50mm gravon500 and they are great.
Get some Big Chungus wheels.
The crosswind stability is going to depend a lot on your weight. I run 50mm on my allroad bike and only minorly notice stability issues on windy days in the wide open Mississippi Delta. But I’m a native Mississippi boy (90kg). Stringbeans may have a different experience.
I can’t imagine 60mm being that big of a difference in performance at the amateur level.
If I were buying wheels today and wanted to blow a bag, I’d get the Big Chungus though just because of the name/decals.
i have the reserve 40/44gr’s they’re great. comfortable, lighter than my old alloy’s and maybe saves some watts, but honestly not many.
I just got Elite Gravel Aero+ wheels, 45mm deep and THICK inner width. They are awesome
Nay. The Topstone doesn’t have the right proportions and geometry to make aero wheels look balanced. If you were on a SuperX it would be a different story
can you ride over 40kph on gravel road? 60 deep is too much.
My 2 cents – for gravel, unless you’re racing and are competitive, where every advantage counts, 60mm wheels make no sense.
They won’t be as light as comparable, moderately-deep carbon wheelset.
They won’t be nearly as comfortable for everyday riding on bumpy surfaces, on a rigid bike, due to their limited vertical compliance, compared to, say. a 30-35mm deep rim.
As others mentioned, you will now have to deal with cross-wind effect.
And, if you ride on all kinds of gravel, including cat. 3 and 4, maybe some mtb trails, as opposed to only smooth, “champagne” gravel and road, chances for rim damage from rocks with such a deep rim increase considerably.
Go for a wide rim, that can handle wider tires better (assuming your bike has space, of course), not necessarily a deep rim.
What are the possible pros? A few low single digit watts faster when you are going at the highest speeds.
What are the possible cons? Miserable experience when it is windy. Higher weight could be noticeable. Pocketbook is lighter.
Seems like a no brainer to me. Situation changes if you are a competitive racer.
Do it. If nothing else, they look cool. I just ordered a set of CF wheels last night.
Not sure how the deep section rims will do in crosswinds but at 99kg/218lbs I’m probably fine. I saw a bunch of much lighter riders running them in the recent race.
I like them, my wife had deep rims on a bike for a number of years , she weighs about 50kg. Strong Cross winds were “exciting” at times . Everything else was fine
I’m digging my Elite Gravel Aero+ @ 32mm internal / 45mm depth. Just deep enough to feel it at decent road speeds but not too deep to feel like you’re sailing.
In terms of frontal aero, it would pair best with a 42/45mm but I’ve considered that 60mm G1 speed pro…
If you ride primarily or exclusively paved or well maintained unpaved roads, you’ll save a few watts and the bike will look like it belongs there. As soon as you get off of that, the spinning weight will slow you down for acceleration (which is most of off road riding) and the bike will look out of place.
As far as the actual benefit in the road case, your 40 is giving you 10 Watts over box section at 40 kph, which seems like a nice trade-off. 60mm will give you 4 Watts over 40 at 45 kph, maybe 2.5 at 40 kph. You can get the same benefit at lower cost by buying an aero water bottle. You can get a bigger effect at zero cost by optimizing your hand or head position.
Nice marker. What is the site?