RACE WHEELS INVESTIGATION

Before we can fully commit to the 650c frame size we need to be sure we can find some decent race wheels.

We searched a couple of years ago and the best we found was an old set of Corima 40mm deep wheels which I rebuilt last winter.  These were fine for sprint and olympic distance races but were not of the calibre of the Zipp 404 650c wheels which are still available.

So the Zipps went to the top of the wish list and we worked down from there with these options:

1.    New Zipp 650c 404’s in Firecrest clincher ~ $2500

2.    Gravity Zero 60mm Deep Tubular ~ $1500

3.    Generic 50mm Deep 23mm Wide (RC50W-650C) prebuilt with Novatec hubs ~ $500 

4.    Generic rims, laced up myself with quality spokes and hubs ~ $800

5.    See what pops up second hand, ideally a set of Zipp 404’s

The Gravity Zeros are a good option, readily available locally so they are there if nothing else come along.

Keep in mind that a decent saving here could contribute to a power meter, so let's see if we can find something under $1000 in the mean time, off to Aliexpress!

Well the generic wheels out of China seem to have improved a lot in the last few years and they now have a 50mm Deep 23mm wide carbon clincher in 650c which look good on paper:

• Titanium wire reinforced clincher bead
• Basalt braking surface
• Reinforcement layer behind the brake track
• Inside out pressure moulded
• See cross section of rim below
• Look aero but you never know unless someone puts them in a wind tunnel

These seem impressive and surely fit for purpose for a 45kg rider and definitely an improvement on the old Corima wheels which are the older foam core construction.  I know plenty of guys getting around on these wheels now so I have reasonable confidence in the rims, not so much the spokes and build quality though.

So I'm leaning towards buying a set of generic generic rims and building them up myself with some quality hubs and spokes. The build would add to the fun of the project and give me full control over the build quality.

The only thing that stopping us ordering the rims is they were only 50mm deep a slight compromise on the Zip 404 an Gravity Zero's at 58-60mm.

So that's enough to reassure us that the 650c build up wouldn't be compromised by lack of quality wheelset options. We have time to think that over and move on to the rest of the build plan while continue to look for some second hand Zipp 404's.

I did say this would be iterative!