EL PESO DE LA MORTALIDAD CATASTRÓFICA EN CATALUÑA

Just as no two riders are exactly the same, no two wheels will treat everyone equally. There are several choices when it comes to wheel selection, and finding the perfect pair for your needs can be a difficult proposition. But instead of looking at it as a challenge to be overcome, choosing a pair of wheels should instead be viewed as an opportunity to explore the variety of options.

questions that are less a matter of personal preference but more about pure necessity. Do you have a Campagnolo or Shimano drivetrain? Are you running an archaic six-speed cogset or top-of-the- line offerings? Is your bike built for 650C wheels? These are some of the large-picture questions that have to be addressed first.

If you walk into any bike shop and tell the laconic, underpaid teenager working behind the counter, “I’m looking for new wheels,” you’ll likely get a blank stare in return. Some of the more cognitively capable individuals might formulate an appropriate response: “For what?”

That, fundamentally, is the only question that matters when you’re selecting a wheelset. For what are they going to be used? If you’re a middle-of-the-pack age-group triathlete, your needs are going to be much different from the needs of a professional road sprinter, just as his or her needs will be much different from the needs of an octogenarian lawyer who likes to cruise the bike path and look at the creek. I believe there are, in essence, three major criteria that distinguish one pair of wheels from another. They are, in no particular order, build, weight, and aerodynamics.

The build refers to the basic design of the wheel. The design of the wheel includes the broader questions, such as 8- or 10-speed or Shimano or Campagnolo, but also some of the more preferential concerns. Decide whether you want clincher or tubular (more on that in chapter 7). Some wheels have nifty features like ceramic bearings or dimpled rims. Some wheels are sturdier than others in certain situations. If you’re a physically heavier rider, this can be a major concern.

The weight question is pretty straightforward. How light do you want your wheels to be? Some superlightweight wheels may accelerate like rockets and help you shave minutes off your climbing PRs, but they can have poor ride quality and be unable to withstand even the lightest abuse. Take into account your build and riding style when deciding whether you need a super-lightweight pair of wheels.

The aerodynamic aspects of a wheel usually go hand in hand with the weight. Aero wheels are usually heavier but are faster on the flats. Are you a time trialist or a triathlete? Get some deep- dish aero wheels and forget about the weight penalty. If you’re a 110-pound (50 kg) climbing specialist, get the lightweight wheels, which will help you excel at your specialty.

One of the largest factors to consider is the price of the wheelset. There’s an old adage in the bike industry: “Strong, light, and fast. Pick two.” With today’s modern technology and ingenuity, it’s really a new paradigm: “Strong, light, fast, and cheap. Pick three.”

So next time you’re in the market for a new pair of wheels, ask yourself one question—for what?

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CHAPTER 7

Tires

eep the rubber side down!” is a maxim that you’ve probably heard at one time or another if you’ve spent any time at all on a bike. It’s both a funny and prescient sentiment because your tires are, ultimately, the only real point of physical interaction between your bike and the road.

Tires began to take their familiar modern-day rendition when the safety bicycle was introduced in the late-19th century. Originally invented in the middle of the century in England, the pneumatic bicycle tire wasn’t commercially produced until 1888 by a Scottish doctor named John Boyd Dunlop. The original pneumatic tire was a clincher type; a vulcanized rubber tube was fitted inside the tire, which was then attached to the rim by a series of clamps. These tire systems were bulky and unreliable, and so a new technology was developed around the turn of the century—the tubular tire.

Still in use today, tubular tires are similar to clinchers in that there’s a tube inside of the tire that is inflated to provide ride quality. Unlike clinchers, however, the casing of a tubular tire fully surrounds the tube and the entire tire and tube combo is glued to the rim using a special type of cement. The modern clincher tire came about in 1978 when Specialized introduced the Turbo folding clincher. Popular among casual cyclist for its ease of installation and reliability, clincher tires have now surpassed tubulars as the more popular road tire. With no messy, strong cement to deal with, clinchers made installing tires and, especially, repairing them easy and hassle free. They’ve also become the more economical choice—when you flat a tube, you don’t have to replace an entire, expensive tubular tire.

Tubular tires are far from dead, though. They offer several advantages that some riders, especially racing cyclists, still prefer. Almost all of the professional cycling teams that I know of still use tubular tires, despite the advances in clincher technology and construction. Because there is no hook- and-bead interaction between a tubular tire and the rim (as there is on a clincher), the tire deforms more uniformly as the bike is leaned into a corner. This provides better traction and better predictability while diving down a sketchy descent. Also, because there is no stiff bead on the tubular tire, the entire casing can be made out of more supple materials, giving the tubular an unmatched ride quality—what the French call, souplesse. Last, and this definitely applies mainly to racing cyclists, a tubular tire can much more easily be ridden while flat, allowing you to keep going while waiting for your team car or wheel support to get to you.

The latest technology to be introduced to the road market comes directly from mountain biking. Tubeless tires are exactly what their name implies—without tubes. Based on the technology used for car tires, tubeless tires require specialized rims that are airtight and equally specialized tires that create an airtight seal when the two are used in conjunction. The main benefits of tubeless systems are

flat prevention (specifically pinch flats—there’s no tube to pinch) and better ride quality (you can safely run them at lower pressure than standard clinchers).