Well, last weekend I finally ditched the clunky old lumps of steel that were
weighing my bike down and replaced them with my lovely new (well,
secondhand) wheels - 32-hole MA3 rims on 105 hubs, fitted with Vittoria
Rubinos. The verdict? Well, the short version would be: Wheeeeeeeeeee!
My first proper ride was the Sunday morning club run. We did
a fairly undulating route and the uppish bits seemed
significantly less of a struggle than previously. Not
surprising really - I tried to weigh the difference between
the old and the new wheels and it seems I've suddenly
dropped something in the order of 2kg off the overall weight
of my bike. I've also gone from chunky 1 1/4" touring tyres
to 23mm high-pressure slicks - the difference in rolling
performance is such that on smooth tarmac it feels like I'm
gliding with the new wheels, although less-than-smooth
surfaces suddenly seem a lot harder than before...
The wheels may be secondhand, but they have been well looked
after. The hubs are a dream and I reckon there's plenty of
life left in the rims - but even if there isn't and I need
to replace the rims soon, £35 for a pair of 105 hubs would
still be a bargain.
Today I was working up in the big town and decided to take
my bike so that on the return journey I could get off the
train a stop or two early and get a short ride in. And it
was abso-bloody-lutely marvellous. This morning's rain had
all disappeared and the afternoon sun had nicely dried up
the roads, leaving a pleasantly mild evening - perfect
cycling conditions, in fact, especially when you factor in
the slight tailwind.
I blasted through the 12.6 miles in a little over 38 minutes
- an average speed of 19.6mph, which I'm sure is some kind
of record for me. And it felt wonderful- even though I
compensated for the lighter weight of the new wheels by
having a backpack (containing all my day-in-the-office
accoutrements), the difference in the way my bike feels with
the new wheels meant that the route suddenly seemed somewhat
flatter than before...
Another big difference with the new wheels is the gearing.
I've gone from having a five-speed 14-28 freewheel to an eight-
speed 11-28 cassette, so I've now got two extra gears at the
top end (11t and 12t) and one extra gear in the 14-28 range
(only one, but it's enough to make a noticeable difference).
I was a bit dubious about needing the 11t sprocket, but it's
hard to find off-the-shelf cassettes that give a closer-
spaced range combined with a lower top end, especially on my
budget. And I do still appreciate having the 28t big
sprocket (my small chainring is 42t, so my bottom gear is
still not especially small, even by modern road bike
standards - my calculations tell me 42*28 is the same as
39*26). Having ridden it, I'm glad to have the 11t sprocket
- paired with the 52t chainring, that's a pretty big top
gear I've got now (and a huge increase on my previous top
gear), so I've only used it a couple of times, on the odd
occasion when I've had a proper hill to go down, but those
occasions have been almost obscenely good fun.
Anyway, I am one very happy bunny. With recent upgrades to
my brakes and now my wheels, I've breathed new life into my
old bike (next job I'm saving up for is a respray) and
further boosted my enthusiasm for cycling - of course it's
not just the wheels, it's partly my rapidly improving
fitness that's making the difference, but when your bike
allows you to convert improved fitness into increased speed,
rather than just sucking up your extra energy and wasting
it, it does give you a lot of extra motivation.
My club mentor (it's an ad hoc designation I've just come up
with for want of better words) is talking about entering a
local road race in September, a prospect that not so long
ago would have scared me witless - but now it's something
that I would relish. Roll on September!
d.