Have you wasted money on super light new wheels?

Interesting as I'm just about to upgrade my Khamsin's to Campagnolo Neutrons.

Whilst there is wheel intertia only has 0.5% effect on performance, the bike and rider weight has an 8% effect. Surely if you knock some weight off the wheels this will have an effect on this figure.

Plus surely if you reduce the weight of the wheel rim it will take less time to accelerate up to speed. (As Tom said rotational and translational speed.)

Tyre choice must be a factor as well as this is critical in reducing rolling resistance.

IIRC aero wheels only come into their own at speeds above 40 kmh.

With apologies to George Best... I spent all my money on carbon fibre frames, titanium components and expensive wheels - the rest I wasted.

IMHO No1 reason to upgrade is hubs. some nice rolling wheels make all the difference. and where is the scientific research into the effect of loving your new wheels you just spent money on and riding faster. works for me

Yup, would echo that the feel of the wheels is probably more important than the performance 'gains' quoted.

Aero really only makes a difference once you are up to a good rate of knots, at lower speeds its kindof irrelevant.

A nice riding pair of wheels makes a difference ALL the time!

Not to forget a decent wheel-set be it heavy or light should still handle and feel better than a £50 set of hoops and girders which in theory would allow you to be less battered when you are out on the ride therefore allowing you to be fresher towards the end.

(Also 0.5% of four hours is still 72 seconds which in this day and age is a race winning amount of time. Just saying)

Physics: look up rotational and translational speeds.

What it really comes down to is the closer your weight is to the axis of rotation, the more speed you'll get. The image my mind goes to is a man holding weights on a spinning stool. The closer to his body, the faster he spins. Another way to think of it is your crank chainrings.

Overall, how much difference? I'd bet it's a pretty fair change. I don't buy that .5%

Rode my heaviest wheelset (around 2.5kg with tyres & tubes) on my 8.5kg steel bike last night and bagged 3 hill climb PBs.

AND the wheels (H+Son TB14 rims on Royce hubs) feel better than most others I've ridden (FMB-shod tubulars aside).

Interesting post. My stock Aksium Race wheels that came on my Fuji Team Pro 2009 pretty much almost fell apart on me this month and I was considering maybe the new Zipp 30 alu wheels for what are said to be great hubs and strong build quality. Anyone tried them?

As above, light high quality wheels ride better, but like most bike bling they dont make you any faster. But as we ride for enjoyment something that is nicer to ride is not a waste of money.

In terms of increasing speed, aero wheels are only really worth it against the clock where 30 seconds over 25 miles is going to mean a few places in a race. You would struggle to measure the difference under normal riding conditions.

Based on a little experience and lots of reading, I'd say that lighter wheels feel nicer but won't boost your speed by much, even on hills. Deep section aero wheels don't help as much as the adverts suggest, whether carbon or alloy. Also, I've read a number of times now, including from a couple of wheel builders, that bladed spokes are overrated.

If you enlarge the graph on this page you'll see that some so-called "aero" wheels don't necessarily fare better than some pretty ordinary hoops:
http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-15505311.html

I could buy super light wheels for the trike, not that I can afford them, because they are expensive. It would make minimal difference to my speed and climbing ability.

I decided, just to get a bit fitter and loose a couple of KG from.....around my waist line

I'm not sure I understand your point. It almost sounds like you're suggesting that spending money on bike upgrades may not be a good idea...?
nope, still not getting it

250g is half a water bottle, you cant really tell much difference in pace with a change that small. My summer bike is 2kg lighter and goes maybe 1kmh quicker than the all-year one.. which is likely partly down to aero of not having mudguards. Feels a bit racier though..

Aero wheels seem to make a bit of difference, but you need to be going pretty quickly in the 1st place, and might not suit if you go up lots of hills as they tend to be heavier, and the best ones are lots of pennies.