advantage of deep section rims for slower riders

Tom_77 wrote:

Aero wheels should make you about 3% quicker, whatever speed you ride at.

3% quicker than what?

Mavic Open Pro with 32 round spokes (about the least aero rim you can buy) is often the baseline used by brands looking to make their products look more impressive. Even the same rim profile with 20 bladed spokes will improve on that.

Any aero gains made by wheels or frame are considerably smaller than changes to the rider. In descending order - position, clothing, headwear. If you really want to ride faster then wear tighter kit and get tucked in.

Weight differences have been repeatedly shown to very little difference to climbing speed, even on quite hilly terrain.

If you want some new wheels and have some money burning a hole in your wallet then go ahead and buy them. But if you aren't racing then it's not going to make any significant difference.

And what do you propose if your clothes are already tight and you are getting yourself as low as your body will comfortably allow, but you still want more aerodynamic advantage? 

A wind tunnel session.

If you've sorted the big gains then wheels and tyres with low rolling resistance (tubeless or with latex tubes) if you haven't done so already.

Some figures at https://www.shopforwatts.co.uk/blogs/news/watts-it-worth

An aero frame is a big expense for relatively small improvement. Tuning the engine will get you more gains than most hardware so consider a coach or a training plan.

13mm to 50mm yes, 38mm to 32mm no. 

Scientifically, yes to both. Perceptibly, possibly not

I think the bigger question would be if he has hills. He may save a lot more with lighter wheels.

I don't feel the difference going at a steady training pace but do feel it in races or when doing intervals.

bosskardo wrote:

I think the bigger question would be if he has hills. He may save a lot more with lighter wheels.

Very unlikely.

It has been shown over and over again that reducing wheel weight makes very little difference to climbing times - fractions of 1% of all-up weight to save a handful of theoretical seconds, which is irrelevant for recreational riders.

https://road.cc/content/feature/why-riders-you-need-get-more-aero-213876

https://road.cc/content/feature/lightweight-v-aero-which-best-227520

I weigh 80kg, bike weighs 9kg. add in water and tools easily north of 90kg total weight

changing wheels to save 450g would be a massive wheel upgrade, but would only be 0.5% of total weight

Aero wheels can easily gain 1km/h on the flat, so 31kmh instead of 30kmh will save about 2 minutes over an hour ride.

lightweight wheels are going to gain less than 1% of climbing speed. so even 1 hour of continuous climbing (which is steep enough to lose any aero benefit) would gain less than 20 seconds