Thursday, April 9, 2009

Wheels of Paris Roubaix

I was talking to my friend Rob about building up a new set of wheels. He's looking for something sturdy and well thought out. I recommended 28-32 White Industries laced up to Mavic Open-Pro's 3 cross with a radial non-drive rear wheel. I'm a big fan of hand built wheels. Running 36 hole Phil Wood hubs laced 3x to Open Pros on my Paramount and White Industries laced to Velocity Aeroheads on my Hot Tubes. The Hot Tubes are 20 hole radial on the front and 28 hole 3x drive & radial non-drive. The 20 hole was a bit of a mistake, I ment to order a 24 hole. I was a bit skeptical of running a 20 hole front, but it survived last year on the Cervelo and has migrated this year over to the Hot Tubes.

I googled some wheels from Paris Roubaix, thinking that the pro's might be running a similar wheel build. It looks like the are mostly running 32 3x front and rear. Not even running light weight hubs (DT*, White or Tune).
What does you all think about handbuilt wheels and spoke patterns?




Stuart O'Grady, 2007


Alessandro Ballan, 2008



Emilien Berges, 2008

*Ok I lied Emilien Berges is running a DT hub, and it's freaking tied and soldered!

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