Road bike wheelsets



I'm 63. What am I achieving? WTF? The highest level of fitness I can, going as fast as I can and having a metric **** ton of fun. And a silver medal at the Ohio Senior Olympic Games road race. Yeah, I'll brag a little!

For ***** sake! I had a Colnago fail! I've had team mates and friends break high end Kellogg's, Quintana Roo, Basso, Motobecane, Gitane, Paramount, Gios, Raleigh...Jeezus. I'm loosing it...exactly 'what' does a guy have to buy to get steel not fail?

So...using that thing called the intarwebz...

I can type in almost any manufacture's name and the words crack or failure or split or...whatever and come up with pages of data and pictures of 'good' steel lugged frames that were silver solders and ended up in the trash pile.

No. You're right. It's not a war. It's a slaughter. Guess 'who' the lamb is. Really, Tom... maybe there's more carbon frames busted because...oh...that's about all that gets sold these days. and for the last 15 years or more. OK...there are some aluminum and Ti stuff going out the doors, but the numbers for steel? Statistically insignificant?

Good for you for still riding at 72!

531 lugged (investment cast BB shell) touring frame popped up on one search...first image. LOL!

http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-001/frame-trek-1985ish-seat-tube-at-bb-IMAG0079.jpg

Yeah...steel is real...about that...

Bob - exactly why are you going ballistic over this if it doesn't hit a sensitive spot?

And again - CF commonly has catastrophic failures whereas those steel failures you've seen suddenly show handling peculiarities.

Now granted that was not a catastrophic error of my Colnago fork and if I hadn't been in exactly the wrong sort of turn I could easily have saved it, but having the head tube simply falling off or the entire rear triangle falling off is hardly something that you can save yourself from.

And having worked on the first practical heart/lung machine I can tell you that having the highest heart rate is not having the highest physical conditioning. Working on ultimate power is more likely to reduce your health.

So I'll assume that you are not working on your "conditioning" for health's sake but because that is what you like to do. That's fine as long as you remember that you are a tiny minority of cyclists and that your goals are probably more those of a 20 year old than the average over 30 cyclist.

And it's probably not a good idea to propagandize other cyclists that the only object of cycling is the fastest you could go. Or else you sound like those knucklehead touring magazine editorials that glorify self contained touring across Mongolia.

Look, regardless of what you do you'll lose between 5 and 9% of your lung power for every decade over 50. Your max heart rate SHOULD be reduced between 20 and 30% in a healthy person by 65. Forcing your heart rate above that has dire effects because your blood vessels are hardening with time and with that loss of elasticity the pumping action is absorbed by your heart and aorta. Damage in these areas lead to heart failure.

Physical exercise does not lengthen your maximum age. That is set by heredity. What it does is lengthen your maximum healthy age before the onset of age related diseases. Unless you hurry those along.
 
Let's recap, shall we? The Cliff's notes version:

1. "What these wheels really do is make a larger chance of failure."
No. No they do not.

2. "The ultra-light craze has slightly increased climbing speeds at the cost disastrous failure."
Erm...no. No it has not.

3. "The more spokes you have in a rim the less tension you have to put on each spoke and the less likely it is to overload the extrusion and crack."
Uh...dhk2 previously stated the failure crack was not at a spoke hole. Theory shot full of holes.

4. "the point is that in order to get equal wheel life on a low spoke count wheel you have to have heavier rims."
No. Not necessarily true at all.

5. "I just am no fan of super-light low spoke count wheels."
I'm not a fan of slow wheels or the New York Yankees.

6. "I have to tell you I have no idea of where you're coming from."
Ohio. The Gateway to...Indiana.

7. "I have NEVER broken a 32 spoke wheel."
I have. A coupe three of them. And at least one 36-hole 3x wheel. **** happens.

8. " and claiming that for some reason you are breaking 32 spoke wheels at 168 lbs gives me the idea that you're jumping curbs."
168?!?! Does this thread make my ass look fat? I weigh 158 and develop all of 12 Watts. I do not jump curbs, but do fly over the RR tracks when need be. Ohio roads are tough enough on my equipment that I don't need to do BMX stunts.

9. "and the Scandinavian woman"
Dutch. She was Dutch. And she wore wooden cycling shoes.

10. "She was on a descent and for no apparent reason at all lost total control and flipped 180 degrees over and her head hit the curb."
Uh...er...there was plenty of apparent reason...too much spend...going down a steep descent...on a wet, slick road...on a horrible line through the corner. Blind people spotted the reason.

11. "Any guesses as to we ever learn what really occurred? "
No. None. "Ancient Secrets Of The Aliens" will have her on the next episode though...

12. "My suspicion is that she had a super-light frame failure."
OK. Whacktarded bias comes to light. Cancel the TV show, guys!

13. "the fact is that the difference between "heavy" wheels and "light" wheels is 7 ounces at best."
Yeah...do go on...

14. "People are willing to risk their necks to save 2 lbs on a carbon fiber frame and fork vs. steel and they are equally complacent about being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken wheel in order to save 7 ounces.
Why yes! Yes they are! And have you heard of this new invention...the smart phone?

15. "What's more the CF frames are so stiff that they do not handle well on fast bumpy descents"
Whacktarded alert! Alert! Alert! Uh...way wrong there, bucko. Let's try again...

16. "and low spoke count wheels need only break one spoke to have wildly dangerous handling characteristics in these conditions."
And...he's going back...back...back...waaaaaay out into left field! And...it's GONE!

17. "In some cases the damage is major but hard to spot."
Say...wut?!?!

18. "I wish you would not tell us things like she locked up her brakes or that there wasn't a frame failure without proof of either one."
Er...that's exactly what happened.

19. "I said I suspected."
Like the rest of your suspicions...it was incorrect.

20. "And I can honestly say that I NEVER went head over heels on a slippery road but ALWAYS slid out."
How many times did you land on your head? I kid! I kid! Please don't come up with any more suspicions!

21. "Is the nationality of the rider whom the news announcer obviously got wrong have some sort of connection with the type of crash?"
Nothing other than the color of their clothing which generally reflect the colors of their respective countries. Note to self: Blue and Orange do not look similar unless obscured by the mental apparition of flying carbon parts.

22. "Aluminum doesn't fail for a very simple reason - they are all very much overbuilt"
Whacktardedness rears its ugly head yet again.

23. " I suppose you could build them like steel with double and triple butting but carbon fiber came along too rapidly."
Uh...they have. And still do.

24. "None of this stuff is rocket science."
Evidently, it is.

25. "On a wide enough road I think she could have saved it."
On a wide enough road she could re-enacted Tokyo Drift through it.

26. "Thanks for the video so I could see what actually happened up close and personal. You should have simply passed that on immediately since the piece that was on the TV News was from a different angle and appeared totally different."
Yeah, only the TV camera managed to catch those flying carbon pieces of the frame that tried to kill her.

27. "CB, there is no helping you here."
Oh, you're doing just fine! Please...keep going.

28. "Don't know how any cyclist could watch that descent on that dark and slippery rain-forest conditions and not relate to how treacherous it was."
Perhaps from the practice runs or passing over the circuit a few times earlier in the race?

29. "Bob, I don't think that she over-cooked the corner in the classic sense."
We know...we know.

30. "She hit SOMETHING on the road that was slippery as hell."
It's called...the surface. It was all slippery and ****.

31. "And it wasn't the painted line because the slide began just before she hit the line and she caught traction and straightened it out but there was the turn uncompleted."
Driving nails into my eyeballs would be more fun than this ****...

32. "when you have more on your paunch or even in the seat pack it's getting pretty ridiculous."
So...this dress DOES make my ass look fat!

33. "I have to take a medication that's both expensive and interferes with my balance and memory."
I can see some of the effects of your injuries and for that I am truly sad for you.

34. "But that the best possible savings is only 10 W per wheel under the most stressing conditions."
That is a huge power saving and it's coming exactly when you need it most.

35. "In other words - these differences only have an effect on pro racers."
You could not be more incorrect in your assumption.

36. " I have to wonder what you would think you're achieving by "racing"?"
If you have to wonder, your memory is really impaired. It's fun.

37. "I keep hearing that "steel fails too" but when you look on the Internet you can find examples of practically all materials failing but NOT a good steel frame."
Google can be your friend. The information is there. Finding it is easy.

There...3 pages in one post.
 
1. Despite your claim otherwise you've told us that you're under 160 lbs and breaking wheels. But of course you tell us that it's any wheels. Maybe you should change over to marathons.

2. Sorry but there are many lawyers that will argue otherwise. While you can argue that all frame materials have a fatigue limit you cannot show steel as having massive catastrophic failures. But I'm sure that you can find one somewhere and pretend that offsets the hundreds of catastrophic failures documented all over the Internet.

3. My "theory" is from direct experience and every single one of the failures out of at least a dozen was AT A SPOKE HOLE.

4. Then why don't they use MA-2 rims - a long term reliable rim - on even one of the low spoke count wheels?

5. And you're no fan of 32 spoke wheels. But then you break them all so that doesn't have much meaning.

6. & 7, - No **** rarely happen but carelessness is endemic.

8. Again you admit that with a weight of a well fed fly you break any wheel that comes your way. That suggests something but I'm too polite to say what.

9. Arguing with me is pointless since I was repeating what was said on the news. But since you are not in this for a conversation you may continue your argument at your own speed.

10. 11. & 12. Again until you gave a link to a different video from what I originally saw I had no way of freeze framing it. And even then the focus and resolution was such that much could not be discerned.

13. You seem to skip that pretty rapidly.

14. Smart phone? I helped design the system. Please tell me all about it and how you can get global coverage.

15. If you believe that CF isn't too stiff for you to have perfect control please be my guest and learn the hard way.

16. If you believe that low spoke count wheels remain reasonably straight with a broken spoke be my guest. But then you've told us that you break all sorts of wheels and yet have not discovered this. Funny how my Campy wheels and my Fulcrum and my Easton wheels did and yours do not. That must be because yours are too light to bend.

17. You have told us that you're were an aerospace materials engineer and then you say something like this? That makes me doubt just about everything you have to say.

18, The resolution of the video was not good enough but what was plain was that somehow the front wheel locked. As if she had disk brakes fully locked. Rim brakes are VERY difficult to achieve that sort of over-braking. I know that doesn't cause you the least scientific curiosity that on a supposedly very slippery road that the entire bike rotated around the front axle but then that's simply another item that makes me wonder about your engineering credentials.

19. The problem is that you're far more willing to assume that nothing happened but operator error than I am. Someone that is so obviously a good rider - an expert and with SEVERAL LAPS though this same area so that she knew what to expect had something like that happen and it makes me wonder if you aren't a crash king and so can easily hand it off to operator error. Why she's minutes in the lead but she's nothing more than a stupid person riding on luck in your book.

20. And as I later said after seeing your reference video - she DID slide out and caught it and then something entirely unexplained happened. The front wheel locked before she got anywhere near the curb. that must be more of your operator error.

21. What is curious is that you are interested in the color of their uniforms when 99% of cycle racing has the uniform of the sponsor. So you think that I or for that matter anyone, would pay attention to their uniform and not the subtleties of the accident? That is a smart-assed after the fact statement.

22. And again we see your "aerospace materials engineer" showing it's head again. That must be why they have next to no failures of aluminum MTB's but common failures of the CFer's.

23. Then I'm sure that you have a reference to such a bike built with double butted aluminum.

24. Do you mean you can't understand it with all of that training as a rocket scientist?

25. Apparently that's a reference to some movie you like.

26. Maybe you ought to explain to us exactly what your experience is with aerospace materials engineering. You do understand that pushing a mop through the engineering stalls doesn't really fall within that category don't you?

27. & 28. And yet you still attribute that to operator error. While that's the most logical reason for the initial slide that doesn't explain how the front wheel locked up the way it did. Unless you're so used to pulling bone head maneuvers like that you don't think anything of it.

29. No you most obviously do not know. From your temper tantrums and childish grasping for "the best" being equal to "the most expensive" I wonder exactly what is going on in your mind.

30. When were you in the Olympics? What idea do you have of what it takes to be able to qualify for the Olympics. Again is that childish behavior that screams that you are smarter than everyone else.

31. Would driving nails into your eyeballs get you to play the video in slow motion and see that she started sliding BEFORE the bike crossed the painted line?

32. So you're LGBTQ and that's why you're carrying that two ton chip on your shoulder and are completely unable to relate to human beings.

33. As are all children of any age you are totally incapable of feeling sadness for anyone other than yourself.

34. That "savings" is at 28 mph+ and I would like to know how often you do that on the flats when you weigh only 158 lbs. That "savings" is NOT there when you are drafting or in the middle of a pack. It is not there when you are going in a straight line. It is only on the front wheel.

35. Again your over-inflated ego raises it's head. Or perhaps you butt.

36. Tell me about your "fun" in five more years.

37. I have googled it and I have not found any catastrophic failures of steel. Hey you know - the paint falls off of steel - does that count?
 
1. Despite your claim otherwise you've told us that you're under 160 lbs and breaking wheels. But of course you tell us that it's any wheels. Maybe you should change over to marathons.

Er..Alf...WTF?

2. Sorry but there are many lawyers that will argue otherwise. While you can argue that all frame materials have a fatigue limit you cannot show steel as having massive catastrophic failures. But I'm sure that you can find one somewhere and pretend that offsets the hundreds of catastrophic failures documented all over the Internet.

Jeex, Alf. The first pic I pulled up...and linked for you...was a 531 steel-is-real masterpiece that suffered a complete seat tube separation above the BB shell.

3. My "theory" is from direct experience and every single one of the failures out of at least a dozen was AT A SPOKE HOLE.

So what? Like I said, I too have had 36, 32 and low spoke count rims crack at the spoke hole. Big deal.

4. Then why don't they use MA-2 rims - a long term reliable rim - on even one of the low spoke count wheels?

No clue. Go ask those that know more than you do. Me? I've cracked Monthlery's and Open Pro's. Again, that's meaningless, Alf.

5. And you're no fan of 32 spoke wheels. But then you break them all so that doesn't have much meaning.

Finally! He catches on! I WAS a fan of 32-hole wheels back when they was all that. Today, they ain't ****.

6. & 7, - No **** rarely happen but carelessness is endemic.

All righty, then!

8. Again you admit that with a weight of a well fed fly you break any wheel that comes your way. That suggests something but I'm too polite to say what.

That I'm riding them like I stole them? Awesome! You can say it. I'll blush, but I always accept glowing admiration from fans.

9. Arguing with me is pointless since I was repeating what was said on the news. But since you are not in this for a conversation you may continue your argument at your own speed.

It's OK. It sounds like we weren't watching the same race anyway. You saw carbon frame failure causing a crash of a Swedish meatball and I watched ol' Wooden Shoes enter a wet turn on the inside and find out how well caliper brakes work after the rim squeegies off.

10. 11. & 12. Again until you gave a link to a different video from what I originally saw I had no way of freeze framing it. And even then the focus and resolution was such that much could not be discerned.

Uh...there was no need to get a Kodak moment. Over cooking a wet corner on a descent is an everyday thing in racing. Ask Brad Wiggins how it's done.

13. You seem to skip that pretty rapidly.

Erm...you ignore mass. I bless its absence as my heart grows fonder.

14. Smart phone? I helped design the system. Please tell me all about it and how you can get global coverage.

Global? Sat phone and a stack of Benjamins. Then, again, if I were touring with 45 pounds or so on a way heavy Bob Jackson my 32-holers have your assurance that I would need neither...or should I bump it up to 36-holes just to be safe and in fashion with the Old Farts Touring Club?

15. If you believe that CF isn't too stiff for you to have perfect control please be my guest and learn the hard way.

I don't believe any carbon I've owned or ridden is too stiff. I do believe all of it has been a little too compliant for my prefence, but I'll make due until the next one fills the slot. Weatherby got himself a new Pinarello Dogma toady. I gots to keep up with the Weatherby's!

16. If you believe that low spoke count wheels remain reasonably straight with a broken spoke be my guest. But then you've told us that you break all sorts of wheels and yet have not discovered this. Funny how my Campy wheels and my Fulcrum and my Easton wheels did and yours do not. That must be because yours are too light to bend.

Like I said, I popped a spoke on my new Emonda. Opening the brake and riding home at speed was a breeze and the speed was good to go. Maybe you are just unlucky. It sure sounds like you have a black cloud over your cycling life.

17. You have told us that you're were an aerospace materials engineer and then you say something like this? That makes me doubt just about everything you have to say.

Doubt away. That doesn't bother me a lick. My paychecks tell me I'm doing it right and my lack of catastrophic failures since ditching steel and tank wheels amount to zero. No black cloud following me. But hey, I don't go around living in 1979.

18, The resolution of the video was not good enough but what was plain was that somehow the front wheel locked. As if she had disk brakes fully locked. Rim brakes are VERY difficult to achieve that sort of over-braking. I know that doesn't cause you the least scientific curiosity that on a supposedly very slippery road that the entire bike rotated around the front axle but then that's simply another item that makes me wonder about your engineering credentials.

Oh jeezus h. tapdancing k-rist on a pogo stick. Locking a wheel on a wet rode takes a split second. Any wheel. Both wheels. OK...you win! vV managed to violate all the rules of your physic with the help of alien technology! Alf, you're insane. Just admit it. The blow to your head caused more than memory loss.

We give up. It really was her carbon frame failing in multiple locations at the same time that caused to slide out on a bone dry road, kick it trying to save it and grabbing a 540 backside flip into the curb.

Holy cow...like I said. I really do anything can appear on this screen...

19. The problem is that you're far more willing to assume that nothing happened but operator error than I am. Someone that is so obviously a good rider - an expert and with SEVERAL LAPS though this same area so that she knew what to expect had something like that happen and it makes me wonder if you aren't a crash king and so can easily hand it off to operator error. Why she's minutes in the lead but she's nothing more than a stupid person riding on luck in your book.

Exactly. In the zone and blotto. Again, ask Nibali...one of the best descenders in the pack...how he fell there. Or Haneo. Or Thomas. Or Porte. You really are a professional at this internet stuff, aren't you?

20. And as I later said after seeing your reference video - she DID slide out and caught it and then something entirely unexplained happened. The front wheel locked before she got anywhere near the curb. that must be more of your operator error.

Brakes...how do they work?

21. What is curious is that you are interested in the color of their uniforms when 99% of cycle racing has the uniform of the sponsor. So you think that I or for that matter anyone, would pay attention to their uniform and not the subtleties of the accident? That is a smart-assed after the fact statement.

This is the Olympics. Not the Tour Femme. For God's sake Alf...stop digging!

22. And again we see your "aerospace materials engineer" showing it's head again. That must be why they have next to no failures of aluminum MTB's but common failures of the CFer's.

Wut? There's a metric **** tom of pics of aluminum mountain bike frames that folded up...hard tails and full suspension rigs. Use the power of Google, young jedi.
 
23. Then I'm sure that you have a reference to such a bike built with double butted aluminum.

Uh...again, I'm not your reference guy. Go look. Double and triple butted aluminum is nothing new. Check out some of Santana's rigs. Oy...

24. Do you mean you can't understand it with all of that training as a rocket scientist?

Well, pretty much everthing you've said is wrong, incorrect or unintelligible. An Alf you have become.

25. Apparently that's a reference to some movie you like.

Never saw it. I'm waiting for the book.

26. Maybe you ought to explain to us exactly what your experience is with aerospace materials engineering. You do understand that pushing a mop through the engineering stalls doesn't really fall within that category don't you?

Dealing with everything from lowly carbon and tool steels to super alloys to rare earth elements as used in tooling and product.

27. & 28. And yet you still attribute that to operator error. While that's the most logical reason for the initial slide that doesn't explain how the front wheel locked up the way it did. Unless you're so used to pulling bone head maneuvers like that you don't think anything of it.

Are you still on the carbon failure kick? Jeezus, Alf. Give it a rest. You proved yourself wrong on that one a looong time ago.

29. No you most obviously do not know. From your temper tantrums and childish grasping for "the best" being equal to "the most expensive" I wonder exactly what is going on in your mind.

I think you would best served trying to figure out what isn't going on in your...like the thought process.

30. When were you in the Olympics? What idea do you have of what it takes to be able to qualify for the Olympics. Again is that childish behavior that screams that you are smarter than everyone else.

June. Ohio Senior Olympic Games. Para Olympics before that. Childish? Whatever. I'm sure it beats the **** out of anything you did.

31. Would driving nails into your eyeballs get you to play the video in slow motion and see that she started sliding BEFORE the bike crossed the painted line?

Brother, you are so fixated on the fact that were completely wrong about the cause of vV's crash that you just can't let go. Like the real Alf, all you can do is repeat yourself.

32. So you're LGBTQ and that's why you're carrying that two ton chip on your shoulder and are completely unable to relate to human beings.

I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body!

33. As are all children of any age you are totally incapable of feeling sadness for anyone other than yourself.

Well, I do feel sorry for you.

34. That "savings" is at 28 mph+ and I would like to know how often you do that on the flats when you weigh only 158 lbs. That "savings" is NOT there when you are drafting or in the middle of a pack. It is not there when you are going in a straight line. It is only on the front wheel.

I do it every time I can.

35. Again your over-inflated ego raises it's head. Or perhaps you butt.

Does it really feel that bad to have been incorrect on so many points in one thread?

36. Tell me about your "fun" in five more years.

If I'm blessed to live that long I certainly will. I doubt you'll comprehend words, thought patterns and the concept of reality any better by then, but I'll gladly give it a whirl if it makes you feel better.

37. I have googled it and I have not found any catastrophic failures of steel. Hey you know - the paint falls off of steel - does that count?[/QUOTE]

I'm not surprised...you fail at Google also.
 
Folks I've had a CF frame for 5 years. No problems. I'm going to have it for another 5 years. I've never broken or cracked anything. Thanks for reminding me about Rolf. I forgot about those guys. I remember years ago buying a Campy Omega wheelset from Performance and noticing a definite improvement. That's all I'm after. A noticeable improvement over the entry level stock wheels that came with the bike.
 
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Contact Bola Bicycle for carbon road bike wheel
 
Sorry, BOLA.

All we buy here are heavy alloy 32-spoke wheels to put on steel bikes. The catastrophic failures you cause with your superior aerodynamics and lower weight for better climbing, accelerating and handling will make kittens from the 1970's cry.
 
Bedtime For Bonzo:

Gather 'round kids and geriatrics! It's...STORYTIME! {please note: this is a re-telling of an actual event that occured many centuries ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth and men were carving 320spoke wheels from stone).

A True Life FIRST PERSON Story Of The Catastrophic Failure Of STEEL

as told by CampyBob to an old fart too far gone to understand reality.

Our story takes place sometime in the early 1980's. A friend and I were importing custom built and stock model Gardin bicycles from Canada at the time and both of us were racing on a large and successful team.

One day, while on the phone to the factory in Mississauga to place and order for a couple bikes. the manager happened to mention he had a sweet frame in my size that he wanted to get off the inventory. Knowing that I liked all things Eyetalyun, he mentioned the top tube had a brazed-on Eyetalyun flag and it was built with Columbus aero seat stays and an aero for...both fully chromed! He tossed out a price too low to refuse and the deal was struck.

I drove up to the store in Toronto and picked up the customer bikes and went out to the factory to talk to the frame builder about an upcoming project and pick up my new toy.

My frame was decal'ed as a Gardin, but was actually built in Italy by Battaglin. Battaglin was a new company and turning out a typical Eyetalyun quality product in the standard Eyetalian racing geometry using the best Eyetalyun tubing of the era. I built the frame up with a mix of Record and Super Record component parts I had laying around and built up a pair of 32-spoke wheels for it...Campy low flange, DT spokes and Campy Ofmega or Strada rims...sew-ups.

BTW, Battaglin is still in the bike game, but they sell mainly carbon frameset. They used to build a steel retro model to sell to old *****, but I think they dropped it from the line.

I then proceeded to ride this fine POS like I stole it.

One fine, sunny day while out on a solo training run it suddenly turned not so fine and sunny. A heavy thunderstorm came over the horizon behind me from the West. Uh oh! Time to boot those Superleggera pedals into warp 9 and make for home most riki tik.

I hauled ass up a shallow climb and kicked again over the top. I shifted up a few times and got back up to cruise speed on the flat. Just as I started blasting in a sprint towards a green light I didn't have time to get stopped at if it changed on me...a Newfoundland hurtled over a hedge in flight from the left side of the narrow road and planted his brakes to park right in front of...me.

I didn't have but a split second to square up and I punched him hard in the side. I don't think I moved that mutt very far and the bike and I went down in a short slide. The huge dog wasn't hurt a lick and fortunately, neither was I. The only visible damage to the bike was some torn and flapping in the wind handlebar tape and a new scuff mark on the saddle.

Giving the wheels a spin, I re-mounted and drilled it hard for home with the adrenaline assist. I beat the rain.

Once home I carefully inspected the bike for damage. No wrinkled tubes, no cracked paint or chrome, the thing looked perfect, steered fine, rode straight with no hands, etc. I taped up the bars with some new Cinelli cork and put the bike up for the next ride.

The next day...

It was a fine and sunny day! After work it was time to get out and hammer. I grabbed the Gardin-Battaglin and rode off in search of pain and punishment on the hills of Ohio. Solo, I pounded it for somewhere around 20 miles or so and headed back into the big city. Running in late rush hour **** and lots of traffic lights...not much fun going on now.

I came to a red light that hung over a brick 4-lane busy street and I did a track stand as cars backed up behind me waiting for the light to turn green.

The light did turn green and I brought the left pedal over top dead center to begin the sprint to the next...whatever...red light, car turning. Anyway, it was GO time!

The next thing I remember is picking myself up off those bricks.

What the **** just happened?!?!

Hmmm? Why won't my front wheel turn???

I drug my sorry ass and bike and busted sun glasses over to the sidewalk as a local cop that happened to be three or four cars behind pulled up in his cop car station wagon to see what happened and if I was all right.

By then, I finally spotted what caused me to do a rotation around the locked up front wheel and face plant in the street.

THE ****ING STEEL LEFT FORK BLADE COLLAPSED!

Obviously from the impact with the big doggie the day before, the aero fork blade had been damaged and compromised. Invisibly, but still a ticking time bomb that asploded under me. Fortunately at near 0 MPH. With my nose over the front tire and pedal coming over hard...endo I went like a Swedish Meatball overcooking a wet turn.

The nice police officer told me to sit in the front of his cop station wagon and wiggle the mirror around and check out my face. Before getting in, I wiped my sweaty face with a gloved hand and came away with a glove wet with blood...great! Hadn't even noticed I was bleeding from a gashed eyebrow that was split upon impact with those bricks...the ones that demolished my sunglasses!

We tossed my Gardin-Battaglin in the back of his wagon and he kindly drove me the 2 miles to the hospital ER to get three stitches in my noggin. Three lousy stitches for a gash that bled like a faucet? Weird.

The next day was fine and sunny...

I called up the factory and explained the funny tale of the catastrophic steel for failure to the manager, Jamie. He had Giorgio Ferrari, the frame builder whip me out anther fork and ready it for polish and the chrome shop. This time it was a standard road contour on a semi-sloping crown with Campy fork ends, of course!

Now, I still have that bike. It has been pictured on this website...when the picture function worked.

So OK kiddies...'what' have we learned?

Well, we learned that steel can fail 'catastrophically'. Despite the retarded incantations of deluded old farts.

We also learned that despite ending up losing a fork, lots of blood and requiring three stitches there is nothing wrong with a steel bike other that it is generally a heavy bike. I did not learn to hate steel. Or to hate 32-spoke wheels. Or even to hate large, loose Newfoundland mutts.

I did learn to laugh at morons that think you can actually ride a Campy UltraTorque crankset with a 1 MM air gap and at folks that think light wheels and carbon bikes are da debil. Oh...and to laugh at guys that watch a racer wipe out going too fast through a wet corner on a bad line and blame it on an asploding carbon frame.
 
Crickets???

Aluminum! The material that doesn't fail! Well...according to an engineering 'expert'.

And someday...someday...they will make them out of butted tubes...if only carbon had not come along too rapidly!

"I suppose you could build them like steel with double and triple butting but carbon fiber came along too rapidly."

"23. Then I'm sure that you have a reference to such a bike built with double butted aluminum."

Easy peasy there, Alf junior. I'll go you one better than double (too easy) and go for Gold with the triple-butted alloy stuff.

Focus triple-butted aluminum frame:
http://www.focus-bikes.com/us/en/technology/triple-butted-aluminium-frame.html

Cinelli triple-butted aluminum frame:
https://www.amaincycling.com/cinell...501?v=523362&gclid=CNWI16fluc4CFQ-EaQodooIPtg

MEKK triple-butted aluminum frame:
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/ProductDisplay?storeId=10053&langId=-1&catalogId=10052&productId=573949&utm_source=Google_Product_Search&utm_medium=pla&utm_campaign=datafeed&cm_mmc=Google_Product_Search-_-PLA-_-Datafeed-_-Mekk Pinerolo AL 2.0 Road Bike Red 52Cm&CAWELAID=400006960000108751&source=googleUS&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=24469702938&CATCI=pla-157198229043&catargetid=400006960000133234&cadevice=c&gclid=COXP9cLluc4CFQIRaQodLA8NXQ

Chris Boardman triple-butted aluminum frame:
https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/bicycle-buyers-guide-road-bikes-600-to-1000-447.html

I could go on for days...and I'll probably have to...

Crickets???
 
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Heeeeeerrrre Kittah Kittah!

<crickets>

Someone's got a triple-butted aluminum tube up their ass...
 
Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. fine, Dr. Howard!

Please report to proctology!
 
Eureka! I have found it! The mythical double-butted aluminum bike frame that was never manufactured because carbon technology came along "too fast". And 2 furious. And caused Swedish Meatballs into Tokyo drifts.

$700 and double-butted aloominum:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/grand_record_yvi.htm?gclid=CN780fG6vs4CFQSNaQodgU4Nww

Rare! No-Name offbrand el cheapo utilizes never before heard of double-butted technology!
http://fixiecycles.com/shop/bikes-b...oy-frame-700c-wheels-with-quick-release-hubs/

Enough!!!

You know...I could find hundreds if not thousands of double and triple butted aluminum bicycle frames.

How's about we play a game of hydroformed, press formed shaped aluminum tubing?

Or perhaps we can go with Scandium alloys?

Or Magnesium alloys such as the Pinarello that Weatherby purchased this week?

Or really freak out and look at all the alloy/carbon mixed material frames. And really lose it over the 'backwards' Cannondale CAAD builds?

Or investigate carbon wrapped alloy?

<crickets>

Meh.
 
I run a set of HED Ardennes FR on my daily rider and I LOVE them.
I also have a set of Mavic Ksyeriums but the thing I don't like about those are those proprietary spokes.. if you happen to damage one, and we all know that happens.. You have to special order a replacement. Just food for thought.
 
I run a set of HED Ardennes FR on my daily rider and I LOVE them.
I also have a set of Mavic Ksyeriums but the thing I don't like about those are those proprietary spokes.. if you happen to damage one, and we all know that happens.. You have to special order a replacement. Just food for thought.

Agree the need for special spokes is a consideration, but for a lot of us I'd say it's really not important. I rode a set of Velomax Circuits for 30K miles, until the rear rim cracked, and never needed a "twin-threaded" spoke. Put over 10K miles on a set of DT Swiss RR1450's, with the super-light 15/17/15 ga bladed spokes, and no replacements needed.

New bike also has the Ksyrium Elites. I thought about getting "conventional" wheelset from my LBS builder, but the price offered with my new frame was just too good to pass up. The steel spokes seem pretty beefy, doubt if I'll break any soon. I've noticed that the spoke tension on the rear wheel doesn't seem consistent (just from pinging them) but decided to leave the wheel alone for now. After the first 1000 miles, they are still true.

Of course, MYYV. If I was going on a long tour, particularly to places where bike shops are few and far-between, I'd want to bring alone a few extra spokes anyway.....along with extra tires, tubes and tools.
 
I always prided myself on stocking up on all three required spoke lengths...in advance.

Well, wouldn't you know that when the TREK Emonda popped that front radial (20-H drilling) spoke I had NO spare at the ready! It took around a week to get a few Sapim CX-Ray's in the spare parts box and around two weeks for my TREK dealer to get me some DT's that were a closer, but still not an exact, match.

I have spare Aksium silver spokes left over from my old wheels and now I'm riding...the black rims/spokes! You just can't win in this boutique world of wheels! Maybe I'll paint the spares yellow or red and all the cool kids on special limited edition Cosmic Carbones will think I'm on some prototype coolness!
 
I live within driving distance of Colorado Cyclist. I have gone over their custom builds. Stan's, DT Swiss. They tend to run heavier than other offerings. Should I consider some of their in house builds?
 
I have Record hubs. They are flat out awesome. Smooth as silk bearings and a freehub ratchet sound that others try to emulate.
HED Belgium rims are very good rims. They are a little on the heavy side. They should be strong, but any rim can be destroyed given enough abuse.
Depending on spoke lacing and spokes selected they can be good wheels for touring or general riding. They will not be performance wheels in today's market. They would be too heavy for me to train or race on. YMMV.
One last detail worth mentioning again: Colorado Cyclist's wheel builders have delivered VERY good build jobs to me in the past.
 
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I have Record hubs. They are flat out awesome. Smooth as silk bearings and a freehub ratchet sound that others try to emulate.
HED Belgium rims are very good rims. They are a little on the heavy side. They should be strong, but any rim can be destroyed given enough abuse.
Depending on spoke lacing and spokes selected they can be good wheels for touring or general riding. They will not be performance wheels in today's market. They would be too heavy for me to train or race on. YMMV.
One last detail worth mentioning again: Colorado Cyclist's wheel builders have delivered VERY good build jobs to me in the past.

If you don't mind reviewing what Colorado Cyclist has to offer today. Bob what would interest you? Keep in mind I'm never over 200 lbs but rarely under 190, and I wouldn't mind shaving a few grams off of the Aksium set I have now.
 

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