v-rims and very few spokes

[Förster vom Silberwald]

Hello: I bought (new $1100,-, sold as $ 420,-) the following brand new
road racer:

cgi.ebay.at/FRANCESCO-MOSER-Rennmaschine-LUXE_W0QQitemZ5111499939QQcategoryZ9194QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It is 9 years old, though, the 70 year old seller never used it (it was
a gift).

Now I am a bit worried since it escaped my attention that the v-rims
feature only a few spokes. I red somewhere that v-rims with very few
spokes (below 24 for my weight of around 72 - 75 kg) are lethal on the
road. And v-rims with few spokes must be checked every 500 km.

I ride about 8000km with my mountainbike on the roads. I thought it is
a good idea to do it nex time with a road racer.

Should I worry?

Schneewittchen
PS. Also the clearance between rear tyre and vertical tube is very
tiny. Is this a problem in the long run?

 

[mark]

"Förster vom Silberwald" wrote ...
> Hello: I bought (new $1100,-, sold as $ 420,-) the following brand new
> road racer:
>
> cgi.ebay.at/FRANCESCO-MOSER-Rennmaschine-LUXE_W0QQitemZ5111499939QQcategoryZ9194QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>
> It is 9 years old, though, the 70 year old seller never used it (it was
> a gift).
>
> Now I am a bit worried since it escaped my attention that the v-rims
> feature only a few spokes. I red somewhere that v-rims with very few
> spokes (below 24 for my weight of around 72 - 75 kg) are lethal on the
> road. And v-rims with few spokes must be checked every 500 km.
>
Lethal = Lebensgefährlich, which I seriously doubt is the case. Low spoke
count rims are claimed to be aerodynamically superior to conventional
wheels, although there is some debate as to how much benefit a recreational
cyclist will obtain from them. They are not as durable as conventional rims,
but depending on what kind of roads you ride on and how well you take care
of them you may be able to get quite a few rides out of them. Watch the
wheels for signs that they are going out of true or out of round and have
them trued or true them yourself whenever this happens. If this becomes a
problem buy a new set of conventional wheels.

> I ride about 8000km with my mountainbike on the roads. I thought it is
> a good idea to do it nex time with a road racer.

8000 km = 5000 miles, that's a lot of mileage. Your new road bike will be a
lot more fun than your mountain bike, but I'm guessing that you are going to
want a new set of wheels before too long, or at least a new rear wheel. The
front wheel isn't stressed nearly as much as the front, so it may last a
good bit longer. If you ride on smooth roads you may not have too much
trouble at all.
>
> Should I worry?

No, just watch the wheels carefully.
>
> Schneewittchen
> PS. Also the clearance between rear tyre and vertical tube is very
> tiny. Is this a problem in the long run?

The bicycle was designed to use very narrow racing tires (700x23C or
smaller). Keep the tires inflated properly, at a high enough pressure that
the sidewalls don't bulge out when you sit on the bike and you won't have
too much trouble. You'll have to pay a lot more attention to tire pressure
with these tires than with mountain bike tires, but they'll roll a lot
faster than mountain bike tires. You won't be able to fit wider tires, and
the bike won't ride as smoothly on bad roads as a bike with wider tires, but
the bike will be faster on smooth roads.
--
mark
>

 

[Förster vom Silberwald]

mark wrote:
> a good idea to do it nex time with a road racer.
>
> 8000 km = 5000 miles, that's a lot of mileage. Your new road bike will be a
> lot more fun than your mountain bike, but I'm guessing that you are going to
> want a new set of wheels before too long, or at least a new rear wheel. The
> front wheel isn't stressed nearly as much as the front, so it may last a
> good bit longer. If you ride on smooth roads you may not have too much
> trouble at all.

Thanks for the motivation. I will have my brother pick up the road
racer by next Friday (he lives in the town of the seller). I was a bit
concerned since we had a professor here who went into a bycicle
accident and died there off due to a fractured cervical (his rear tyre
patched on a downhill).

I do not have a car, so 8000km are not that much for me.

For me such a road racer is just an experiment. That is also the reason
why I thought I will first invest is a second hand road racer. I was
used to make 130km journeys on my mountainbike on the roads. Typically
my average speed on such hilly 130km tours after 5 hours are around
26kmh which included around 1000 height meters. On my hilly sprint
circles of around 45 minutes I typically have average speeds of around
29kmh on my mountainbike.

I will see whether I will top such average speeds with the road racer.
On the streets I often meet road racers who a way lower than I on my
mountainbike with 2.1" tyres.

Thanks,
Schneewittchen