Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Morning all,

I am in the market for some aero wheels for my new Shiv. At the moment, it has 60mm/88mm tubulars mounted to it, but I don't want to deal with the faff of tubular wheels if it all goes pear-shaped. As such, I'm scoping out all of the options for what to replace them with. I am sold on the 88mm rear wheel, but not sure what to go with for the front. For every forum post or website that I read saying to run a 60mm, I'm finding one that suggests going 88mm on both ends.

I am 86ish kg and my road bike has 42mm clinchers on it so I'm used to riding a bike with a little bit of dish. The bike will literally only be used for doing race distance training on a closed flat crit track in Brisbane, and racing triathlons from sprint to IM in a few years time so I don't need to worry about what they're like going up and down hills.

Does anyone have any experience or advice on whether to go 60/88 or 88/88?

Thanks in advance guys.

Personally I'd be going 60 on the front. 60 is a versatile depth. I don't think the marginal aero advantage of the wider rim outweighs the negatives. The 88 front will be terrible in any kind of wind. No triathlon course is pancake flat and without any corners either.
Funny how you want to get rid of the tubbies when most triathletes value them for their superior speed and ride comfort. You should really reconsider your decision. Train on your normal wheels and keep the good ones for racing. If you are running good tyres you are highly unlikely to ever puncture on in a race and you should get years of hassle-free use out of them.

Derny Driver wrote:Personally I'd be going 60 on the front. 60 is a versatile depth. I don't think the marginal aero advantage of the wider rim outweighs the negatives. The 88 front will be terrible in any kind of wind. No triathlon course is pancake flat and without any corners either.
Funny how you want to get rid of the tubbies when most triathletes value them for their superior speed and ride comfort. You should really reconsider your decision. Train on your normal wheels and keep the good ones for racing. If you are running good tyres you are highly unlikely to ever puncture on in a race and you should get years of hassle-free use out of them.

To be 100% honest, I'm terrified of getting a flat and having to deal with the whole glue situation and also the expense of replacing the whole tyre in that instance. I can't ride the A42s as they are 11 speed and the Shiv is 10. My thought process was to sell the tubular and replace them with clinchers. The tyres that are on them at the moment are Maxxis Re-Fuse and I don't think they're that crash hot.

[quote="rossocorsa"]
I can't ride the A42s as they are 11 speed and the Shiv is 10. quote]
Put a spacer behind a 10 speed cassette.

rossocorsa wrote: To be 100% honest, I'm terrified of getting a flat and having to deal with the whole glue situation and also the expense of replacing the whole tyre in that instance. I can't ride the A42s as they are 11 speed and the Shiv is 10. My thought process was to sell the tubular and replace them with clinchers. The tyres that are on them at the moment are Maxxis Re-Fuse and I don't think they're that crash hot.

I understand but its really not that hard. If you get a flat, you just rip the tyre off or cut it off with a retractible blade, and put a new one on and pump it up. Quick and easy. Only downside is you have to carry a complete tyre somewhere rather than tubes. Yes you have to buy a new tyre and get it glued on after the race ... considering how expensive triathlon racing is I dont see that as a major worry, and as I said with good tyres its an unlikely scenario.
Its your choice. If it was me I would get a shop to replace the existing tubbies with 23mm Conti Competitions, or 25s if the rims are suitable, and keep them for racing.
You are going to have to fork out for new tyres anyway if you decide to go with clinchers.
Good luck with it.