Bicycling is Wrong
The Wrongness
I saw something the other day that made my head turn. No it wasn’t mickey mouse playing the trumpet on the Hawthorne bridge. Seen it. It was a review in Bicycling Magazine for the Edge 2.45 Carbon Rim. And I thought, “I have that rim OMG!” googley rolley eyes..blah blah blah
You might say the first problem is that I admitted to reading Bicycling Magazine and for that I must admit I am sorry. However, the review was shocking to me.
On page 37 of the April issue Joe Lindsey rates the wheel two ways.
1. “Buy It”: If you want a high tech, niche-brand alternative to the usual players.
2. “Forget It”: If you want a daily driver; these are to finicky for everyday use.
Blamo! Are you kidding me? Has Joe even ridden these wheels?
I agree the wheels are niche but they are not to finicky. Is it because the nipples are on the inside? Sure I would prefer them on the outside for easy maintenance, but that’s the thing. They don’t need maintenance.
I guess I was shocked because I have done what he said to forget….ride these wheels as daily drivers. I have used the Edge 45’s as my daily drivers/racers 6 days a week since June 2009. In fact, I went back and looked. I’ve logged 6,861 miles on this rim and it hasn’t needed to be trued!
You might say, I bet this guy is 130lbs and rides base miles everyday in San Diego. Nope! I’m 170lbs, live in Portland (ah la rain) and just last week cranked out 16, 1200-1400 watt sprints over and over. Guess what? The wheels felt great.
To sum it up, that’s almost 7,000 rainy, sunshine drenched, mud covered, pee’ing while pedaling miles and the brake track still looks fresh and the rim is true. That’s more than I can say for the Zipps (broken spokes and loose hubs) I’ve seen lately. I mean, what is Joe comparing the Edge rims too?
My recommendation? If you have the money buy them. If you don’t? Sell your first born and buy the rims. They are that good.
P.S I had them built at VeloShop so maybe it was there magic tensioning abilities that keep them so straight. Good job guys.
Exhibit A
Bicycling’s review does them a disservice. It really looks like they just browsed the spec sheet and then came up with a couple of pithy sentences. To the kind of rider for whom Edge would be an option (ie. serious and with means), the review is of no use whatsoever. Everything I have seen on the web about Edge is that they are bomber. Yes, the internal nipples are a pain when you have to true them, but, as you point out, the overall durability of the wheels makes up for that.
Those internal nipples and the moulded, not drilled, spoke holes, allow for higher spoke tensions, which creates a higher performance wheel. But then, that is hard to grasp if you don’t bother riding them.
clincher or tubular?
clincher.