I have discussed this with several of the hard-core Cervelo testers and riders and have come to the conclusion that Wheel selection is as important as frame selection. Meaning that I believe a given frame is designed with a specific wheel in mind. Here’s what happened.
I have an R5ca and wore out a set of C24 wheels. I bought a set of C35’s for the bike, but the bike felt dead – felt like a piece of lead being pushed down the road. I seemed to have to labor more to spin the pedals. Went back to C24’s and the bike sprang back to life. It again feels light and very responsive. I could definitely feel a TREMENDOUS difference between these two wheels. I also have a Giant TCR Advanced SL that rides much better with C35’s than C24’s. My opinion is that C35’s are way too stiff for an already stiff (R5ca) frame, and the C35 wheels seemed to throw off the performance balance of the bike. But again, the Giant TCR Advanced SL loves the C35’s better than the C24’s
Anyone else experience this, any thoughts, comments?
I have always enjoyed bicycling and, through a series of coincidences, became a Bicycle Industry Consultant and Product Tester. I test prototype products for companies and have published only off the shelf production products on biketestreviews.com.
