New wheels for the Roux!

A quick trip up to Ribble Cycles this morning and the bike has new wheels - Mavic Aksium S wheels to be exact. Unlike conventional wheels, they have 20 spokes each rather than 32 and each spoke is flattened so it slices through the air. To make them even stiffer and more aerodynamic, the front wheel and the non-drive side of the rear wheel are radially laced. Every cycling expert on the entire internet says a wheel upgrade is the best first upgrade to make on a bike. With a wheel, you're expending energy to turn the wheel and energy to move it along in space so in effect you get double the weight saving over a heavier wheel.

Overall the wheels should be faster and more efficient to ride and at less that £200 I reckon they make a great first upgrade for a budget bike, too.

I'm going for a ride later so the Garmin will reveal the truth...

Update: These wheels are amazing! The first 3.7 miles of my local 18 route is slightly uphill all the way and I tend to average about 15-16 miles per hour. This afternoon I was somewhat surprised to see it was 18 miles an hour! The downside is that they are a lot stiffer and more jarring than normal 3-cross wheels but it's a fair trade-off for the extra speed I reckon.