Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Mike Garcia Wheel

I have enough miles on my new rear wheel to comment on it. It was built up on my DT 240S hub which I had had for 2 years. First, he was great to email with to figure out the best way to build it up to suit my needs. We ended up using DT bladed spokes and the same kind of rim that I'd had before, an R1.1 DT rim. 32 holes, 3 cross, black spokes with silver brass fasteners. It was a bit heavier than the previous build but that build wasn't so sturdy. So I wanted something that was still responsive and fun to ride, but that wasn't up on the truing stand every other week.

I mailed him the hub and had the wheel back in 2 or 3 weeks. The wheel was perfectly true and round out of the box. Upon putting it on the bike, I was real impressed by the feel of the wheel on the first ride. It was impeccably tight feeling. What I mean is that it was stiff without being too stiff. And - this is weird - the wheel felt like it lowered the center of gravity of the bike. It was so non-floppy that the bike handled better. Pretty dang amazing.

After riding a couple hundred miles on it, I decided to try abusing it some to see what would happen. I hopped off a couple curbs, bunny hopped some debris on the road, stuff like that. I managed to loosen up one of the non-drive spokes and put the wheel significantly out of true. But I got home and retensioned that one spoke, and it went right back into true/round and it has stayed that way ever since. In my experience this kind of thing is fairly normal with a new wheel as everything settles into place. Most wheelbuilders will tell you to bring it back after a bit to let them deal with this kind of situation, so it doesn't bother me at all.

I'm impressed with his wheels and when the funds become available I will probably get a low spoke count Mike Garcia wheelset for my tt bike, and get him to rebuild the front wheel of the DT wheelset in a year or so. His website is www.oddsandendos.com if you're interested.

I think with his stuff you get a better deal than on boutique pre-builts, you can get them a bit lighter, and they are easier to service. Yet the performance is comprable.

posted by Mark @ 8:16 AM