Wheels - question

[JennK13]

If you were to ask my DH he would tell you that there is a significant difference in riding skinnier, lighter wheels/tires - he would say this as I dropped him big time simply by changing wheelsets. I was surprised at the wide range of tire sizes that can fit on a wheel - my stock set takes anything from 23s to 35s. I really notice the difference going from my skinny set to my fat cross tires both in responsiveness and pedal weight.

I also second having two wheelsets if you're going to be changing them frequently. I have cross tires on my stock set, and skinny road tires on a set of Eastons I picked up. I did change my road set once race season was over and winter set in to a more hearty and weather resistant tire with torn proof, slime filled tubes (my race set is pretty light) and these will stay on until the beginning of summer or my first tri of the season. With snow, it's so easy for me to just swap out wheelsets to my cross tires to hit the trails.

The second wheelset changed my bike enough to where it does substitute as another bike. I'm significantly faster with the lighter set, and my bike can now take me anywhere from a triathlon race, to fast group rides, to trail rides and cross races.