Mr. Gadd's comment brought to mind a lovely moment I had awhile back, on a ride with the LA wheelmen. I'm about the only guy in the group who rides sew-ups, and they occasionally marvel at that.
Before the beginning of a ride, a couple of the guys I know were discussing the weight of his new super-duper wheels. I dunno what they were, some ugly high-techie modern stuff. Clincher tires.
I pulled off my front wheel (that day, LF Campagnolo record hub, straight QR, with Clement Criterium Seta on 36 hole Ergal rims with straight guage DT spokes), held it out, and said, "check this out."
You should have seen the look on his face as he took it from me. It was as if he'd been confronted by something utterly impossible. He said "how old is this?" I said "oh, about 25 years old" and the look on his face changed to utter bemusement...he was speechless. My wheel was noticeably lighter than his 400 dollar wonder...made me proud. My rear wheel was probably lighter than his too...although I had only five cogs on mine instead of 10...otoh, my wheels cost me about 100 bucks.
I'll take that set of trade-offs any day.
Charles Andrews
in perfect SoCal