[CR]SSCs in use at Flanders

(Example: Framebuilders:Alex Singer)

Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:52:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tom Dalton" <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>
To: transition202@hotmail.com, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]SSCs in use at Flanders

Tom Harriman wrote:

"For racers it's (spoke breakage) not a concern, the sag car has plenty of spare wheels."

Just to pick nits...

There probably isn't all that much difference in fatigue life of butted vs. plain gauge spokes, (assuming you're talking about PG spokes with the same gauge as the end sections of the butted spokes) but your comment seems to suggest that racers are not concerned with spoke breakage because there is always a good supply of wheels in the support vehicle. First, the support vehicle is not always where it needs to be in order to provide a wheel. Neutral support is provided to fill in the gaps, but there are still times that a rider, especially a domestique, might wait for quite some time for a replacemnet wheel. Even under the best circumstances, a broken spoke (or flat) is a bit of an ordeal to recover from. Assume the pack is hammering away when you break a spoke, drop out of the group, get a new wheel, and get back underway all in a very improbable 20 seconds. That's 1/3 minute that you loose ground at the rate of about 30 mph. If you are some kind of TT god, maybe you can squeek out 32mph in your chase, so while you've lost ground at 30 mph, your closing at 1/15th that rate. So, your 1/3 minute becomes a 5 minute hammer session to regain the pack. That's a big effort, especially if it's near the end of a race and you hope to recover for the finale. Support helps, but equipment problems are best avoided.

Tom Dalton Bethlehem, Pennsylvania USA

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