Thursday, October 4, 2012

Rol Race SLR Initial Impressions

So yesterday was the first day I got to take the Rol Race SLRs out for a ride.  It was a shortish tempo ride with a double loop of the St. Stephens and Chesterfield punchers.

As I pedaled out from home, I realized something very quickly: my legs felt like crap and I knew it was going to be one of those hard days where you work like a dog but don't go very fast.  Nonetheless, I was very pleased with the stiffness of the Race SLRs.  They feel very solid, even more so than the Mavic Ksyrium SL's that are my go-to wheels.  They feel about the same accelerating as the Ksyriums, but hold speed better.  I also noticed that the bike picked up noticeably more speed coasting down hills (and I was coasting a lot because of my lead legs).

Still, when I got home and uploaded the ride to Strava, I was surprised by what I found.  An average of 19.4 mph is much higher than what my legs were telling me.  Moreover, several very high placings on the St. Stephens and underwood climbs and a 3rd overall on the Muur van Chesterfield segment, which features a 6.8% average but rises to 15% for the last little segment was enough evidence for me that these wheels work very well.  Certainly I'll need a bit more time on them to tell, but for the time being, I'm very satisfied.  I'm thinking I might try running the American Classic rear wheel once it's back from the shop with the Rol front wheel and see how that feels.

Anyway, here's the link to the ride.

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