Easton at Home: MVDH talks Wheelsets
Easton at Home: MVDH talks Wheelsets
Words: Michael van den Ham
Hey everyone! Michael van den Ham here with Easton/Giant pb Transitions Life Care CX team and Easton Overland gravel team.
In the video above, in my left hand I have an EC90 SL disc wheel and in my right I have an EC70 AX wheel. We’re going to spend the next couple minutes telling you when I would use each of these wheels and why.
EC90 SL
So let’s start with the narrower SL wheel. This one has a 19 mm internal width and a 28 mm external width. That means it’s going to set up perfectly with anything from a 22 mm road tire right up to a 35 mm cross tire or narrow gravel tire. Why would I choose this? To start with, if you’re a roadie, that 28 mm outer width basically means that’s going to be aerodynamically optimized with a 25 mm tire. And if you’re a cross racer, you want to go with that 19 mm platform because those 33 mm cross tires, when you go to the start line, if you’re doing a UCI race, or provincial or state championship, they’re actually going to measure 33 mm and fit within the UCI restrictions.
On another note, if you start running a rim that’s too wide for the tire that you’re matching it with, that rim’s going to basically end up looking like a little bit of a pyramid. The problem with that is that it leaves the sidewalls really susceptible to thorns and rocks or anything sharp that’s going to puncture them.
EC70 AX
Now, if we move on over to the AX wheelset, it has a wider rim with a 24 mm internal width and is designed to set up with anything from a 35 mm to a 50 mm gravel tire. So, why do you want that wider platform? Let’s go back and talk about the problems with running a narrow rim and a wider tire first. Basically when you start running that really narrow rim and wide tire, you end up making a real round light bulb shape – narrow at the bottom, really fat and bulbous at the top. If you can imagine going around a turn with that, the whole tire is going to be shifting from side to side and make the bike feel really squirrelly when you’re cornering. When you go to the wider platform instead, you get a really big stable base and you get a tire that’s a little bit more round with that stable base on the bottom – like a half sphere. When you corner with that, it’s going to feel a lot more stable. It also allows you to run a little bit lower pressure without running the risk of flatting.
So when I’m looking at the AX wheelset, I’m using that for any of the wide tires to provide that nice, stable platform. When I’m looking at the SL wheelset, I’m looking for the narrower tires to be more aerodynamically optimized, to measure UCI legal, and to match up with those narrow tires really nicely.
Words: Michael van den Ham
Hey everyone! Michael van den Ham here with Easton/Giant pb Transitions Life Care CX team and Easton Overland gravel team.
In the video above, in my left hand I have an EC90 SL disc wheel and in my right I have an EC70 AX wheel. We’re going to spend the next couple minutes telling you when I would use each of these wheels and why.
EC90 SL
So let’s start with the narrower SL wheel. This one has a 19 mm internal width and a 28 mm external width. That means it’s going to set up perfectly with anything from a 22 mm road tire right up to a 35 mm cross tire or narrow gravel tire. Why would I choose this? To start with, if you’re a roadie, that 28 mm outer width basically means that’s going to be aerodynamically optimized with a 25 mm tire. And if you’re a cross racer, you want to go with that 19 mm platform because those 33 mm cross tires, when you go to the start line, if you’re doing a UCI race, or provincial or state championship, they’re actually going to measure 33 mm and fit within the UCI restrictions.
On another note, if you start running a rim that’s too wide for the tire that you’re matching it with, that rim’s going to basically end up looking like a little bit of a pyramid. The problem with that is that it leaves the sidewalls really susceptible to thorns and rocks or anything sharp that’s going to puncture them.
EC70 AX
Now, if we move on over to the AX wheelset, it has a wider rim with a 24 mm internal width and is designed to set up with anything from a 35 mm to a 50 mm gravel tire. So, why do you want that wider platform? Let’s go back and talk about the problems with running a narrow rim and a wider tire first. Basically when you start running that really narrow rim and wide tire, you end up making a real round light bulb shape – narrow at the bottom, really fat and bulbous at the top. If you can imagine going around a turn with that, the whole tire is going to be shifting from side to side and make the bike feel really squirrelly when you’re cornering. When you go to the wider platform instead, you get a really big stable base and you get a tire that’s a little bit more round with that stable base on the bottom – like a half sphere. When you corner with that, it’s going to feel a lot more stable. It also allows you to run a little bit lower pressure without running the risk of flatting.
So when I’m looking at the AX wheelset, I’m using that for any of the wide tires to provide that nice, stable platform. When I’m looking at the SL wheelset, I’m looking for the narrower tires to be more aerodynamically optimized, to measure UCI legal, and to match up with those narrow tires really nicely.