Blackset Race - season 1.

[Mike T.]

Today I removed my BWW Blackset Race wheels for the winter.  Snowflurries are forecasted for today.  I don't use my good roadbike (an Argon18) much in the winter as I have other bikes for that purpose but I have another wheelset for the Argon when the roads aren't at their best.  My BWW OpenPro/Dura Ace wheels will stay on the bike until next April.

I installed the Blackset Race on March 19th of this year and together we did 1697 miles spread over 61 rides (average of 27.81 miles per ride) with the longest ride being 64 miles.  In that time I rode other bikes (with other wheels of course) and even test rode another set of wheels for a few weeks.

I remember the feeling when I first rode the Blackset Race.  My previous wheels, the OpenPro/DuraAce 32 spoke wheels weighed 1762 grams, which was 352 grams (or 12.4oz) heavier than the 1410 grams of the Blackset Race.  I expected to feel a difference and I did.  I remember the report I did on the Wheels forum of RBR.com where I said the Blackset Race felt "nippy" - something with no unit of measurement but something no less real.  The wheels were faster to spin up to speed; the steering was faster; it felt like a different bike under me.  It jumped out of slow corners and we accelerated up many short, sharp hills.

Of course we get used to most things in time as it's really the relativity we're experiencing at the moment.  It still hurts to climb hills.  We still crave the same muscle burn.  As Greg Lemond said - "It doesn't get any easier; we just go faster."

The Blackset Race performed perfectly throughout the season.  They arrived true, they stayed true and this morning, when I cleaned them, they were still true.  I haven't touched them with a spoke wrench at all.  Not even after I hit the mother of all potholes on the summer's longest ride - the 100km Tour de Norfolk.  I hit that pothole on a 30mph downhill, over a river bridge.  The impact flattened the tire to the rim as it resounded with a sickening "BUNNNGGGGG".  Something flew off the bike due to the impact.  I stopped, checked the wheel and tire (both ok) and found I'd jettisoned a full waterbottle.  I never did find it and I think it went off the bridge into the river.  The impact swiveled my handlebars down too.  Further inspection the next day proved there was no rim damage at all.  A week later I took a leisurely Corvette Cruise to look for my waterbottle but it was not to be found. My wife refused to wade into the river to search further.      Arrgghh $4 lost plus the $8 of gasoline to prove the bottle was lost forever.  What will I do?   

The BWW wheels performed flawlessly and it would have been a disservice to them if I had added "for their low price" to that statement.  They performed great compared to wheels at any price.  My BWW's have the Sapim CX-Ray spoke upgrade and currently they list for $494.95 with the base Blackset Race (DT Comp spokes) selling for $349.95.

Great job BWW.

[Weav]

I swear I'm going to have to try a set of those Blackset Race one of these days.

[coachstevo]

I just did the same thing-- removed them for the winter, put on the 2000g winter wheels. Rain is pounding here...probably won't stop now until May.

for me it is my second season with these wheels.  3764 miles... no race miles, but loads of nasty hill climbing
Death Ride
Climb to Kaiser
Auburn Lone Ranger "century"
Amgen etape du tour in Napa
innumerable trips up Mt Tam

I had to true the front wheel once. Once. That was after a pothole impact on a descent- flatted the tire, etc
i'm so glad i've got these, they feel like a secret weapon

[Mike T.]

i'm so glad i've got these, they feel like a secret weapon

I've got an Excel database of wheels, their weights and their cost.  I can see that the Race are the best weight versus price out there.  If I had the Excel/math skills I'd figure out the formula of weight versus cost which would move the Race to the top of the list.  But I don't   

[cfoster]

i'm so glad i've got these, they feel like a secret weapon

I've got an Excel database of wheels, their weights and their cost.  I can see that the Race are the best weight versus price out there.  If I had the Excel/math skills I'd figure out the formula of weight versus cost which would move the Race to the top of the list.  But I don't   

Mike,

We'd love to see that sheet!  In case you weren't being facetious, you could potentially populate Column A with wheel products, B with MSRPs, C with weights, in column D...the formula is =B1/C1.  The lower the price to weight ratio the better, right?

That's about it.  As you can guess we try to keep an eye on what else is out there in the marketplace.  The big unknown for us is what the actual weights are as compared to the listed weights.  We even recently had a little issue with that with our BSR 10 wheels, but I believe the site update now better reflects the average actual weights.

[Mike T.]

i'm so glad i've got these, they feel like a secret weapon

I've got an Excel database of wheels, their weights and their cost.  I can see that the Race are the best weight versus price out there.  If I had the Excel/math skills I'd figure out the formula of weight versus cost which would move the Race to the top of the list.  But I don't   

Mike,
We'd love to see that sheet!  In case you weren't being facetious, you could potentially populate Column A with wheel products, B with MSRPs, C with weights, in column D...the formula is =B1/C1.  The lower the price to weight ratio the better, right?
That's about it.  As you can guess we try to keep an eye on what else is out there in the marketplace.  The big unknown for us is what the actual weights are as compared to the listed weights.  We even recently had a little issue with that with our BSR 10 wheels, but I believe the site update now better reflects the average actual weights.

I'll gladly send you the file later today Chris.  Last year I went thru many manuf's sites and got their model, price and weight and Exceled them.  Of course it's a crap-shoot getting REAL weights but all I can do is to get what's printed.  Plus I can't scour the 'net looking for the absolute best sale price either.  One dude at RBR said weeks ago "Hey I can get those xxx wheels for XXX less at XXX mailorder!".  Well goll-lee-gee-whiz, if I had less of a life than I have now maybe *I* could find a better price too.  I used manuf's sites, retailers, e-tailers (like yourself) and major mailorder sites.  Is my database perfect?  Absolutely not.  Is it current and totally up to date?  Same answer.  But, accurate or not, it shows up some VERY interesting stuff.  And that info usually surround K-word wheelsets and some other well know ones.

My son was here at xmas and tried to jigger a cost versus weight equation behind the scenes on my Excel file but it wasn't giving me what I was looking for.  I'm not brainy enough to really put into words what I want.  I want to click a column and have the best value wheelset rise to the top and everything else, down to the expensive boat-anchors, in descending order.  That's not too much to ask is it?

Yes I know some of your Blackset Race varieties have risen in weight a bit over the past year and it's tough for my file to reflect that as I don't know the real weights.  And it might be tough for you too as I'm aware of weight ranges and fluctuations withing every product, especially extruded rim sections.  But I've done my best and it's been an interesting exercise even if it's not 100% accurate (or ever will be).

Maybe it can be a basis to encourage you to form your own database so you can see how you're doing compared to the competition.

One thing that is gospel is that the base Blackset Race is just about the best deal out there (weight/cost ratio) and we both know that.