Forum | Westwood wheels.

All & One,

I am fine with the Westwoods. My get up and go has gone and went so a couple of extra ounces does not make much difference to me. Plus I like the way the Westwoods compliment the Guv.

Best,

Jonathan

Hello Gents,

I am in aggrement with the comments above, adding to that only some information people that are “authorities” in such matters used to tell me when i used to race, ride and buy racing bikes. In essance it was always said the first best improvements were to make any moving parts (anything that spins) lighter e.g rims, tyres, hubs, cranks etc. Dead weight such as frame, stems, bars came second although of course it all makes a difference in racing and is indeed noticable just for daily jaunts , ala my carbon bike which is only a gram or two above the minimum legal weight for competetion racing takes off like a F1 and flys up hills in comparison to my early 90’s racer

of course the lighter the more fragile the bike and with my carbon bike i have to treat it very carefully as it is no doubt only a slight mishap away from being, well, broken you might say, still fun to take for a pleasure ride (and if the surface is good) if you feel like taking off from standing still like a rocket or making hill climbing that much easier or even adding on bursts of speed as you lean into meandering winding corners. my 90’s steel racer is more robust so it just feels more capable of standing up to what dished out but i still have to watch for bad surfaces (thin tyres and light weight alloy rims the biggest worry– the balloon tyres on the Guv would cushion the alloy rims a fair bit).

i also have ‚what used to be a top of line, in its day alloy MT (think it cost around 6K or so back in the day-still reasonably competive by todays standards though) from the 90’s its built to be light as well but the nature of it of course weighs more than a road racer (with suspension adding quite a bit of weight, frame built stronger too), its tyres are more in line (in terms of balloon size-but being hightech materials are much lighter than the cream tyres on the Guv) with what the Guv’nor has so thier comfy for rougher surfaces.

now i still havnt got a GuvNor persay (one of these days i might import one, there not redily available local where i am) but i do have some vintage bikes that are much the same design/geometry as the guv nor, all steel of course, westwood steel rims (Guv has lighter alloy), steel stems, cranks the works, you get the idea– depending on the bike usually Williams, Chater Lea or the very attractive old BSA running gear, attractive but a fraction heavier compared to more modern gear and indeed the Guv uses alloy cranks and such by the looks. So in comparison to a Guv to ride or weigh it might be interesting because my old bikes dont have fronts brakes (wasnt a legal requirement when they were made-dont know if i am breaking any law but thats how i ride them now-i suspect its not requirement if you have a vintage bike as its not a legal requiremt to upgrade vintage cars here with seatbelts or other such things) so they save that hub weight etc but make up for it a bit with a [strong] steel rim,  but they still ride fine, slower to take off, slower up hills, sure and they would definately take more effort to keep the same pace but they are fun to ride without the worry of poor surfaces with the stretched out geometry and bigger tyres ..they just ride slower for about the same effort and tuffer up hills–i sit back and enjoy the ride and if i abosolutely have too I get off and walk up a steep hill LOL

but in answer to the first question it is my belief that the extra weight of the wheel certainly makes difference [technically] even just riding around as you still have to excert that fraction more energy into keeping it up to a nominated speed, incomparison to a lighter wheel, also the bigger tyre creates more drag , for lack of the proper term which escapes me atm against the road surface and obviously the oncomming air. its just a matter of argument, circumstances or individual choice whether that difference is a fair trade off for the style and comfort the Guv gives.…you could always ditch the front brake  to save weight .not recomended nowadays!!! especially if you use the bike for comunting or in traffic, although it doesnt bother me personaly, i am used to it from being a kid that grew up with coaster brake bikes and even my kids ride some vintage bikes for sedate shop runs to pick up the milk or whatever with just rear coaster brakes bikes.