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FEATURES: WHEEL FANATYK WOODEN WHEELS
Richard Cunningham
March 11, 2009
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Ric Hjertberg’s challenge was straightforward: “Wood was the exclusive material for racing rims for over 70 years. All Classics, Tours, Olympics, and Championships were contested on wood. Anyone who is truly committed to the sport should ride a good pair of wooden wheels at least once, to experience and hopefully understand this important chapter of cycling history.”
Unfortunately, the fact that the golden era of cycle racing was contested upon wooden wheels and tubular tires is lost to a world whose bicycles are designed by city folk in digital nano-space and then popped out of molds in factories half way around the globe by uniformed workers whose only commitment to the sport is the succession of zeros on their paychecks. Today, relevant cycling history is measured in model years. Little is known and precious few care about this formative chapter in cycling history, yet this is the window of time when every aspect of the road racing bicycle was cemented and competition-tested, often in weather and road conditions that would shut down a modern ProTour event. We write about “compliance” and “cornering” and define the nuances of rolling resistance and acceleration as if each successive bicycle maker reinvents these concepts. In truth, we, with our carbon and computers, are at best adding and subtracting marbles to a leather bag that was sewn and filled a century earlier.
We accepted Ric’s challenge, and a few months later, recieved a pair of hand-built wheels (by wheel-master Hjertberg himself) with Ghisallo Elegante rims, Shimano Dura-Ace hubs, and Wheelsmith butted spokes. Ric glued some Vittoria Rally Competition tubular tires to the wheels so we could ride them first thing.
THE RIMS
Wheel Fanatyk is the only U.S. importer of high-performance wooden rims, and the source of these beautifully-crafted hoops, Ghisallo of Italy, is the last remaining manufacturer of laminated wooden road rims on earth. Ric Hjertberg actually is Wheel Fanatyk, and the only importer of Ghisallo rims in North America. Ghisallo rims are made on the same machines and use the same tooling as their original wheels over 50 years ago, and they still use laminated beechwood from a secret old-growth forest in Slovenia. While Ghisallo rims appear to be a single piece of beechwood, they are laminated from five layers of hand-picked and milled hardwood. The profile and beautiful marine-varnished finish of the rims look almost exactly the same now as then, but the father and son team now use a longer-lasting and quite-stronger two-part epoxy glue and a layer of linen between each strip of wood in the laminating process. Ghisallo makes two tubular 700C rims, the Corsa and Elegante (our test rim), a 700C clincher, and a wider, 26 x 1.75-inch clincher rim for classic mountain bikes or for cruising.
THE TECH
Our Elegante rims weigh 430 grams each (quite a lot in the era of 900-gram wheelsets), and are drilled for a 32-spoke, cross-three lacing pattern. The spoke holes are drilled at the precise angle for this particular spoke pattern, and countersunk into the wooden rim to make room for an aluminum washer under the spoke nipple. The less rigid nature of wood, as compared to modern aluminum types, necessitates more spokes to maintain even tension and trueness. You won’t be building up a lightweight set of wheels– ours tipped the scales at 420 grams. To build up a set, you’ll need longer-than-average nipples (included, along with the special washers with rim purchase), and some thread locking fluid. Should you want to build up a set, Wheel Fanatyk has a wealth of instructional information on its website: www.wheelfanatyk.com. All the rims cost the same, $195 each, and are available direct from the Wheel Fanatyk website.
THE QUESTIONS
Beyond naive curiosity, the most pertinent questions that potential customers ask are: what If I get my wheels wet? What kind of brake pads do I have to use? And are wooden wheels strong enough to ride at race pace? The answers, according to Ric, are given in simple form:
WATER?
As long as the wheels are left indoors to dry slowly, water will not affect the wood—and in some cases, will toughen it, as wood needs to contain a certain measure of moisture to maintain its strength. Wood will abrade quickly if large amounts of grit are present (cyclocross or muddy conditions), but racers crossed the stormy Alps and competed in Belgium with similar rims for three quarters of a century without undue problems.
BRAKING?
For braking, nearly unobtainable felt or leather pads are best, because wood, like carbon fiber, does not dissipate heat. Ric suggests carbon-specific pads from Swisstop or Chris King. Expect black stripes to appear as the wood and varnish is actually burned off by braking friction.
PERFORMANCE?
Now that the high passes over the Alps and Pyrenees are paved, we cannot replicate the daring descents that the Giants of cycle racing’s classics entrusted to their wooden wheels and cotton tubular tires. As for cobbles—the stones that remain are the exact ones that pounded racers fifty years ago. No problem.
THE RIDE
Smooth is the correct, yet sufficient word to describe the way our Ghisallo-equipped wheels rolled. Yeah, they are heavy, and yeah, they don’t have the snappy acceleration of a Zipp 202 with an Andre Dugast silk tubular—but, man, do they roll! Vittoria Rally tubulars are affordably priced, sport-level tires, but very comparable to the performance one might expect from the best tubulars of the wooden era. The combination was magical. With 120psi in the tires, the wheels roll silently over cracks and broken pavement, absorbing road noise and muting substantial impacts to an extent that defies any modern wheel we have ridden. Over a stretch of rough pavement, where a massively rigid wheel, like a Mavic R-SYS with a racing clincher, will bang, stutter, and slow slightly, the Ghisallo wheel rolls effortlessly past, unfettered. Take your vintage wheels over a gravel road and the combination of a good cotton tubular tire and a truly compliant wheel makes for a nearly pleasant ride. Beyond comfort, the Ghisallo-laced wheels corner with conviction—lending credibility to the legendary exploits of golden-age competitors. It doesn’t take long to realize why wooden wheels enjoyed such a long and productive lives. Without modern roads, we might still be throwing down our credit cards for wood—even in the carbon era.
THE VERDICT
Truly, the first compulsion to purchase a set of pricey wooden wheels is for their nostalgic cool factor. That said, there are compelling performance and comfort factors that should be considered. If you ride a variety of surfaces—perhaps you link unpaved roads to distant highways over local mountains—a good set of wheels based upon Ghisallo rims, with some 25-millimeter tubular tires, would be the absolute perfect choice. The extra weight of Ghisallo rims will take a little from your acceleration and climbing, but for all-day rides or recovery days, they will return far more life to your legs and torso in the form of rolling comfort.
PRICE: $195 (rim only, includes extended spoke-nipples and washers) (complete)
INFO: www.wheelfanatyk.com
WEIGHT: 430 grams (rim only)
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