This first weekend of racing with the POA Cycling Team has me looking forward to the next opportunity to roll on the tarmac with my teammates. Having a team has many advantages. You have support that a lone rider would never have. With great sponsors there are opportunities to get equipment and services you would not normally afford.

One deal I have not taken advantage of are the wheels. This season I stuck with my Ksyriums. My upgrade budget got cleaned out when I got the SRAM Red group. So, I was excited with Boyd Johnson offered to let me use a set of his alloy wheels for the first weekend of the Greenville Spring Training Series.

I’ve mentioned Boyd before, but primarily to talk about his venture of starting his own line of bikes. You can see his offerings at his web site: BoydBikes.com. However, I’ve been keeping an eye on the wheels he has been turning out as well.

Boyd has his hubs specifically machined for the wheels and couples them together with top of the line spokes and rims to create a solid set of wheels. Granted, I have not tried his carbon wheel sets, but I have to say I was impressed with these.

The first things I fell in love with were the hubs. Not only are they pleasant to look at, but they are as smooth as silk. Did I mention that you aren’t hauling a lot of weight around? The front hub weighs in at around 67 grams and the rear 255 grams.

The Sapim CX Ray spokes are slightly less wide than my SLs. This is to give a balance between aerodynamics and stability in crosswinds. The rims I was rolling on weigh in at 455 grams. The setup makes for a great combination.

Granted, carbon they are not, but I’m not sure I’ll ever own a set of carbon wheels. I need a wheel set that can do double duty — light enough to be fast when I need it and tough enough for those nasty roads we get sometimes. These wheels fit the need.

Saturday’s race was at Donaldson Center. We switched the wheels right before I headed out to race. Frankly, I was a little concerned since there are some pretty rough sections — including the notorious train tracks. However, after the first pass over the tracks I was set at ease.

Over the roughest sections there was nary a rattle. The wheels took the shock well and I held control. Before long I wasn’t thinking of the wheels at all.

Sunday was a different situation. I was on a smooth test track. However, the speeds would be much higher and there was a stronger crosswind to deal with. Once again the wheels showed they had what it took to keep me upright and headed like an arrow.

It was the one thing that did come to mind during the race. The wheels performed great in the crosswind. Coming out of the corner from a headwind to a crosswind there was no push. I was very pleased and was glad to bring Boyd’s wheels across the line with a top 5 finish.

Boyd asked me what I thought. I told him that to me the greatest compliment I could give is that I didn’t think of them! Normally, you only think of your wheels when they’re doing something you don’t like. With Boyd Bike wheels I felt comfortable and confident in less than a single race.

Pick up a Boyd Bike wheel and spin it in your hands. The craftsmanship shows — and it won’t make your arm tired either. Put it on your bike and you’ll be rolling with confidence. At $500 for a set of clinchers it is well worth the price. Plus, Boyd has several color options you can go with for a custom look.

Am I biased? You bet. I want Boyd to succeed. However, I know that if I don’t tell the truth here at Low Cadence, it will come back to haunt me.  Go try your own Boyd wheel set. Tell me they aren’t as good as wheels twice the price.

 

Tags: Boyd Bikes, Boyd Johnson, Wheels

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.