Road Test Review

Oakville ON, Canada: 12.08.10
Test Drive feedback, by Paolo Maccario

Tester: Paolo Maccario, CEO 6N Silicon Inc., Vitess rider.

Aug 12th 2010 5:29PM Oakville, ON area

Julien,
Are you sure these wheels are legal? Just averaged 30.5 on the uphill portion to Limehouse, approx 2km/hr faster than usual I’ll let you know how they behave going down.
Ciao

(communication courtesy of RIM)

Aug 12th 2010 8:19PM Oakville, ON

Hi Julien

Completed the ride, unfortunately without objective data on the downhill trip, as my blackberry GPS decided to stop recording after 45km.

In any case, some of the uphill “magic” was certainly helped by the strong SW winds, rather than anything “illegal” with the wheels!

In general I would say that they are better than my wheels and more aligned with what I understand the “typical” Vitess rider might be looking for.

In term of benefits I was expecting less cross wind resistance and that was certainly very apparent today.

What I also found was a much smoother ride, as even the largest cracks on the road that would normally result in a loud “smack” with my wheels, were very well absorbed by the Topolino. The general ride was very nice and so “velvety” that after few minutes I was hooked.

In spite of the smoothness, even on rough patches were gravel had been “seeded”, I did feel my hands going “numb” a couple of times. That does not normally happen with my wheels and I cannot explain it.

I found a significantly faster acceleration from 0 to 30, and I certainly experienced a quicker climb on the steeper section going to the Limehouse Park.

The braking was closer to an aluminum wheel than a carbon one and very solid.

I cannot judge top speed, due to the loss of the GPS; max recorded speed was 59 km/hr.

On the downhill, I did not feel or see on the speedometer any significant improvement over the Equinox. In what is normally the fastest section between Upper Middle and Dundas, I was 5km/hr slower than the usual (42 vs. 47) but the road was fully exposed to the headwind.

I certainly recommend the wheels as a better all around choice than the Equinox, unless top speed is the purpose of the purchase, and even then I am not sure.

Julien, thanks for allowing me to test them.

Ciao

Paolo