Silca SpeedBalance puts your wheels in equilibrium with new aero magnet setup

Or you could buy balanced wheels, like those made by Fulcrum to name just one.

The one thing I will say about the ‘not a problem’ comments (we’ve heard that a lot) is that it really might not be a problem with your particular setup. The issue is primarily caused by stackups in imbalance caused by the full assembly..so the rims will be heavy at the valve hole by a variable amount, the tubes will be heavy there to reinforce the valve stem, the stems and valves will have variance etc.. also the total system weight plays a factor as 10 grams of imbalance on a 300 gram rim with 180 gram tubular tire feels much worse to the rider than 10gm of imbalance on a 500 gram rim with 300 gm of tire and tube.

As LowRider points out, there are wheel companies who already address this issue with various features because they know it’s a real thing, Fulcrum and Campy use brass nipples opposite the valve stem for instance, and Lightweight embeds a magnet in the layup opposite the valve, but at most they are only balancing the wheel before tube and tire are installed as they have no idea how much additional imbalance those items are bringing to the table.

With this, you can tune in 2.5gm increments (and you get the benefit of the aero spoke magnet) so for some wheels the magnet may be all you need (the magnet weighs exactly the same as a 48mm valve stem w/core) and then as you add valve extenders and such you can add tungsten.

My only other comment on the nature of the phenomenon here is that riders who’ve never balanced don’t see the need, and those that have been on balanced wheels will never go back.. We had this at CSC years back where Fabian was sensitive to it on his TT bike (the 100mm valve stem on a tubular 808 is about 18 grams of imbalance on a pretty light setup) so his mechanic and I balanced those wheels in the spring, then some other guys tried it at the Dauphine based on his feedback, and before you know it I was sitting in a Euro hotel room before the TdF balancing 80 wheels because everybody was talking about the improvement on the super fast descents.

Like i said in our launch materials, this is a product I’d have killed for 10 years ago..this one’s based on some serious history and lessons learned first hand.
Thanks for listening
Josh

I doubt this is more aero than the the lead tape. Cycling is the new golf remember.

If you’re going to add weight to a wheel and charge $36 for it, I’d expect an integrated gyroscopic-powered LED, or a GPS beacon, a speed sensor, a bluetooth speaker, a patch kit, pillbox, a spare Di2 battery. Get creative guys.

I never felt my rolling resistance, nor seen air, yet both are real and effect cyclists. If nothing else Josh does not trade in fantasy, as Josh said many makers have worked on balance issues. As a person who has opted to work in Asia I can say my comments about imbalanced automotive wheels in taxis have been met with driver skepticism by answering “no problem I can still drive and steer”.