A stretch would be the optimal tire BS presented by hookless would invalidate the Silca calculator.
This whole hookless saga has been fascinating. It shows you to what extent the industry tries to convince us of things, how gullible we are, how little pushback they get on some of this stuff and how fortunate we are to have a place with knowledgeable people to get a more balanced view of things.
I was speaking to a pro rider who was “we need 30, we need 32……” to which a simple “but Pogi does….” and he is back on the 28 bandwagon.
so where is silcas conflict of interest i wonder i wonder if the person that makes this claim would explain it in a clear way , why he thinks there is a conflict of interest.
Tested on two otherwise-identical Strade (49mm) front wheels, fitted with the exact same Continental GP5000S TR (28mm) tyre. Internal rim measurement on the hooked rim is our standard 22.5mm, the hookless rim was 23.5mm. Max external on both is 32.0mm.
We originally published this on our website almost 2 years ago & are still (as far as I’m aware) the only wheel manufacturer to have published directly comparable, back-to-back test data of a hooked rim versus a hookless rim.
Caveat: this data is for one rim profile, with one size of one particular tyre. I fully accept that just because this rim isn’t faster in its hookless form, it doesn’t mean that no rim could be faster. But I’ve certainly not seen any data that suggests this is the case.
One thing that would be cool is a poll on how ST readers perceive the whole hookless discussion. We have this thread with maybe a dozen readers, somewhat passionate and non-believers (I think Eric calls us the haters :-))
It would be interesting to see what average Joe thinks. The poll would have to be written by someone non biased
We actually have one going up today just like we have had some in the past… Also. I call you the haters because you time and time again just love yelling at us for sharing information about hookless and the fact that we tend to not dislike it as much as some.
If you quantify the benefits, they are marginal at best, whereas one of the drawbacks is life threatening. No way a responsible industry would try to push that onto consumers.
Fully agree that the industry has been very bad at communication. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there with hookless tyres on hooked rims and viceversa. I would go further, I would guess that only s very small minority of consumers don’t even know there are hooked and hookless rims. Let alone the differences and implications. If I say 5%, I am probably over optimistic.
I cant think of a time where any of us as said at slowtwitch has ever said that HOOKLESS is over all better. We just dont dislike it. Some of us on the site use it and some dont…We report on it a lot because of your statement above very little people really know about it. yes we have partners that produce hookless wheels and just like we work with other partners that have HOOKED wheels.
Average Joe here. I’ve read the posts in this discussion and others related posts and really hadn’t formed a strong opinion either way. My riding profile has changed over the years to where I’ve been putting most of my miles on my gravel bike running '42s on what I believe are hooked rims (Specialized Roval and Terra) and over all those miles I learned that higher PSI is not necessary faster.
My old tri bike was limited to '25 and for my new purchase I wanted to be able to run up to '30 for comfort and control and so I purchased the Cervelo P-Series which came with the Reserve wheelset which I thought were hooked but in this discussion it has been deemed “semi-hookless”.
Speed is certainly a factor with a tri bike and last month I was able to come close to my 15year old 40K PR bike leg on the new tri bike running a set of Corsa Pro Speed '29s @ 72 psi.
The previous PR was on a set of Cosmic Carbone '23s running Contis with latex tubes probably @110 (120?) PSI.
I very much love the ride of wider tires at lower pressure so long as it is not the main inhibiter to my performance on the bike. I used Josh’s tire pressure guide for that last race and it seemed to be spot on for me.
Safety is a major concern for me and knowing that the Reserve’s are “semi-hooked” gives me a sense of security since my pump is years old and my eyes have a hard time seeing that PSI gauge.
Yes, 72 psi. I’ve been a Conti 4 5K rider forever so first time trying Corsa Pro Speed. They felt awesome, like the first-time riding latex but even smoother!
In his lecture he also failed to recognize plenty of “new technology” that turned out to be not so good and quietly faded away: 650 c TT bikes, magura hydraulic rim brakes, boomerang shaped bikes, completely round TT helmets, biopace, drop in handlebars, funny bikes, etc… I put hookles rims in this category, I mean come on, they now have “micro hooks”
you’re sounding pretty butthurt, marc. i don’t remember ever saying how “ignorant [you] all are.” what i do remember writing is what i rode, why i rode it, that i have nothing against wheels with bead hooks, that i have and ride wheels both with and without bead hooks, and that all of you should ride the wheels you want.
in my own riding - wheels both with and without bead hooks - i see the benefit you don’t. for example, i own an unrideable set of zipp 303s (old style) because of a chip in the bead hook rendering one of those wheels unable to hold air. i own a new style 303 that does not (and cannot) have that problem. but i don’t think you’re wrong for choosing wheels with bead hooks. i just think you’re rude.
