Of course a good pair of wheels will improve the performance of any bike (apart from a good and strong pair of legs). And most cyclists will agree on that whithout having physics in mind because everybody should have noticed this improvement by his own.
On other hand you want a period correct wheelset for your bike, right?
Well, what came first? Hen or the egg?
In case of rims the wooden ones came definetly first, followed by the steel ones, the dural ones filled with wood and at least the aluminium and the carbon ones we know today.
Wooden rims are harder to build with, they require regular maintenance, they are more expensive and they flex a bit. However, if you want a traditional looking and period correct wheel for your pre 1940 lightweight, wooden rims are a marvellous move, something that we should be happy of beeing still produced today in italy by CBT or Chisallo for instance.
Just spend some time to watch on how wooden rims are made by Cerchi Ghisallo today
But what kind of rims should be your choise for your period correct build?
I would go for wooden ones or so called gendarme clincher rims (periode correct up to 1930) made of steel for any kind of pre war manufactured lightweights.
If you plan to re-build a pre war british lightweight I would prefer french made America Fairbanks imported to Britain by Constrictor (many times those rims were badged Constrictor as well) for tubulars tires (periode correct up to 1955) or Dunlop Special Lightweight chrome plated steel rims for clinchers (periode correct up to 1965).
Their rarer sisters Dunlop Stainless Special Lightweights (periode correct up to 1955) are a nice alternative but are prone to crack around their spoke holes.
At the middle of the 30th they started to produce rims made of dural. Those were first used with randonneuse bicycles in size 650B and later managed to swap to the speed cycling section too. The first ones in Germany, who get patented and started to produce those alloy rims were Altenburger in 1936 and Grünert followed by swiss Weinmann and Scheeren,
Weinmann and Scheeren are the ones with balsa wood inlets (periode correct up to 1960), the Grünert ones were used with eastern german Diamant lightweights up to the end of this SED dictatorship and oppression of freedom, privacy and democracy (periode correct up to 1989 with Diamant, up to 1961 with others).
In UK it was Constrictor who started with alloy rims first and it doesn´t even matter if you go for their ASP or solid version (periode correct up to 1960). Those have been the riderss choise of that period in UK, are very tough but never truly true as the riveted washers in the rim tend to hike a bit.
San Giorgio clincher or sprint rims are a very rare find but fit on lightweights coming of the period between 1940 and 1955.
Besides that and because their shape didn´t change dramatically with decades you can go for many sprint/ tubular rims made by Fiamme and Mavic. Those can be used for any build up to 1970 with ease and may also be an easy to source substitute for old Ambrosio and Dural sprint rims made in pre war italy.
On other hand you want a period correct wheelset for your bike, right?
Well, what came first? Hen or the egg?
In case of rims the wooden ones came definetly first, followed by the steel ones, the dural ones filled with wood and at least the aluminium and the carbon ones we know today.
Wooden rims are harder to build with, they require regular maintenance, they are more expensive and they flex a bit. However, if you want a traditional looking and period correct wheel for your pre 1940 lightweight, wooden rims are a marvellous move, something that we should be happy of beeing still produced today in italy by CBT or Chisallo for instance.
Just spend some time to watch on how wooden rims are made by Cerchi Ghisallo today
But what kind of rims should be your choise for your period correct build?
I would go for wooden ones or so called gendarme clincher rims (periode correct up to 1930) made of steel for any kind of pre war manufactured lightweights.
If you plan to re-build a pre war british lightweight I would prefer french made America Fairbanks imported to Britain by Constrictor (many times those rims were badged Constrictor as well) for tubulars tires (periode correct up to 1955) or Dunlop Special Lightweight chrome plated steel rims for clinchers (periode correct up to 1965).
Their rarer sisters Dunlop Stainless Special Lightweights (periode correct up to 1955) are a nice alternative but are prone to crack around their spoke holes.
At the middle of the 30th they started to produce rims made of dural. Those were first used with randonneuse bicycles in size 650B and later managed to swap to the speed cycling section too. The first ones in Germany, who get patented and started to produce those alloy rims were Altenburger in 1936 and Grünert followed by swiss Weinmann and Scheeren,
Weinmann and Scheeren are the ones with balsa wood inlets (periode correct up to 1960), the Grünert ones were used with eastern german Diamant lightweights up to the end of this SED dictatorship and oppression of freedom, privacy and democracy (periode correct up to 1989 with Diamant, up to 1961 with others).
In UK it was Constrictor who started with alloy rims first and it doesn´t even matter if you go for their ASP or solid version (periode correct up to 1960). Those have been the riderss choise of that period in UK, are very tough but never truly true as the riveted washers in the rim tend to hike a bit.
San Giorgio clincher or sprint rims are a very rare find but fit on lightweights coming of the period between 1940 and 1955.
Besides that and because their shape didn´t change dramatically with decades you can go for many sprint/ tubular rims made by Fiamme and Mavic. Those can be used for any build up to 1970 with ease and may also be an easy to source substitute for old Ambrosio and Dural sprint rims made in pre war italy.
Stay tuned for Part 2 dealing with hubs of those days.
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