Aspen Times Weekly: Best urban biking wheels?
It’s been a long road to ride since 2012, when one August day I unboxed a set of wheels and attached them to a bike frame. Fast-forward 10,000 miles — yes, that is my estimate of distance put down after almost four years on the bike — and the wheels are still going strong.
Tires have come and gone. Parts have changed, and I even swapped in a new frame after a crack formed on the bottom bracket on the original. But the wheels, Mavic’s Ellipse Track model, have remained true.
The aluminum alloy wheels are sold for track racers and urban riders who bike fixed-gear or singlespeed. I roll them almost year-round, commuting, training, and racing occasional alley cats and other events in Minneapolis and beyond.
At about $450 for the pair, the Ellipse Track wheels are marketed as a mid-range set. (High-end wheels easily go for $1,000 and much more.) Beginner or intermediate track racers are candidate, as well as urban bikers who want fast, do-all wheels.
For more on this product, visit https://gearjunkie.com/. Stephen Regenold is the founder and writes about outdoors gear for Gear Junkie.
WineInk: The 2023 vintage
“2023 predicted to be the Vintage of a Lifetime in Napa Valley,” proclaimed the headline this week in a press release sent out by the Napa Valley Vintners, the trade organization that represents the growers and producers in America’s most famed wine region. If there is anyone more optimistic than winemakers, it is the group that represents them.
