garysol1 

I am still waiting on my black saddle to arrive but meanwhile today was her maiden voyage. I have owned and I have ridden LOTS of bikes and for me to come away really impressed is hard to do but this bike has done it. It's different. The SLR is racey feeling in handling and climbing efficiency. BB feels as stiff as anything I have ever ridden but with out the punishment of poor ride quality. The Domane turns the sharpest edge potholes and broken pavement into a solid smoother thud instead of a sharp bang. You still feel the road while riding but not with the annoying deathgrip hits that are so normal here in the midwest especially as the snow clears.

SkepticalOne

^That about sums it up

Great colours right there!

Red7

SkepticalOne- I'm a new member so I can't message yet but I wanted to find out more about your tire/wheel setup. I just got a good deal on basically brand new (less than 50 miles on it) 2016 Domane 4.0 disc for $800 which only has the rear isospeed so hearing that the front and isobar doesn't have as much of an impact as that is good to know as I had test ridden a 2018 SL 5 with dual isospeed which was nice but this deal was too good to pass up. However, I just got it home and definitely need to upgrade the 25c tires on it but could use some advice as this is my first road bike (long time MTBer).

I kind of want to go with 32c tires but don't want to give up too much performance if there's much difference between those and 28c. At the moment I don't anticipate riding on gravel or rough roads (that's what my mtb is for) but I also don't plan to ever road race so I'm ok with comfort 1st, hence why I bought a Domane. Is there much to be lost with the 32c tires? Are you running them tubeless and are they very high maintenance? I run tubeless on my mtb and they always leak slowly but I just top them off before each ride so it's not an issue. What width wheels are your running? I'm considering going with some Far Sports Carbon wheels that are 25mm wide outside, 18mm wide inside.

I was thinking about either a good 28c like the Continental Grand Prix 4000 (which I've read run wide at 30mm) or with a decent 32mm tire. Have you tried others with these being your favorite 32mm? Amazon reviews have lots of complaints about flats with these tires. Also, do you predominantly ride road or did you get the 32s for off road? Thanks so much for the help!

dvai

Im curious how much of a difference does the rear adjustment for the isospeed make....

The most "compliant" (softer) setting is around the standard isospeed?

Ive heard the stiffest is supposed to be close to a Emonda.

garysol1 

Rear adjustment makes a quite a bit of difference. The middle setting is said to be similar to the compliance of a non adjustable SL style frame. I run my SLR one line below standard and find it to be just right. I am 180lbs and run a 25c tire.

SkepticalOne

I am running ENVE SES 4.5 AR wheels that only accept tubeless ready tires. However, I am running my tires with inner tubes in them for convenience. I run a 28c Schwalbe Pro One tire (which is 31.7mm wide when installed). I run them at around 60psi and have not had a single flat, therefore I do not have any urgency about going tubeless. I really like the compliance, handling, and traction of this wheel tire combo. I ride them on rural roads which can be very poor condition, but rarely gravel.

Bike came with 32c Bontragers...the 28c Pro Ones are about the same width. My stock rims are outfitted with 28c Conti GP4000s...these offer as much comfort as I am looking for on road surfaces...I personally wouldn't go 32c unless I was on gravel...28C is wonderful.

Red7

Thanks for the info! So the Conti GP4000 is near the top of my list of tires but wasn't sure since they don't offer it in a 32c. However, I've heard they come in at about 30mm. How wide are your 28c GP4000? Are your Enve and stock rims the same width? If you had to choose between 28c GP4000s or Schwalbe Pro One, which would you choose.

I first have to definitively decide if 28c is as big as I want to go since there are more tire options but your input helps steer me that direction. Now for someone that only has isospeed in the rear, would your advice be any different or would there be any reason to go with a 28c in the rear and 32c in the front to give a little more "suspension"? I wonder if a 32c up front would be similar to your SLR with 28c front.

Red7

Awesome bike btw! I love the all blacked out look. I'm not crazy about all the white on my 4.0 but I just couldn't beat the price for a starter bike.

vinuneuro

With the direction the 2018 Diverge has gone, Domane SL/R disc is the bike I would get today. I think people don't give it enough credit for it's gravel capabilities. You can fit a 38c tire in there.

HTupolev

If you're thinking about getting aero rims, you have to buy them with the tire width in mind. The rim and tire form an aero profile together, where smooth airflow can pass from tire to rim without unwanted turbulence; if you put too big of a tire on a rim, it completely breaks the system.

This is why, say, ENVE specifically says to use 28mm or 30mm tires with the 4.5 AR Disc rim. That's not about safety; it's about making sure your $3000 wheelset performs better than a $200 wheelset.

As a more or less isolated variable, if you're staying vaguely within reason, width means fairly little for overall paved speeds. As long as you're not dragging its 33lb weight up a hill, even my gravel bike with its 53s can trade blows with my "real" road bikes.

On the other hand, if you're only riding reasonable road surfaces, you're probably not giving up much by using a 28 instead of a 32, especially if you run tubeless. And going with a narrower size might open up a few aero wheel options.

Red7

Thanks! I'm looking at the 38mm deep, 25mm wide (outside), 18mm wide (inside) with 28c tires. So far I'm leaning towards the Conti GP4000 which I believe are about 30mm wide. Would that setup be good? I also could go with 30mm deep and same width rims but thought 38mm is a happy compromise since I'm not experienced enough to appreciate full-on aero wheels. THanks!

Gladius

I ordered my SLR with 32mm tires. But I also got the Aeolus 3 wheels, and the tires were really just too big for those wheels. Not to mention that I flatted twice on the first century I rode on them. So I switched to 28mm tires (Gatorskins specifically).

dvai

Interesting. So you got a project one and upgraded to Aeolus 3?
Its odd trek would offer skinny wheels with wide tires.

Gladius

Well, I suppose they will fit anything you want on there, since you're paying for it. I think 32 was the widest offered so I went for it, and tried it for a couple hundred miles.

The 32mm tires are far too large for the Aeolus wheels, and since the whole thing with those wheels is the wheel/tire interface is supposed to be a continuation of the kamtail shape, putting bulbous tires that stick out past the side of the wheel defeats the purpose.

Oh and to be clear, I don't think the Aeolus are "skinny wheels" by any means. Part of the shape means they widen out at the outer edge.

HTupolev

Aero rims are usually slightly wider than the nominal size of the tires they're intended for; a 25mm-wide rim would usually be paired with maybe a 23mm tire or so. It probably wouldn't really give you aerodynamic benefits with a 28mm or 32mm tire.

Dean V

38mm would fit but I don't think it would leave sufficient clearance for the type of roads you would be needing them for.
My Domane came with 32s and I am going to put 35s on as I do a bit of gravel riding but I think that will be about the limit without getting frame/fork damage from stones.

Red7

Man, you guys are killing me with these beautiful bikes!

What is the inside/outside width of your Aeolus wheels? Also, at what depth of rim is it considered "aero"? FarSports has 25mm, 30mm, 38mm, 50mm, 58mm, 60mm and 88mm so I figured 38mm was a good compromise and on the lesser end of aero. I weigh 193 lbs (88kg) so I also thought 38mm would be a little stronger/stiffer. I know I don't want to go narrower than a 28c tire and 25mm is as wide a rim as they make so hopefully that will be a decent combo.

Dean V

I wouldn't be too concerned about picking the ideal tyre/rim combo for aero reasons.
It isn't like it is a TT bike.
I am running the Metron 40 wheels my SL6 came with and although I may be giving up a few watts (bet it won't be much) with 32mm tyres I don't mind.
If I want fast and aero I use my Madone.

HTupolev

It's not really a sharp cutoff. Even very shallow rims can have benefits from aero shaping, although you can reduce drag from frontal wind more by going deeper.

If the tire is too wide, there's no "combo." You can mount the tire on the rim and the wheel will behave like a wheel and roll around and whatnot, but that deep wheel section won't really be giving you any benefits. The air that was supposed to smoothly flow over it became turbulent at the rim/tire interface. There's no such thing as "the tire is only 5mm too wide"; when you're on the edge of appropriate width for a rim, even a fraction of a millimeter can break up the flow and cost watts.

I guess the important question is, what are your goals with getting new wheels? If you want to reduce weight, go shallow. If you're thinking about adding depth for aero, you need to match widths correctly or there's little point in increasing depth.

The rim will, but that's not really what determines wheel strength/stiffness. The big important part is how well the spokes brace the rim. Which ironically is in some ways a more challenging problem with stiffer rims, since lateral deflection can more easily transmit across the wheel (lightweight shallow aluminum wheels flex plenty at the contact patch when you're out of the saddle, but brake rub is often not much of an issue with them).

Red7

Thanks, that all makes really good sense. I originally started looking at there 30mm deep, 25mm wide rims and then started focusing more on the 38mm deep, 25mm rims, but not for any specific reason other than having read so many good reviews about their 38mm wheels. However, I just looked at the website again and there is a 100gram difference (1525 for 30mm and 1625 for 38mm) which is more than I realized. My #1 goal in going to carbon wheels with wider tires is for a smoother ride. Would 30mm likely give a more compliant ride than the 38mm while still being a major improvement over the cheap stock wheels? Heck, even my $4500 Trek MTB's wheels are way too flexy.

HTupolev

Now I'm very confused. You say that you want more compliance, but then say that your current stuff is too flexy...? Compliance and stiffness are the opposite of each other. If you want compliance, you want flex.

As far as which of the wheels you're considering would give the most compliant ride, it's hard to say without measured data on the radial stiffness and whatnot of each wheel. Depends on the rim, the spokes, the lacing pattern, and results can be all over the map.

But personally, I wouldn't worry much about that. Bicycle wheels are all very radially stiff, and even a perfectly-stiff bicycle wheel would ride plush with a plush tire setup. And there's just not much data available for making an informed decision based on wheel radial compliance anyway.

vinuneuro

35's give enough clearance and that's enough unless you're riding really gnarly gravel in which case you wouldn't be using a bike like the Domane. The beauty of bikes like this is that they are jack of all trades bikes.

vinuneuro

Lateral and torsional stiffness, vertical compliance.

Red7

Thank you, that's a good way of putting it!

HTupolev

I brought up that I was confused because it seemed like you were conflating things.

What functional issues are you having with your current wheels, and what are you aiming to achieve?