Jack Norgeot

COMS 195-03

Professor Jonathan Hunt

9/6/16

Credibility Assessment Speech

Hello I am your classmate Jack Norgeot and thank you for coming to listen to my speech. Today I would like to discuss my investigation into the argument of how credible are disc wheels over the traditional spoke wheels. There is a lot of conflict about whether or not disc wheels are worth the extra aerodynamics at their price. It is common for disc wheels to cost anywhere from $500 and upwards of $2000. Although there is evidence that they can increase speed and airflow or even reduce drag, they can come with a towering pile of disadvantages. Unlike a spoke wheel, disc wheels are far more expensive, come noticeably heavier and affect your uphill on a hilly course and are difficult to handle and almost impossible during crosswinds.

Disc wheel receive a lot of backlash because of their price and experience needed to handle, but still they are spotted in competitive races such as Olympic Track Cycling. They can also be seen in record breaking instances such as when Francesco Moser, a well known road bicycle racer from Italy traveled 50.8 kms becoming the first person to travel that far in one hour in world record called the Hour Record, sporting full disc wheels.

Some riders will use only one disc wheel in the back to reduce weight and increase maneuverability. This is much more popular in the common and local races.

A very good alternative to solid disc wheels with the same idea is wheel covers, they are much less expensive around $200 and are weigh much less. This also makes it much more friendly to remove and put on your bicycle to match with environmental conditions of  the course. This also stops things from entering your spokes and damaging them.

Although disc wheels have support showing they can increase your speed and lower your times, professional organizations have reviewed how dangerous they are for inexperienced bikers. The organization from Switzerland UCI, International Cyclist Union is the governing entity of cycling rules, standards, and events around the world. Although they are in charge of important matters such as disciplining athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, they also have a lot of rules about disc wheels. For an example they do not allow riders to add any devices to their bike that’s sole purpose is to reduce air resistance, this includes the cheap and easy to use wheel covers from seeing any action in a real competitive cycling event. The committee also requires spoke wheels in any mass start event where many participants start the race at once because it is much easier to recover from a bump from another bicyclist on spoke wheels and minimizes trampling. To Olympians though the disc wheel is just another one of the many technological innovations for them to take advantage of.