This is a nifty little tool that is intended to help you with wheel selection, but also gives you some idea of the effort you will have to put out under various wind conditions to go a certain speed.
Figuring out how to use this was pretty easy. Start with adjusting the rider speed and then place the wind direction perpendicular to the rider. Bump up wind speed and watch the bottom line graph change. This number correlates to the apparent or approximate wind resistance and should give you an idea of the amount of work required. Higher number = more work. Perhaps they should have added little sweat indicators and sounds of someone wheezing in the background.
The diagram in the bottom right hand corner shows how the rider experiences the wind. Note that a perpindicular wind direction at 20km/hr results in an wind that is felt slightly from behind, but as the wind speed increases the side wind becomes more pronounced.
What this means for wheel selection is that if you expect direct on head winds or mild side winds you may be best off selecting a disc or very deep dish wheel. The more that the wind is expected to slam into you, the more a middle depth (50-60mm)deep dish or aero spoke wheel makes sense. A strong compromise is to run a trispoke on the back and a deep dish on the front (a very versatile combo).
Keep a few of things in mind:
- The depth of the front wheel has more influence on the handling characteristics of your ride than the rear. It also gives the greatest aero advantage, which may explain those with only an aero spoke wheel on the front and a traditional rim on the back.
- Your body may actually contribute more to handling difficulties in heavy cross winds than any set of aero wheels.
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