VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder, aformer U.S. national team rider and author of several books on bikes andbike maintenance. Zinn's VeloNews.com column is devoted to addressing readers'technical questions about bikes, their care and feeding and how we as riderscan use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can send brief technical questions directly to Zinn. Zinn’s column appears each Tuesday on VeloNews.com.

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Question:
I've been thinking about putting a 650mm wheel on the front of my bike.Will it help with acceleration as well as by dropping the front down 50mmgive me a more aerodynamic slipstream? I was going to refit with a forkfor that wheel size, what do you think? --ThomasAnswer:
It's a terrible idea. The bike would be tipped down so much thatyour head angle would be super steep and hence handle very quickly andbe less stable. Furthermore, your bottom bracket would become so low thatyou would be clipping your pedals all of the time. --LennardQuestion:
Just wondering how I could obtain a copy of your great VeloNews articleon the subject of Ergopower rebuild. I lost the issue in a recent move.--BrentAnswer:
It's in "Zinn &the Art of Road Bike Maintenance," in even more detail. You shouldbe able to find the book in any book or bike store or at Amazon.com orvelogear.com --LennardQuestion:
I would like your recommendations for a new set of wheels. I am a recreationrider (6 foot 3, 215 lbs.) who rides about 60-100 miles per week (use torace 20 years ago and think about doing it again someday in the distantfuture). I ride on city streets (San Francisco) and frequently break spokes(about every 350 miles). My existing wheels are Campy record hubs, Mavicopen with 32 spoke rims. The wheels were rebuilt about 14 months ago andlasted about 4 months without breaking spokes.Is there a wheel that can carry my weight, and city bumps but is lightand good looking? I like the looks and idea of the Campy, Spinergy, andVelomax Orion types of wheels. Any advice? --GordonAnswer:
I have had great success personally as well as with my big customerson Mavic Ksyrium SSC SLs (most of my custom-frame customers are over 6’5”and 200 pounds). --LennardQuestion:
I read your prior answers in regards to speed wobble on some bikesI have a very similar situation with my Litespeed classic model year 2002.We have tried everything from different wheels to fork types and rakes,nothing helped I even rode a Trek 5500 and it still did that, currentlythe bike has a Ouzo pro fork 45 rake, Ksyrium wheels, Prima bar, Ritcheystem threadless 11/8 fork. I get the wobble at 22 mph and over when I removemy hands of the handle bars the store and Litespeed was very helpful tryingto solve the problem to no avail. My last choice is to return the bike,and I do not want to do that because I like every thing else about thisbike. If it is not dangerous to ride it as is then I will not remove myhands of the bars at 22 mph or more. - IkeP.S. The bike is steady like a rock even descending at 40 mph with evenone hand on the handle bars. Your advice will be very much appreciated.
P.S. I am 205 pounds 5 foot 9 and please don’t tell me to lose weight,as it is all muscle.Answer:
Either return the bike or live with it. Those are your choices.As for danger, it will happen at much higher speeds on fast descents, especiallywhen tucking with your hands in close to the stem, I am quite sure. Itis up to you if you can live with that and with always holding onto thebars. --LennardComment on LED lights:
I was interested about your piece on LED lights (see "TechnicalQ&A" - November 20). May I bring an issue to your attention?After the evenings were becoming darker here and I found myself caughtout in the dark on longer rides so I bought a compact set of LED lightsbut found that they didn't get along with my cordless flight deck computer.When I turn the front light on, it stops the signal from my fork tomy cordless computer. It does not affect an older specialized "cordful"computer I have however. --PeterComment on noisy Record triple:
In your technical Q&A on the velonews.com web page, some guy hadproblems with a Campy triple chainring on a Giant bike making noise (see"TechnicalQ&A" - November 20). The Campy rep gave a long list of thingsto debug but he forgot one of the most obvious. If the chain is too shortfor such a large cog/chainring combo, it may be making a lot of noise.Try running a longer chain and see if that helps. --DonAnother comment on noisy Record triple:
WRT to the guy who wrote to your tech column complaining about a noisyCampagnolo drivetrain, I had a Veloce cassette that was noisy for the firstmonth or so, but is now about as quiet as anything else, it seemed as ifit just needed a certain amount of mileage to mesh perfectly w/ the chain.(An SRAM in my case). --RobComment on wind trainers
I thought your response to the new cyclist wanting to get a trainerwas very appropriate. You might suggest that if she still wants to ridea trainer in the winter, she might do the following to make it more pleasurable.1. Find a gym that does spin classes; the price of a trainerwould easily cover the spin class registration for a couple of seasons.2. If she does get a trainer, first find a store, club or teamthat does group trainer workouts.I find with trainers, it really does help to have company and someonegiving training cues. Hope this is helpful advice
--John

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VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder, a formerU.S. national team rider and author of several books including the pairof successful maintenance guides "Zinn& the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance" and "Zinn& the Art of Road Bike Maintenance."