Focus Paralane: RS770 Wheelset Aesthetic Improvement

Remember the new wheelset that I got for the Focus Paralane? It is the Shimano RS770 wheelset, which is an Ultegra-grade disc brake wheelset with aluminium rims, Centerlock hubs with E-thru axles. Details of the wheelset can be found at the link above.

Overall, this wheelset rides well, and I don't feel the weight of the wheelset at all, even when climbing hills. It is actually considered quite lightweight for aluminium rims, at 1666 grams. I have ridden carbon wheelsets that perform worse than this, so I think this is a great aluminium wheelset.

I have been testing this wheelset by riding up some slopes, such as Jurong Hill as you can see below. At the same time, I was also testing the gearing, as it is now a front single drivetrain with 11 speeds. It will be harder to climb long and steep slopes, as the low gears are not as low as if I had a front double drivetrain.

View of the completed bike! From far, the SKS Bluemels mudguards are not really visible.

Great view of the scenery from the top of Jurong Hill

Front single drivetrain, with a 38T Wolf Tooth chainring and 11-32T 11 speed cassette. This gives a gear range of 32-93 gear inches.

While looking through the pictures, I can see the silver band around the rim of the wheelset. This is due to the uncovered area at the edge of the rim, where it is not covered by the carbon wrap.

Aesthetically, it is not so nice, as it spoils the continuous black appearance from the tires to the spokes. In this case, I decided to improve the appearance by doing some touch up on the edge of the rim.

Silver line around the rim is very obvious when seeing up close

The silver area is the exposed aluminium rim that is not covered by the carbon wrap.

Simplest way to touch up is to use black paint marker to cover up the silver aluminium surface.

Same surface, covered with black paint from the marker.

Looks better without the silver band showing on the rim

Did it for both the wheels, to make them look nicer. This should have been done by the factory.

With a bit of effort and a couple of big paint markers, the silver band around the rims have been completely covered. I am now happy with the wheelset after the aesthetic improvement.

As for the gearing, I think it is quite suitable for my usage. The gear range of 32 to 93 gear inches is a good range, as it is low enough for climbing Jurong Hill as well as going relatively fast on the road.