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Lighter Wheels - at what price
Like most I've considered wheel upgrades from time to time but I have disc brakes, centrelock hubs (though I know 6 bolt will still work) thru axles front and rear and I weigh around 100kgs.
My current wheels weigh in at 1988g.
Looking at the options that will take my weight and fit the criteria of what they are replacing for around £400 I can save 270g. JRA jawbreakers.
There are others that will give me similar savings.
So question to the learned collective is what would you look to save weight wise and for what price? When does it become worth doing?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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16 comments
R-Sys wheels also flex like cooked spaghetti as soon as you put any kind of power down! They look nice though and the braking is brilliant.
To be precise CW compared the Mavics with Enve Smart 4.5 wheels at 200 w and 300 w and found the Enves to be 2 km/h faster and 2.2 km/h faster respectively, on a flat circuit. Unfortunately the Enves are almost 3 grand.
Get some handbuilt ones; mine are Mavic CX Pro rims with Dura-ace hubs. Didn't have much choice when my bike man said, "I don't do factory wheels".
That is a little 'snob-ish'. Granted bespoke wheels offer the best option to specify particular items but there are many decent factory made wheels. Its probably why I build my own bikes now, I know exactly where I want to spend my money on expensive parts.
If you want to spend some cash spend some cash but don't use 270g saving to justify it. I'm on the hunt for some 45mm deepish section wheels I'm under no illusion they will not make me faster but I will certainly look cool. Well in my head anyway!
Yes they will, search for cycling weekly video, where they compared 3 sets of wheels from shallow rim upto TT wheels. Without any other additions 40mm rims added nearly 1mph average speed improvement.
That is rather more than Flo claim for their own wheels, they calculated that their 60+60 pairing saved about 4 minutes over a 112 mile Ironman course with variable yaw, which translates to just under a minute for 25 miles (source).
CW used the Mavic R-Sys SLR wheels as their baseline. This is a spectacularly un-aero wheelset (source). A standard shallow rim, such as the Open Pro that many people use as a reference, would show less of an improvement when switching to the deep sections.
If you want to treat yourself to some bling wheels just buy a reliable set and enjoy them.
The Mavic R sys looks a pretty decent low spoke standard rim wheel, so the baseline is already high, they could of used the Askium. What was interesting was the fixed power figures and same rider and position in real life outdoor riding. There has to be an pinch of salt but I havent seen another back to back test like that where only one item is compared.
Anecdotal evidence comes from guys who have been TT for a number of years locally to me and said the biggest speed improvement was changing to aero wheels and decent tyres.
As I said, the R-Sys has very poor aerodynamics - check the page I linked to.
Wheels and tyres won't hurt but on their own they're not game-changers and won't gain more speed than tight clothing (ideally a skinsuit) and an aero hat for time gains against the clock. Rider position is where the biggest gains can be made. Anecdote is not really evidence.
If you want evidence you should look at more datasets - Swiss Side and lots of independent testers all tend to show similar numbers to what I've quoted above. And they also show that wheel weight is irrelevant except on steep climbs; even then it's really marginal, the differences are very small.
Another here who's just got some Hunt wheels (4 Season Dura Disc - currently going for £249 on their website) as metioned previously rated to take 115kg (I weigh just shy of 105kg) and these weigh 1759g according to the website (without rotors), in the 200 miles or so I've ridden on them they've been fine, with nothing notable to mention (which is what I want out of a set of wheels). I reckon I need at least a few months before I can give a proper verdict. I went for these as they were the only ones in stock, they do lighter wheels, but I'm not going to get excited about losing 100 or so grams for an extra couple of hundred £'s.
The non disc version was reviewed on here last year: http://road.cc/content/review/174489-hunt-4season-dura-road-wheelset
These were to replace the stock wheels on my new Caad 12 (maddux disc 2.0) as the rear wheel fell apart after just 200 miles. I wasn't too upset about this as they are really heavy (I reckon I've saved about 600g just by replacing the wheels and tyres), I'll get around to taking them back to the shop at some point, but only so I have an emergency wheel if anything goes wrong with the hunts (although in truth I'll just use my old bike if I need to take the Caad off the road)
Unless you're replacing very heavy wheels indeed with very light ones, swapping wheels merely for weight-saving purposes is a waste of money. As another poster mentions, 270gms weight "saving" in wheels for a 100Kg bloke is meaningless.
However, there are other parameters to wheels that may mean buying more expensive ones gets you better wheels than you have. "Better" can be stiffer, stronger, more compliant or some other factors that are advantageous. Unless you're a road racing fellow needing faster accelerating wheels or wheels that get you 10 yards up the road at the sprint because you spent a few watts less hauling them up hills, wheel parameters other than weight are much more important.
Personally I'd start by making sure the tyres are the best for your riding style, weight and so forth. Better tyres cost a fraction of better wheels and are likely to provide a far greater improvement - less rolling resistance, stickier on the road, less puncture-prone .....
Cugel
You weigh 100kg and are fussing over a possible 270g saving? My advice would be that, if you are really champing to spend some money, then look for something that will make a difference like nicer tyres, some decent shorts, etc.
Id buy a set of novatec cxd wheels for less than £350
They are hand built, they weigh in around 1475 grams, tubeless ready, can be had in centre lock or 6 bolt, come with qr front and rear, 15mm front, 12mm front and 12mm rear axles and end caps as standard, freehub body has anti bite guard to stop the cassette digging in
Ive put over 5000 miles on mine and they have only needed a slight true and i weigh 95kg
https://www.probikekit.co.uk/bicycle-wheels/novatec-cxd-clincher-disc-wh...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/novatec-cxd-clincher-disc-brake-wheelset-road/
http://road.cc/content/review/121253-novatec-cxd-aluminium-clincher-whee...
Ive had £1000-£1600 carbon disc brake wheels that were heavier and not as stiff as the novatec's!
Not sure how sensible those would be for the OP in view of his weight. The spoke count is very low for disc brake wheels - most builders would suggest 28/28 as a minimum, probably 32/32 for someone who is 100kg.
I've just bought my 2nd set of hunt wheels and fitted 38mm Schwalbe tubeless tyres to them. Decent quality at reasonable price.
Just bought a set of hunt disc with tubeless schwlbes fitted. My old wheels were a bit heavier than yours but it feels like a new bike for 350 quid with a weight limit of 115kg I doubt you will get a better bigger bang for your buck. Gone for 28c tyres lovely!