Just wondering if anyone thinks it’s a bad idea to put a heavier wheel on the rear of a bike?

The reason I’m asking is that I broke the rear wheel on my new bike, and bought a stronger one (mavic EN521 rim instead of Fulcrum red power xl), which seemed like a good idea until I went off a jump, and the front just seemed much lighter than the back. Has anyone else tried this, and is it just something to get used to, or is it actually a bad idea? I found I could balance the bike by putting my weight further forward than normal, but not sure I liked it…

I’m thinking I could get another EN521 for the front, and try to fix up the old rear wheel so I have a heavy set and a light set for longer rides, but things are getting expensive!

or add some lead to the front…

Get used to the difference. I use the same wheels front and back but for no other reason than them’s the wheels I have… but I use very different tyres sometimes. 1000+g UST DH tyre on the back and 700g tubeless AM tyre up front… probably more weight difference in my tyres than in your wheels. I might notice it for a few minutes after changing them but out on the trail it gets forgotten about (IMHO etc).

EN521 with 20mm axle makes a great front wheel

Rear wheels are heavier then front wheels anyway. And it’s not like everyone with hub gears are dying or anything.

It’s all in your head, I’ve en521’s and they’re not that heavy, heavier than an XC rim, or something expensive from stans, but the variation between two brands of tyre will be more than the difference in rim weight. It’s probably mostly in your head.

If it’s a FS bike try taking 1 click off the rebound damping and see what effect that has. My Pitch always seemed to be trying to buck me over the front on jumps but adding one click more rebound damping seems to have solved it. Either that or it was all in my head and my making a change to the bike, subconsciousy I’m no longer woried about it so just get on with jumping properly rather than worying, and probably being too stiff on the bike causing it to nose dive.

YOU WILL DIE

in a ball of fire

Or not

Got an alfine hub in mine, its heavy. Jumps fine.
If you’re really worried about the balance (you shouldn’t, you get used to it) then put some bigger , heavier forks on the front. 😉

It’s all in your head

+1

You’ve added maybe 150-200g of weight to the back end of the bike, which will have moved it’s balance point back an insignificant amount backwards. We’re talking maybe a couple of mm here. You wouldn’t notice it if you were blindfolded and asked to tell the difference between 2 bikes. So it’s all in your head!

I rode with an Alfine on a bike for a while. Lots of weight, concentrated right on the back of the bike. Got used to it in no time.

TBF the op has added rotating weight which adds to the gyroscopic effect, different to a heavier hub.

😯 You’ll be suggesting not using a matching set of tyres next!

*faints at the very idea…

I think you’re probably right about it being in my head! I’ve got a slightly heavier tyre on the back as well (EN521 with 2.35 Highroller, compared with red power xl with 2.25 nobby nic(and not nearly enough spokes if what happened to the back one is anything to go by)) but it’s still not a huge difference, and I didn’t notice any difference apart from on things like tabletops, where it’s nice if the front of the bike comes down again.. and by the end of the ride things were feeling better.

I think you’ve more to worry about by offending peoples OCD than anything.

>twitch<