Just wondering if anyone has found any superlight XC wheels (that’s about 1300gms-1500gms to me) that are affordable and reasonably durable for general mincing on the moors, canal towpath commuting etc.

Willing to trade 20 grams for 100 quid? 1520 grams for 400 quid?

That’s a good price for light weight wheels, anybody got any experience of them?

hope XC SP3, with the fancy 3 bolt rotors would come in under 1500 effectively. good price, and strong enough!

Hope Pro II SP on STANS 355 – Front: 740 – Rear: 863
Hope Pro III on STANS 355 – Front: 673 – Rear: 810

I think the new wheelsets are on Crests:

Weight: Front: 663g – Rear: 800g

Well within your price range 🙂

Easy : Stans ZTR / Alpine

£365 for 1372g – bargain!

Wow, thanks for that link Adders69, interesting!

I was gonna suggest those American Classic wheels.

I really fancy getting a pair. Can’t see it happening in the near future though…..

nice one Adders, also looking at the American classic wheel builds on that website, there are a 1249gms wheels @ £570 (AC hubs+stans podium) , but I’d go for your choice @ £200 less for 120gms penalty.

BTW AC rear hubs were recalled d.t. freehub problems – I presume they have corrected them?

What weight are you? I’ve looked around for lightweight wheels but have decided that at around 88kg I’m better off with wheels around 1600g which still isn’t exactly heavy, the Hope SP3s have a rider weight limit of 85 kg.

As for your original question the ZTR / Alpine is a great deal, my only concern was bearing replacement/servicing the hubs.

Stumpy01, I’m just dreaming really. 😀

I’ve got two sets of the newer American Classic MTB 26 wheels, strong and light enough for race and trail use got a good deal on them from Burl’s cycles at £339

I’m 82kg, I’d accept you’d maybe have to take a chance on these type of wheels.

If the Hope sp3 weights are including the rotors (doesn’t make it clear on the Hope site), then they are actually very light wheels aswell for the price (£350 I think?).

AFAIK, the weight for the SP3 wheels include the rotor, what size rotor (I’d guess 160mm) and if it’s LW or not who knows.

Ring Hope, they’ll tell you, If I was your weight I would go for the Hopes, just for the peace of mind as you will have Hope’s excellent customer service as a backup and most shops sell Hope hub spares.

B.A.Nana – Member
Stumpy01, I’m just dreaming really.

Yeah, I’m the same. Hijacking slightly but my current required kit list is:

New seatpost for the Inbred
New stem/bars/seatpost for the Stumpjumper
New American Classic wheels for the Stumpjumper

Looking to move house in the next few weeks so pure fantasising on new bike parts. I think future bike related purchases will be limited to chains/cassettes/brake pads for the next 5 years!

Anybody got a link to those Hope wheels?

i ride the ztr hubs/alpine rims with cx ray spokes but with brass nipples and i weighed them in at 1362g for the set. I weigh 70kg but what i would say is that my rear rim is buggered and i will replace it with a crest rim for March because i would prefer the stronger rim and i would take the extra 20g weight penalty. Also, no point buying a lightweight wheelset if your not putting on a light cassette. Just now i run an 11-28 stx cassette which is suprisingly lighter than a 11-32 xtr cassette ( m970 9 spd)

HTH

even lighter! Damn, these are light wheels!

http://www.justridingalong.com//shop.php?product=7259&jras=ns4opel3qrp4n8hhg2ec394ub5

Now those would be race day only wheels even if you weighed 60 kg.

i’ve got pro3/ztr 355 Bought from roger musson about 2 years ago and they are still going strong and take a fair amount of abuse (peaks, north wales, lakes)

You can go significantly lighter than the JRA ones for less money:

These, combined with Revolutions and Podium rims. Should be less than 1220g.

Hub bearing durability isn’t meant to be great, I plan to build a set, so I’ll report back!

i’d go with JRA – my latest wheelset was from them, all good so far.

not sure i’d go lighter than the ztr/alpine: njee knows his stuff, but imo that’s losing more than you gain.

i am much more of a biffer than he is though.

I wouldn’t go lighter than Alpines for everyday use, I intend to supplement my Podiums with some Hope Hoops on Crests for normal riding, depends where your priorities are I guess, but you undoubtedly sacrifice durability on the Podiums, on the other hand they are 40g lighter than an Alpine, and if weight is the number one priority the Podiums are a great option.

There was a new ZTR hub shown with ti internals, which dropped the weight fairly significantly. I’ve not found much info on them, they were on Bike Rumour at one of the big shows. Assuming the price stays reasonable, a set of those on some Alpines would be a great light, but fully usable wheelset for sensible money.

Those A2Z hubs I linked to are just AM Classics without the oversized flange on the front, and the steel freehub body inserts. They come from some Taiwanese company, and are marketed as various brands.

These?

The hubs are the same as those a2z ones, and FRM rims are generally well thought of. Seem like a bit of a bargain to me.

Has anyone any experience of these Superstar superleggera ti and scandium wheelsets

trickydisco – Member
i’ve got pro3/ztr 355 Bought from roger musson about 2 years ago and they are still going strong and take a fair amount of abuse (peaks, north wales, lakes)

Snap, and I’m close to 90kg and I run them on my Five, everywhere! Best wheels I’ve had, for the cost vs weight/strenght

Ive been running Hope ProII Stans Olympic wheelset for a year on my full susser and they took a fair bit of abuse on descents down Ben Lomond etc. Lovely light wheelset from JRA and reasonably happy with them , but certainly not as robust as the Crest rims or Mavic 717 IMO. I’m 70kg and ride reasonably light but the rear rim is well dinged, have popped 4 spokes and is generally messed up – needs replaced. Would definately go with something beefier for a rear rim , keeping the lightweight Olympic up front for general riding duties. Not worth the tiny weight saving for the hassle of fixing rear wheel up all the time IMO.

So I got around to building my wheels.

A2Z hubs, Podium rims, Revolution spokes, 1246g including yellow tape and valves.

Hubs are £140 (retail), rims on Clearout (not sure why, not aware of a replacement!) from Wiggle for £65 each, spokes were 50p each from Action Sports. So all in, just a whisker over £300. Suits me.

Rumour has it (I’ve seen them) that Hope will release a special ltd edition superlight wheel soon, based on pro 3 hubs and no tubes rims but well under 1300g for the pair. watch this space as they say….

That would be good, particularly when combined with their integrated cassette.

I’ve had a set of those American Classic wheels for over a year, and weighed in excess of 100kg’s for much of that time (although not now!) and they’ve never given me any problems. Even moved from using them on lightweight XC bikes to my Enduro with 2.3″ tyres and they’re still great.