Alot of discussion on bike weights and how if you were to lighten things, the wheels are the best way.So……………… what wheels do you all ride on and what do they weigh??

Need

Hubs
Rims
Tyres
Spokes
Tubes ( if Appl)
Skewers
Weight

Me… Hope Pro 2’s, DT5.1’s, panaracer rampage, maxxis minions, db spokes, tesco tubes, xlite skewer. No idea what they weigh but they feel heavy

i could do with some reet light wheels…

Mavic 721 on bulb w/ Highroller 2.3 single ply tire rear
Sun Singletrack on bulb w/ Highroller 2.3 dual ply front

This is ony my hardtail which mainly gets used for xc but I like abusing it so strength matters. Its nice knowing you arent going to trash your wheels when riding over rocks and what not.

Might try some slightly lighter tires when these ones have worn out

Checked the hope web site the other day, a pair of Pro 11 on 5.1 rims are about 1.9kg thats before you add scewers a cassete tyres tubes etc. The maxxis tyres arnt a bad weight about 700 grams . so if you went tubles you could save a bit (not much) but the weight of tubes. Recently got a pair of Crossmax St about 1.5kg tubeless feel a bit more zippy! Its true taking weight of the wheels makes a bigger difference than anywhere else on the bike tho. (well except mabe the rider!)

The Specialized Rovals are seriously light and pretty strong (so far). I did a comparison in my LBS between these, Hope Pro IIs on Mavic 717 with DT d/b competition and Chris King on DT 4.1 with the same spokes.

The Rovals came up being around 150g lighter than both sets.

I’ve only used them three times, but I’m 104kg and mostly focused on going DH fast.

half a pound lighter, thats impressive.

Whats regarded as a ‘light rim/hub’ combo nowadays?
Thought Mr King was light, but rovals have dismissed this

XT hubs with skewers, 717 rims, fire xc pro, tyres, conti tubes, db ss spokes, xt casette*

*some low end casettes can weigh nearly as much as your wheel!

Reasonably light. Would probably get something with a stronger rim next time. Will run fatter tyres in drier weather, used to run conti gravity 2.3″s.

You can get lighter tyres, but they cost lot and are more fragile.

Next set of wheels I’m tempted by hope pro 11 and stan’s arch rims. Which should be lighter and as strong, if not stronger.

XT hubs with ACI DB spokes and 717 rims,1930g the pair.Nobby Nic 2.1 tyres 500g each,Spesh tubes £150 each.Decent blend of strength v cost v weight I reckon.

You want a set of industry nines ya tart!

Indusrty Nine Wheelsets

Chris King Hubs, on Stans Olympics with DT rev spokes. 1428g for the pair

Crossmax SLR – 1528g for the pair.

Hope XC3 – 1508g for the pair

Chris King Hubs on 717s with DT revs 1476g for the pair

You want a set of industry nines ya tart!

Because, i have a spare 600 squid. Anyway, ‘just riding along’, now thats a sticker for tarts.

Doing Inners tomorrow, fancy it??

forget about wheel weights, it’s all about being social isn’t it?

Nah, I love my job too much to take random sick days 😉

pk – not still holding a grudge are we??, i’m doing inners tomorrow if you wanna join me?

Nah, I love my job too much to take random sick days

Liar liar, come on, its gonna be sunny, cold but sunny. You know you want to

It’s all well and good saving weight off the wheels if you’re an XC racer, but saving too much weight often ends up with wheels not up to the abuse they’re likely to recieve. I like to use kit that’s as light as I can get away with (no point in carrying around unecessary weight!), but feel going for Mavic 717’s, or Stans Olympics or DT4.2 rims etc. would be too much of a strength compromise for me.

So for me:

Front hub: Maverick 24mm, 250g (but that includes the axle, so effectively remove approx 50 to 60g for fair comparison to a “normal” hub)
Rear hub: Shimano XT M775 disc, quoted 330g
Read skewer: XT, approx 70g
Rims: Mavic XM819 UST (claimed 465g each, more like about 510g in reality)
Spokes: 64 DT comp 2.0/1.8, approx 370g
Nipples: 64 Brass 14mm, approx 60g
Tyres: Currently 2″ Bonty Mud X, approx 550g each
Sealant: Approx 80ml of Stans sealant in each wheel

Pair without tyres = Approx 2.1kg including rear skewer and front axle.

I’m happy with that, considering the 819’s are a flipping stiff rim, and can take pretty much any abuse I can give them. Certainly a weaker rim wouldn’t last long enough I think, besides I like UST. OK, I could save 50g off the rear hub weight easily by going to a Hope Pro 2, but the XT was £35, a Hope Pro 2 is £120, £85 extra wasn’t worth the weight saving I felt. Again, could go for lighter spokes, but DT Revolutions are too flexy really, and I wasn’t going to spend upwards of £1 per spoke for DT super comps when normal DT comps are only about 25g per wheel heavier, and they’re less than half the price. And brass nipples cos I hate ally ones!

Wheels: Olympics on Tune King/Kong with DT Revs 1410g IIRC
Tyres: Racing Ralph 2.1 ~470g each
Tubes: none, but 5g for a valve, 5g for some yellow tape and ~80g of sealant.
Cassette: M970, 220g
Skewers: Extralite, 70g

All up ready to ride: ~2.8kg the pair.

Spesh tubes £150 each.

Blimey – they must be something a bit special!

Im using:

DT 240 hubs
Some special light weight Stans 355 rims
DT Rev spokes
Alloy nipps

1404grams

Looking at some of the fancypants parts you guys are using, you should put the total cost as well as weight. Genuinely interested.

Geetee – you talking about the Traversee wheelset? I’ve had a few rides on my pair now – very impressed so far.

reading the wheelpro book, Roger Musson suggests that most wheels could be built a lot stronger if the builder took their time and stressed spokes etc etc. (I have done three by his book and it takes aaaaaages! But I haven’t bent one yet…)

I wonder if you spent the money on getting some rims that are lighter than you think you should have built by someone really good whether that would help. I suppose there is size of tyre (and indeed profile said tyre on narrower rim) to consider if you get lighter rims though..

£500 for mine.

Cost wise mine as follows:

2x Mavic 819 rims: £35 each from Chain Reaction
Front Maverick hub: FREE with the forks off Ebay (brand new as well!)
Rear XT disc hub: £35 from Chain Reaction
DT Comp spokes: About £3 for both wheels worth (I bought a job lot of spokes a while ago)
14mm nipples: About £5 for 2 wheels worth

So £113 before tyres/sealant/cassette etc. Pretty happy with that!

Doh,I meant 150g each,for the Spesh tubes!

According to the Bontrager website my Bonty Race Light Disc weight about 1820g. They can be run tubeless but I just use normal tubes and xc tires but nothing lightweight as I am pretty heavy. Upside for it is that the wheels are straight and true and I never punctured on them YET 🙂 Theres a lighter xt cassette waiting to be put on and I have some lighter tires as well but I will wait till summer 🙂

I dont think I could run those ultralight wheels because of the rider weight limit. I am about 16st and thats before putting a backpack and riding gear. Happy with my wheels as they are problem free, not that heavy, and spare spokes are readily available not like with my old Mavic. Never got round servicing the hubs yet bu they should be running DT Hugi (Ive got older Race Lites) hubs so pretty easy to service as well (thats what I read on the internet :-))

Pink CKs on Stans were £330
Pewter CKs on 717s were £275
Crossmax SLRs were £285 (after all was said and done)
Hope XC3s were £330 and are now for sale on the classifieds for £315 or £300 collected.

Currently got the Roval Controle Race SLs, which came on the bike luckily, as I wouldn’t wanna pay the £600 asking price! 40g lighter than standard Controles, achieved through a carbon front hub shell.

They also have Aerolite spokes, but still, £150 extra… Seem like bloody good wheels though, and 1380g. Plan to get some Stan’s ZTR Race 7000/American Classic wheels for racing, at 1210g.

The best value light wheels are surely XTR hubs with stans olympic rims, under 1400g and (used to be) under £300, though that’s now closer to £400 I think. Very strong they are too.

xc / trail bike – 09 Specialized Controle XC SL – 1380g – am biased, but these are the sweetest wheels I’ve ever seen!

All Mountain / freeride bike – 09 Specialized Traversee – 1580g – awesomely light (& strong considering their weenie weight) 20mm bolt through wheelset, as light as alot of very good xc wheelsets.

Geetee – you talking about the Traversee wheelset? I’ve had a few rides on my pair now – very impressed so far.

Yes – I’ve only ridden them a few times myself but I’m also impressed. Given my weight and riding style I’m not sure I would trust them outside of the north Downs, which is relatively forgiving on wheels as it’s mostly roots and loamy soil. For riding places like the Peak District or Wales, I would probably use my Stans Flow rims on Hope Pro IIs with stans rim strips. They are about 500g heavier for the pair, but very strong.

Also the price of the Spesh wheels was pretty good – £350 the pair.

My lighter wheels are DT 240s, black 717s, silver DT Revolutions. They’re about 1550g I think. I run 2.4 Nobby Nics and tend to buy specialized tubes. XTR cassette. DT RWS skewers.

Other bike has old black Hope XC hubs, black 517s and black Sapim spokes of some sort. No idea what they weigh, maybe 1750g or something as the rear hub has the Ti freehub body which is pretty light. They have 2.4 Mountain King Supersonics and probably Specialized tubes. XT cassette. Halo allen key skewers.

I plan to get Hope Pro 2s, Stans Flow and DT Comps etc some point, in place of the Hope/517 set, but it’ll have to wait for now.

Can’t remember exact cost, but a bit cheaper than Mavic Crossmax SLR, which are considerably heavier (and not considered to be fancypants in the same way mine apparently are 🙄 )