Hey, atm I'm racing on a set of tubeless bontrager rhythm elite wheels, 1900 claimed weight, with a tubeless tire (crossmark) on the front wheel it comes in at 1750 grams! the rear is obviously heavier.

So. It looks like i can get a cycle2work scheme going, and i can buy wheels on it. =)

anything up to £800, I want: tubeless (not the most important thing though, but it would be helpful, the lightest-weight for the price and stiff. weight and stiffness are the two most important factors.

thinking about Crank brother cobalts, they are light, but I've had bad experiences with CB before…. and Also seen some hope xc3 hubs on 355 rims for £350.

any recommendations/experience?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cyclescheme-question

I bought Stans ZTR Olympic rims + American Classic hubs from Just Riding Along. Were £400 when I got them (18 months or so ago), more likely £500 now. 1320g for the pair, excluding skewers, with rim tape and valves. You could get ZTR Race, be even lighter.

Rims wise there's no real alternative to Stans Olympics or Races- tubeless, and there's nowt lighter.

Hubs wise I run Shimano XTR because they're light, easy to service and relatively cheap, but DT Swiss and a few others are good.

Wheel set is about 1350g.

Stans ZTR race 7000 with Racing Ralphs around 2200g, I have been racing on them for 18 months with no issues including 2 Grand Raids ,still running true

Stans ZTR Race or Olympics, XTR hubs. DT Swiss rev spokes.

another vote for Stans ZTR or Olympics, but on Chris Kings, unrivaled I'd say, they also sound amazing when free wheeling, but as a racer you shouldn't be doing much of that.. 😉

Roval Controle SL's. £600 IIRC. Review on them and a few other XC race wheels in a recent issue (50 maybe?) of ST.

il look back at issue 50…

Also seen some hope xc3 hubs on 355 rims for £350.

Email Richard as I'm sure he can do you a very good price as part of the group buy…

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hope-hoop-wheels-group-buy

Stans Olympics on American Classic hubs here.

My Pro3 SP XC3 (Stan's 355 rim) with 3 bolt 160mm rotors are lighter than the King/Olympic/Rev's & lightweight Mini floating 160mm rotors they replaced.

See Wheelpro website as Roger's price includes £10 of valves and £7 of Stan's rimtape.

Olympics on DT 240 hubs and racing ralphs tubeless – very light, very king expensive but tough enough so far.

Most cyclescheme cycle to work dealers received an e-mail today warning of severe punishment if strict guidelines of supply are breached.

That means no wheels,suspension forks, disc brakes, kiddy trailers, trailer bikes, Helmet cams.. etc etc etc

Apparently they are trying to safeguard the schemes future!
the government are starting to drag back tax give-aways.

Even bikes that could be considered for racing…. 😯

Zone

That's just typical!
I was hoping to get a track bike (for proper track riding, not a fixie fashinista before anyone says anything!) on Cycle2Work soon.

Grrr.

Yep… I sell cycle to work scheme bikes… but who's to say if I want to cycle to work on a **** bmx …that I can't!

Bikes should be Vat free anyway as far as I'm concerned

Just built me up a Stans V brake 355 rear wheel with an Acros .74 hub and Dt Rev spokes. 750g.

Just a smidge over £500 for a set of handbuilt 1300g race wheels.

J

Bikes should be Vat free anyway as far as I'm concerned

Possibly but bike2work can result in 50% savings – some people are taking the pi55.

Crank Bros Cobalt?

Cobalts are heavy, expensive and unreliable.

For racing, and that budget it has to be Stan's ZTR Race 7000 wheelset (or wait for the new ZTR Podium MMX) on American Classics with Revolutions. 1210g with tubeless valves etc.

I've got Roval Controle SLs, they've been pretty good, but the front hub bearings are absolutely dreadful, they're so small they don't last 30 seconds. I wouldn't pay £600 for them.

Chris King hubs are heavy, expensive and have tonnes of drag, I also had to constantly adjust my rear one to stop it coming loose, although I know some people don't find that. Definitely wouldn't buy them again.

Mudshark, That is also true…. We sell cyclocross bikes for distance commuters though….

I'd be peeved if that stops 🙁

Suspension forks, disc brakes, etc etc…. Frames? Naughty!

I did one custom build on it … resprayed the frame and rebuilt it with new kit but listed it as a special addition.
We bought the bike off him for a £1.. then sold it back to him for the voucher when we had finished it…. 😉

The panic button has been pressed… the trade is rumbling with a bit of bike scheme stress… 🙁

njee20 – are you talking from personal experience about the colbalts? if so I would be interested to hear what was unreliable about your wheels.

I have been racing (12 Elite XC races) all season on Colbalts and I think they are fantastic. the first generation had a problem with sealing on the freehub, but thats been sorted, and Im not even sure if any problem wheels made it to the UK.
my wheels weigh in at 1480g for the pair (thats what I weighed them at, not the website weight) and they are an oder of magnitude stiffer than the crossmax SLR's I was using before (could be due to the 15QR, which the colbalts easily convert to)
but yes, they are expensive. theres no getting around that!

Nah, I don't tend to buy overpriced showy stuff 😉

I've yet to read a positive review of them, you've changed that. Whilst I'm sure they're stiffer than ZTR Races they're also 270g heavier, whilst costing more. I struggle to get around that frankly when it's for a race bike. Maybe if you got the ZTR Races you'd be quicker than Euan round Newnham next time… 🙂

As a complete aside… 12 XC races isn't really a great test of a set of a wheels is it? 24 hours riding? I'd be more impressed if you said you'd been guiding on them all season.