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Last year I bought a cheap rear wheel to finish a build. Now having a bit of spare cash , I was thinking of getting something lighter. How much weight saving do people think is worth the expense of a wheel change? The existing wheel is 1.15kg and I have noticed some more expensive options are as heavy, looking at you Hope Fortis.
What kind of wheel / what kind of bike and how heavy are you?
Fortis have very heavy rims vs their strength and Hope hubs aren’t the lightest. That said I’m sure my Hope Pro 4 / DT XM 481 is a chunk lighter than your rear wheel.
Just to throw it out there even a Bitex hub is lighter than a Pro4 I think. My dream money rear wheel would be an Industry 9 hydra with some kind of carbon rim I think.
A £ a gramme saved is the absolute limit to me. If you can get to a£ for 10 grammes saved then IMO thats a good ratio
I use that formula both on bikes and with hiking / trekking kit
General xc/ stooging about type wheel so looking at 25mmish width on 29er boost HT.I was looking at a JRA wheel with a Bitex hub which would save about 200g , just wondered if I would feel the difference. Front is a fairly light XT wheel
I'd be pissed with wheels that heavy
im <95kg all up (bike, me gear) and i usually shop for wheel weights 1.8-1.9kg ~30mm wide for my riding, which i guess is enduro type riding on enduro weight tyres.
Saving 100gm on a rim IMHO is a tangible saving (at least by strava) if you do lots of pedalling
Note, I couldn't care less about hub weight as it contributes very little to the rotating mass due to it being so close to centre, and am more than happy with Hope hubs due ot servicing, cost, weight, reliablity etc etc. Obviously, money being no factor would look at flashy hubs
200g is a good chunk to save off a rear wheel I reckon. Whether you’d notice the difference or not I don’t know though. If it’s a Bitex hub build it’s probably not wildly expensive so I’d probably go for it. Bitex have quite a quick engagement too - so if you have quite a slow hub now you’ll possibly notice quicker reaction from it.
For me it is more nuanced than a figure on paper. I think that rim weight and spoke tension are more of an issue than overall weight.
Mrs_oab has a pair of Giant own brand rims and hubs, with steel bead tyres and 8-speed steel cassette on her road/do it all bike.
I have some Merlin wheels with Merlin rim (-120g each end apparently), with lighter Kenda tyres (-100g each end) and Shimano hubs and Tiagra cassette. There is a noticeable difference of wheel tension too - mine are handbuilt.
She rode my bike yesterday around the block. This morning she texted me to say how leaden her bike feels on this mornings ride....
A £ a gramme saved is the absolute limit to me. If you can get to a£ for 10 grammes saved then IMO thats a good ratio
I use that formula both on bikes and with hiking / trekking kit
TJ - does the formula need an extra factor to account for the rotating mass of the wheel?
I used to think that weight was the only direction with bike wheels.
However my latest set of Zipps are 1,500g but feel light, spin up very quick and offer a super comfy ride.
I’ve just built up a set of dt Swiss 240’s with dt spokes and duke 29’s rims (27.5 f and 25.5r inner width) wheels for around £550 now they weighed 1536g for the pair….
They are for xc, flow trails and def wheels on ground riding and will be well over engineered for what I need. Mate has the carbon rims with Kevlar spokes and has hammered them, they only weigh 1,200g and have been great.
Go custom and pick and choose components and you’ll save weight and money
Paid about £3 a gramme last month, which was admittedly stupid...
Would have been £4 if they'd charged duty +Vat
200 grams anywhere (bike or you) will make nothing more than a very negligible difference in overall speed/times. You will feel it if saving 200g on rim or tyre but it won't translate to being more than a couple of seconds faster over an hour.
My total wheelset weight is 1470g.
On my new sirius I wanted to keep weight down so went carbon 28mm inner on 240 hubs. I also run vittoria barzo 2.35.
In comparison to hope pro4 xm481 rims and maxxis dhf/ aggressor they are unbelievable, they pick up speed so much quicker and I’m conscious that I’m fresher after a ride.
Light weight is winning for me now.
Depends how much you weigh too.
If you're 100kg, a 200g saving is not much.
If you're 50kg, a 200g saving is a lot.
https://bndtechsource.wixsite.com/home/rotational-inertia-calculator (disclaimer: my use of this tool is of questionable validity and accuracy)
Rotational inertia of XM481 29"/622mm (525g) rim = 0.203 kg m^2
Rotational inertia of 29"/622mm 425g rim = 0.164 kg m^2
That's 19% less. At a guess, a tyre would have twice the rotational weight of the rim, and the spokes half that. So as a proportion of total significant rotational weight (i.e. things not at the centre) maybe a 5-10% saving for 100g off that particular rim.
Another factor to consider is how often you want to replace wheels... IME.
I've a set of Fortus 30 (the really heavy ones) on a bike. They've lasted longer in distance and impacts than any other wheels i've owned. Apart from a very spendy set of Deemax that i sold with a bike.
I also have a set of pretty light 28 hole Roval Traverse on my other 'lighter duty' bike. They make a massive difference to the overall bike weight. I live in fear of them exploding.
Rotational inertia of XM481 29″/622mm (525g) rim = 0.203 kg m^2
Rotational inertia of 29″/622mm 425g rim = 0.164 kg m^2
Light wheels and tyres are easier to accelerate, and you can feel that, but they also act as a flywheel so you maintain speed slightly better unless you are braking. Of course, saving some weight will improve your climbing, but I think people overestimate how big a difference a lighter rim will make. Lightweight XC tyres will roll much faster than heavy DH tyres, but that's more to do with the rubber compound, knob design, and casing than the weight itself.
but I think people overestimate how big a difference a lighter rim will make
Yes, they overestimate massively every time a weight thread comes up. Yes, you can feel a lighter rim, wheel - it feels lighter to turn quickly, if feels likes it spins up more easily.
Feeling better is important and most of us want a bike that feels better so good, get lighter rims/tyres.
However, the actual difference in overall speed is so small that you would only notice it under scientific conditions/testing. There will be more difference found just on how you are feeling on the day, what the weather is like, what the ground is like etc,.
How much faster do you think you would be if you rode without a 200 gram phone in your pocket?
I finally decided on a pair of wheels from JRA. The existing front, although light is narrow so why buy one wheel when you can buy two?
I stupidly went straight to order and missed the notice about builds being delayed a fortnight for summer holidays.
I have to agree with comments about speed. I am not really expecting a huge speed increase, I just want a lighter, less dead feeling ride.