[Closed] Lighter road wheels?

Second hand Giant slr0 30mm wheelset(rim brake) I got set £400 few years ago. Around 1350g and been fault free since.

Or farsports will do you wheelset for that money around 1400g

Hunt Aero Light Discs are ~1500g, cost ~£400.

If it's still available, that Prime 50mm carbon disc set with tyres for ~500.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but even though I usually like beasting myself up hills, I wish I'd thought more about aero over lightweight.

QR and rim brake? If so, get on eBay and look at some top end wheels from 10 years ago - some Dura Ace carbons or something. Could get them at a very reasonable price

I’m sure you know, but be prepared to be amazed for the first ride or two then realise there’s not much difference in reality.
On my winter bike I went from 1800 gram wheels down to 1500 grams, realistically no real difference. Hills are still really hard! I went from a heavy set of 40mm deep to 37mm deep, the 37mm deep are wider internally and are designed for 28mm tyres and above.
If I was looking at a 500 budget it’s the Hunts for me, but I’d be tempted to save a bit longer and go for deeper rims. Prob the Hunt 40/50 at 1458 grams.
I’ve just bought a new Trek Emonda, I’ve gone aero as well as lightweight. Comes stock with 1450g wheels, I’ve also bought a pair of 1600g 60mm wheels. Aero is king! I have no issues with lightbicycle wheels, but I personally prefer to have someone UK based to deal with.....I know the wheels are all made in Asia, just in the event of a warranty I’d prefer to be dealing with someone in the same time zone.

Prime aluminium jobs for less than £300 will get you @ or below 1.5kg. superstar components similar too. Keep using the others till bearings go or buy early and keep as a spare I suppose.

It's not for hill climbing purposes, it's because I miss that extra snap when stamping on the pedals. That's all. Silly way to spend money, but I haven't spent it yet!

Forgot about Hunt. Whilst looking for LB rims I had a look at their full wheels and they are pretty light and cheap. Ok so there's going to be import duty but still a good deal.

Oh and they would need to be disc and bolt through.

It is hilly where I live, but I suppose a certain amount of aero is goign to help me cover miles (a bit) which is another thing that I find a positive, probably more than anything else really. LB 30mm rims are only 20g heavier than their shallowest ones.

Light wheels feel nice, aero is faster.

I'm not exactly fast but ride solo mostly and dgas about times. Lightweight for me.

I wonder what the real benefit of aero is in group rides, and don't see it all for leisure riders.

"I just did my normal ride 1m faster!"

- "You just spaffed £500 on aero wheels"

I can think of plenty better ways to spend £500 than on incrementally faster bike rides.

Just riding along worth a look as well, lots of options.

“I just did my normal ride 1m faster!”

That's obviously pointless - but how much faster is it? Road riding is fairly dull, so changing the scenery quickly and the sensation of speed both make it interesting for me at least.

I mean - why bother spending any money at all on a bike? Why not just stay home, right?

1780 - 1400 = 380 grams.

All up weight?
85 kgs(you) + 8 kgs(bike) + 1kg(water) + 3kgs(clothes and shoes) + 1kg(phone, keys and shit) = 98kgs.

4% weight saving?

I've been there and done this and it doesn't translate into anything worthwhile other than less money to spend.
Get a skin suit.

I’ve been there and done this and it doesn’t translate into anything worthwhile other than less money to spend.

I too have been there and done this. I'm not new to cycling. I like riding light wheels, you may just have to deal with that fact.

Also, if you factor in the reduction in angular momentum required when accelerating out of a turn or from lights etc, the difference between light and heavy wheels is a lot more significant. And this is what you feel when riding a bike with light wheels.

When I wanted lighter road wheels I went to Superstar Components.

I got a pair of road wheels that weigh 1490 grams (I checked when they arrived) for £225 in one of their sales.

They're rim brakes and QR but they've been faultless and I would buy again :o)

Got 2 sets of Just Riding Along road wheels. They’ve been faultless and easily the tightest wheels I’ve owned.

£390 gets you a pair of 1440g ish Lark Lights.

Light wheels are ace and make a huge difference to the feel of a bike IME. There’s nothing like the way a pair of slinky wheels accelerates - makes the bike feel alive. I love getting on the summer roadie after a break, it just picks up so nicely.

if you factor in the reduction in angular momentum required when accelerating out of a turn or from lights etc, the difference between light and heavy wheels is a lot more significant.

I fully support your efforts, but just for amusement could you quantify this?

I was a road racer for a good few years and learned to be somewhat cynical when this kind of thing crops up.

Having just performed a similar exercise. I can wholeheartedly say it's worthwhile. I've just replaced some perfectly good Pacenti SL25 rims (450g) with some slightly wider and a little lighter Nextie carbon rims (350g). So that's a grand total saving of 200g on my already lightish 1670g wheelset. I bought these particular rims in art for the weight, but also as they had an almost identical ERD, so I could re-use my CX-rays.

Same tyres, same hubs, same spokes, same nipples on the same bike, literally only the rims have changed. The result is a night and day difference which is mostly positive. The bike feels so much more nimble than it did, faster to turn, faster to accelerate, just a lot livelier. Far closer in feeling to my UP. I'd never have guessed that 200g of rim weight would make such a difference, and in truth, it probably isn't just the weight. The carbon rims are just that much stiffer. For the most part this is great, but if you accidentally hit a pothole, by goodness it's a big hit.

Was it worth it? I got into this expecting to pay £175 to upgrade and in the end spent a little less. I think it was worth it.

They're on my commuter 🙂

I fully support your efforts, but just for amusement could you quantify this?

I can't be bothered to do it again but the difference on a windy MTB course where you have to brake and accelerate out of sharp corners a lot was equivalent to about 30W extra.

I'm not claiming that light road wheels make you loads faster. All I'm saying is that it gives a pleasing sensation. And pleasure is the only reason we do any of this, isn't?

I agree and I'm not trying to be an arse, honestly.

It's less prevalent now but there was a real glut of 'I've lost x hundred grams off my wheels and it's sooooo much faster i can't believe it' a while ago.

The thing that gets overlooked is the actual physics; when you accelerate, you're accelerating everything. Not just the wheels but the bike, you, whatever is in your pockets, whatever is in your colon, your fillings, your socks and so on.

It feels different, and I agree is more fun.

What about Scribe? They've got some sort of super fast engaging hub.

1780 – 1400 = 380 grams.

All up weight?
85 kgs(you) + 8 kgs(bike) + 1kg(water) + 3kgs(clothes and shoes) + 1kg(phone, keys and shit) = 98kgs.

4% weight saving?

Isn’t it more like 0.4%?
Also a pre ride dump means the last item is no longer carried.

Isn’t it more like 0.4%?

Probably, I was having my tea while doing the maths!

GCN did a bit about light wheels over the summer. There’s a good clip on their site.

I felt a big difference when I changed my old 26" Mavic 719's to Stans Crest rims.

Less of a difference when I changed my Road bikes wheels from Shimano R501 to Hope/Stans Alpha wheels.

I put this down to the large amount of accelerations when riding off road compared to the general steady speed when riding on road.

Not very scientific, I know.

Very pleased with the set I got from Farsports, and the service from them was excellent.

Wide 30mm deep carbon rims, CXRAY spokes, brass nipples and DT 350 hubs. Went with the option to pre-pay the import tax so no potential headaches at this end.

I’ve been there and done this and it doesn’t translate into anything worthwhile

Not in terms of speed and maybe not worthwhile to you but could be worthwhile to others as it is something you can feel and if it feels nicer that is a good thing when riding for enjoyments isn't it?

I am going through another old bike stage and have changed to a steel track bike (quill stem and all). Bike weight went up by 1.5 kg but I used the same wheels and tyres and the overall feeling of riding the bike was very similar. Then I changed the tyres to something a bit lighter and the bike feels better than the overall lighter bike did and I like it more. Is that not worthwhile to me?

It feels different, and I agree is more fun.

That's all there is to it.

All the other 'go for a dump', 'carry fewer biscuits/less water', 'areo is EVERYTHING' bolleux just doesn't matter. If you enjoy the sensation of changing bits of your bike(s), that's all the justification needed.

For years weight (especially rotating weight) was everything, now it's aero. Is this real or just another industry marketing ploy/fashion? 29ers? Gravel bikes?

We all fall for it.

Nothing wrong with changing a near-1.8kg wheelset for a sub-1.5kg one.

For me that's the realistically attainable weight for what I'm prepared to spend, and there's no dispute (though STW might prove me wrong) that wheels (and tyres) have the biggest impact on road bike feel.

I managed to snag one of the last pairs of discounted Prime Black Edition 28s for £500 from CRC earlier this year. The new version is £750 - but has also shed about 100g now (1,404g claimed).

They are great.

You can't beat the feeling of riding a light, stiff bike (road or MTB); it just surges with every pedal stroke and is a joy to ride.

There are some pretty decent light aero wheelsets out there now, 50mm for under 1400g all at pretty reasonable prices (compared to say lightweight wheels at £7k a set).

First upgrade for my Orca will be some new wheels lightweight 50/60mm section.

You can’t beat the feeling of riding a light, stiff bike (road or MTB); it just surges with every pedal stroke and is a joy to ride.

^^This,every time.

I don't need new wheels as my Summer/good bike is perfect (for me) ,but as the world moves to disks I have noticed a lot of nice second hand rim brake sets on Facebook marketplace.

there was a real glut of ‘I’ve lost x hundred grams off my wheels and it’s sooooo much faster i can’t believe it’ a while ago.

Yeah I know, and that is clearly untrue from a Physics point of view. As said, it's easy to prove how little difference it makes to your overall times. I hired a bog standard Specialized Allez for a week in Wisconsin and did four or five rides on it. It was something like 27lbs which is massive for a road bike. But it was actually pretty nice to ride, really. I only noticed the weight when accelerating.

And I think this is a key point. It is noticeably harder to accelerate a bike that has heavy wheels. So each time you stop at traffic lights or whatever, and you stand on the pedals to pull away, if it feels sluggish it puts a bit of extra strain and fatigue into your legs, and you feel slow. You may not actually be slow, but it's all about how it feels.

It feels different, and I agree is more fun.

Exactly this.

For years weight (especially rotating weight) was everything, now it’s aero.

So I was poking around on Light Bicycle's site yesterday. Their normal not particularly aero rim is 385g, and the 30mm one is 410g. I reckon at that kind of weight penalty it'd be silly not to go for the aero one. I think you can have both can't you? I'm sure it's a really stiff ride, but then this must surely be mitigated by having 28c tyres at 60psi no?

I think you can have both can’t you?

Yep, Hunt do 44mm aero wheel sets at sub 1400g for just over £1k.

For years weight (especially rotating weight) was everything, now it’s aero. Is this real or just another industry marketing ploy/fashion?

Aero is definitely real but how much actual difference it makes for the average rider is probably overstated. For example if I go out for a 1 hour ride and was 1 minute quicker would I actually notice the 1 second per minute difference? I would say not.
Lightweight is also real, especially when riding uphill but again would I actually notice the few seconds saved, probably not.

As I am not racing and any seconds saved are irrelevant then I just get the bike I enjoy riding and if that bike being lighter brings more enjoyment then I would get that one.

Yep, Hunt do 44mm aero wheel sets at sub 1400g for just over £1k.

Ah but the LB rims were the same price!

Lightweight is also real, especially when riding uphill

I don't think it is particularly noticeable uphill. I think it's noticeable when accelerating.

I appreciate the feel of circa-1500g wheels vs circa-1800g wheels uphill, for sure.

Saw consistent improvements on Strava climb times as well, versus an OE wheelset on the same bike.

Lightweight
Well built
Nice tyres/ tubs

All the above worth considering when it comes to feel.

I don’t think it is particularly noticeable uphill. I think it’s noticeable when accelerating.

I wasn't referring to noticeable, I was referring to it actually making a difference, i.e. faster for same power.

Saw consistent improvements on Strava climb times as well, versus an OE wheelset on the same bike.

Interesting - what sort of climbs? Steep or shallow?

I’ve had roval slx24 for three years riding all seasons and doing about 4500 miles a year - super reliable, and they haven’t been touched. But, although I ride them tubeless, the bead doesn’t lock in very well ( this isn’t a problem with gp5000s as they go up so easily but IRC are impossible to inflate ). Also bought light larks from JRA recently for my wife and they are very impressive. They are not set up tubeless yet but there is a definite ridge on the rim so I think the bead will lock better than my rovals

All of the above arguments relating to aero, snappiness, acceleration, weight etc are massively outweighed by the fact that deep section rims look an awful lot better on modern carbon road bikes and to be fair, the vast majority of metal tubed bikes, unless you're on some retro lugged steel noodle tubed sled.

just look at the Tarmac SL6 Sport with 25'ish mm rims and the Tarmac SL7 Pro, irrespective of gainz, the one with the deep rims looks best and lets be honest, that is the important thing here

Interesting – what sort of climbs? Steep or shallow?

Both, shallower when I swapped OE for Ksyriums on the rolling terrain of Hertforshire and steeper when I made the same swap (on a different bike) in the Pennines & West Lancs Alps.

The feel is more on the steeps though, TBF.

irrespective of gainz, the one with the deep rims looks best and lets be honest, that is the important thing here

This is so true, this is what it comes down to. When I first got a road bike after spending decades on MTB the bike came with an 1750g wheelset, had 1550g Ksyriums, now have 1350g carbon all of the same depth. Between 1550-1350g it was almost imperceptible, slight aero and stiffness difference play as big a part as weight - Ksyriums were stiffer so climbed just as well as a slightly flexy 1350g and were about a third of the price.

The 1750g wheelset was slightly sluggish accelerating but not much in it when up to rolling speed. Ironically I was much faster on the 1750g wheelset because was training more and younger...bling just compensates for the natural power reducing ageing process...which isn't to say it doesn't have its place.

For years weight (especially rotating weight) was everything, now it’s aero. Is this real or just another industry marketing ploy/fashion?

They've run out of sensible and/or easy ways to convince us to spend money on lightweight, so now are marketing new exciting tech (aero, disc brakes) which just happens to be heavier, so of course now all the reviewers are pretending weight isn't important 😀

rrespective of gainz, the one with the deep rims looks best and lets be honest, that is the important thing here

Plus that woosh woosh noise when you stand up and put the power down. Nothing beats that!

They’ve run out of sensible and/or easy ways to convince us to spend money on lightweight, so now are marketing new exciting tech (aero, disc brakes) which just happens to be heavier, so of course now all the reviewers are pretending weight isn’t important

Just read Chris Boardman's biography and he details the start of the secret squirrel club and their use of a wind tunnel to understand actual performance gains and what they'd mean to times on the bike etc. It does seem that the full appreciation of aero vs weight is relatively new (in terms of the age of the bicycle).