Not what I wanted to find after spending years as an overly bike weight conscious rider.
Running 2.4 and 2.2 tyres on Stans Alpines (340g each rim). The rims always looked way too narrow and made the tyres squirmy.
After beating down my inner weight weenie I changed the rims yesterday to some Velocity Blunt 35 (540g each rim)
All else remaining same and ride single speed so no variances is gearing and the heavier, wider rims feel faster and roll better (presumably as the tyre is now a much better profile) as well as handling better.
Even got a couple of second best times in wet/muddy conditions on challenging single-track without even trying particularly hard.
Either rolling better offsets adding 400g onto the rims or I have wasted many years of fretting over weight for nothing. Must be that they roll better then...
Lighter rims accelerate and dececelerate faster than heavier rims, heavier rims hold their speed better just like a flywheel.
Assuming your running slightly lower pressures then perhaps you've also seen a reduction in rolling resistance.
As above, light rims are good for climbing, and get up to speed quickly, but heavier rims will hold speed better on flat and rough sections
I hung-up my 29er wheels after building a pair of 35mm rims and fitted them with 29+ tyres - faster rolling, more grip and comfort. Heavier wheels take a bit more effort to get rolling, but once up to speed they really fly and easier to keep pointed in the right direction.
It's finally sinking in en masse among MTBers. Shame it's taken so long after years of magazines mindlessly regurgitating the myth that lightest wheels = best wheels.
and having just dropped a couple of pounds from the weight of my wheels, heavy wheels are s**t. yes they keep speed WHEN you get there, but if your riding is accelerate/ brake/accelerate/repeat light wheels are far more effective.
If however your riding involves being driven to the top of a hill then plummeting to the bottom...
I love my 26+ wheels, they're a PITA to get rolling but once you're off they're loads faster and grippier (lower pressures, innit) in the right places than the lighter wheels I have (with the same tyres and discs fitted.) They're just awful on tarmac and pavement though 😆
Changed from Stans Crest to Blunt 35s a while ago and never noticed any extra effort in accelerating etc, too many other variables including tyre weight, hubs, mud, energy whatever......
What I have noticed is a much nicer tyre profile and improved handling. Great rims.
More grip = greater confidence = no need to apply brakes / re-accelerate
Nino Schurter just won the XC world champs on a stock 'trail' wheelset rather than his lighter, narrower 'XC race' tubular jobbies because he felt the wider rims were faster on that course.
....just saying
Shame it's taken so long after years of magazines mindlessly regurgitating the myth that lightest wheels = best wheels
If you compare 2 wheelsets of the same width I'll take the lighter ones (to a point) my current wheels are lighter and wider than a lot of my previous ones. More than one thing going on here...
If you compare 2 wheelsets of the same width I'll take the lighter ones
Yes, so would I as that would be even better. I was still surprised that adding 400g to the rims wasn't noticeably slower or harder work so getting the same benefits of the width with no weight penalty would presumably be great.
and having just dropped a couple of pounds from the weight of my wheels, heavy wheels are s**t. yes they keep speed WHEN you get there, but if your riding is accelerate/ brake/accelerate/repeat light wheels are far more effective.
That is what my riding is like and the wider/heavier rim was more effective. But as above if I added weight but kept the rim width the same I may not have seen the benefits. So in my case the light rims were the worst as they has the added negative of being too narrow for my tyres.
Next step is to try out some Dirt Wizards or any other 26+ tyres that come along and see what they feel like.
dirtydog - Member
Lighter rims accelerate and dececelerate faster than heavier rims, heavier rims hold their speed better just like a flywheel.
Infinitesimally, yes.
400gm vs 100kg of rider weight, 0.4%, on climbs only. It feels way more significant than it is, but it does feel good. {I estimated the effect of 200gm to be 1 minute over 10UTB)
Also a sample size of 1. Not significant, and lots of other factors.
More grip = greater confidence = no need to apply brakes / re-accelerate
Which works if you have the choice. trees and narrow paths which require virtual dead stops rather than flowing.
Horses for courses.
Which works if you have the [s]choice[/s] [b]skills[/b]. [s]trees and narrow paths which require virtual dead stops rather than[/s] [b]to keep it[/b] flowing.
FIFY 😉
Which works if you have the choice skills. trees and narrow paths which require virtual dead stops rather than to keep it flowing.
no it was right first time, If you ride open trees fine, if your riding off piste through trees and scrub, dead stops are the norm. Or if you do as i choose last year to ride a canal towpath 16miles of fishermen a dead stop every 10-15metres waiting for the ledger poles to be moved!
Well probably in that situation the wheels would be the last thing to annoy me 😉