Road Wheels – is 275g saving worth it?

What is clear is that weight matters more to some that others.

Mostly to those that ride a lot and/or long distances – at the end of a day in the saddle, better a lighter than heavier bike.

taxi25 – Member
I can’t believe some people saying you can’t “feel” the difference in lighter wheels !!!

What do your shoes weigh?

Most people don’t even think about it.

Same thing.

(Is that a haiku?)

50p says you’ve never weighed your shoes. Surprising weight savings can be made.

50p says you’ve never weighed your shoes

Errr of course I have!

Spiuk carbon R16’s in 44. come in at 550g with cleats. They are seriously light 😳 . And they are </dorothy> RED <dorothy. Because Red shoes go faster. Like red wheels.

I know what my shoes weight and agree there is a far bit of difference.

Taking 150g off shoes is noticeable too (to me, not to those that don’t notice obviously)

I expect I could. Partly because 1kg tyres tend to ride very differently to 500g tyres. Partly because the bike will move differently. What I won’t feel is the difference in acceleration – I might imagine I do because I can feel the other differences and know I’ve got lighter wheels, but if you told me I had lighter wheels and just changed the stickers on the ones I had I’d probably “feel” the same difference.

This isn’t because I have poor levels of perception, it’s because I have normal levels of perception, just like the rest of you.

14s saved every hour of climbing. Yep I’m sure getting to the finish just over a minute earlier after 5 hours of climbing drives home the benefits.

FWIW I have a ~6.6kg road bike, but I don’t kid myself it makes me any faster to any real extent – not when the excess 10kg I’m carrying around compared to when I got it is slowing me down.

How do you know you don’t have poor levels of perception, what are you basing that on?

I don’t, but I do know that even if they’re a lot worse than yours, yours still aren’t good enough to be able to tell the difference in acceleration.

So knowing my levels of perception so well (better than your own it would appear) what is the weight when I would notice – 5kg, 10kg or would I not even notice if I lost 20kg of weight and rode a 1kg bike?

There simply has to be a point when it is very noticeable with the effect diminishing as you get closer to 1g difference.

To you guys who wouldn’t notice a difference in the feel of a bike with 275g wheels I believe you 😀 we’re all different, what goes for one doesn’t for another. But don’t say others can’t because I most definitely can, and it improves my enjoyment of a bike.
So Op maybe lighter wheels will work for you maybe they won’t. Probably the only way to find out is to spend your money.

I don’t think it’s that huge assumption that your levels of perception aren’t a huge amount better than the norm – if you reckon they are then maybe you need to get on record breakers.

ISTR that the normal limit of human perception for differences is about 5%, hence 2kg difference at the rims (which will be kind of difficult to save off a typical set of road wheels). Though that would be assuming you could keep your power output constant – given that’s unlikely then you’d probably need 3kg difference in the rims (or 6kg on the frame) to tell the difference in acceleration.

Of course you would notice the difference if you lost 20kg – you’d fly up the hills – but then we were talking about 300g difference.

You might be able to notice the difference – I’ve acknowledged that, and expect I might be able to, because it’s enough to make the bike feel different as you throw it around. What you won’t get is any significant difference in performance, and nor will you be able to tell the difference it makes to your acceleration or the speed at which you climb – if you think you can, that is just placebo effect.

The lighter wheels will feel even better if you give them quality tyres like Veloflex open corsas and latex tubes. Get the tyres for £52 the pair from Ribble.

I think I can tell the difference, certainly whilst racing. Light stiff wheels just pull quicker. My 1100g wheels are light stiff and aero and it shows.