I like DT swiss hubs to a decently wide aluminum rim with 28ish spokes. That setup can get you in the 1400 - 1500g territory. Carbon rim can drop maybe 100g / rim; in my book that's not worth the braking worry, but might be interesting. I do like carbon for disc wheels.
Will On Monday, June 2, 2025 at 9:12:43 AM UTC-4 ascpgh wrote: > Besides sharing the wheel specs (rim, hubs, spokes, nipples) and tires you > now use, tell us what you want to improve. > > Deep section, "aero" rims may be more rigid and ride harder despite > cutting seconds off some of your stats. That can reduce ride comfort and in > my use that cuts into the range of rides. I try to avoid becoming miserable > or riding after becoming such. I do this for the fun and the restorative > mental aspects riding provides, not competing or comparing with others. The > physical health benefits are icing on the cupcake. > > Pursuit of lightness may bring you to parts that have a shorter service > life or add unforeseen problems to cope with (aluminum spoke nipples > anyone?). Too few or too slight of spokes don't reduce enough rotating mass > if they don't meet the need of your weight and other load requirements of > your bike. > > Quality tires really can be transformative. When I switched to RH Stampede > Pass EL tires on my Rambouillet the change was so significant I stopped > looking for a replacement bike that would fit bigger tires thinking that > all of my problems had to do with tire volume. > > I always look at my wheels as sharing the dynamic feel of the entire bike > as it responds to my physical input while carrying my weight (and load as > applicable). I envision all of the parts that I contact as the initial link > of a chain of energy transmission to and through the whole bike to the > ground, converted either into propulsion or steering forces. If I make one > link in that chain more rigid, others will have to make up the difference > in absorbing energy that is momentarily greater than the machine is able to > convert to forward motion. > > A set of deep section aero rimmed 18 spoke wheels may lighten your bike, > drop your best segment times but if they are not able to be dynamic in use > they will require some other parts in the chain of energy transfer to do > that instead of sharing. You may feel like those wheels make your frame or > handlebars flex more than you previously thought and in time your back tire > might wear faster than previous tires. Their service life might also be > disappointing in the long run. > > I think a chat with a seasoned wheel builder is a good thing. A sense of > "responsible adult" input from that person who has seen and built many > variations and been responsible for what was built can be refreshing. Peter > White always has a very valuable wheel building perspective that I've > valued over the years. I built my own in the past but have so many other > things to do in my life, including riding, that I had a reality check and > decided to cede that process and decisions to those who do it daily. > > Andy Cheatham > Pittsburgh > > On Monday, June 2, 2025 at 7:46:06 AM UTC-4 Nick Payne wrote: > >> On Monday, 2 June 2025 at 1:09:22 pm UTC+10 [email protected] wrote: >> >> I'm curious about putting lighter wheels on my Roadini. Anyone running >> really light weight wheels? Carbon? Noticeable changes in >> speed/comfort/stats? I wanna try em, but I don't want to drop $1000+ to >> find out it's not worth it. >> >> >> You don't say what rims your present wheels are built with, or what tyres >> you're running, but I doubt that you'll notice much if any difference from >> changing the wheels. Tyres, that's a different matter. If you're >> dissatisfied with what you're riding at the moment, look at getting lighter >> tyres and fit lighter tubes inside them. >> >> I've built several pairs of wheels using CF rims, but they were all for >> disc brake bikes. I wouldn't use CF rims with rim brakes - braking >> performance, particularly in the wet, and even with the proper CF brake >> pads, is worse than with Al rims, and the brake track being a wear item, CF >> is going to wear faster than Al. I have a fairly lightweight set of wheels >> with Al rims on my Riv custom - DT Swiss RR411 rims laced to White >> Industries MI5 hubs. I can't say, though, that I really noticed a >> difference from the previous wheels I was using, which were Mavic MA2 rims >> laced to Campagnolo hubs. The only reason I swapped the wheels was because >> I like building wheels and I already had the parts. >> >> Nick Payne >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1e2568f6-c8b1-497c-863d-e38aca1158b8n%40googlegroups.com.
