Tubeless is great with large volume tires on gravel IMO. That's a good upgrade. Spoke count, I don't think you'll notice that weight savings. You might notice a loss of durability depending on your weight and riding style. And the "ride feel" effect is cumulative. My Toyo Atlantis is still a tank even with a very light Hunt wheelset. That bike just hates going fast. The "ploddy" feel you describe may be due to the Hillborne frame which isn't too different than the Atlantis 2. I have a Fargo with a Velocity Blunt/XT wheelset and bigger tires, total weight is about the same, but due to more aggressive geometry it is not ploddy at all.
I have 32h Quills and can attest that they are great rims. Pretty much the best option for rim brake tubeless high-volume tires. I'm 200# and have thoroughly abused mine. On Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 4:04:34 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote: > It may be the very stout frame. I used to scoff at “planing” but then got > a geometrical clone of a 2003 custom Riv Road built with narrower gauge, > thinner wall tubing (I got the replacement frame because I wanted certain > new features, not because of the tubing, but I asked for normal gauge, > thinner wall 531 at the same time), and I immediately noticed that it felt > “easier to pedal.” Now, no science at all, at all, at all went into my > judgment, but I don’t feel that the newer frame is “fighting me” the way I > felt over the years that the 2003 frame was slightly “resisting my pedaling. > > It has been 15 years since I owned my first-gen Sam, and if that model had > had clearances for true 50s and fenders I would have kept it for dirt road > riding, but it did not feel “spritely” on pavement, to say the least. > > OTOH, “they” have long said said that the biggest change you can make to > the feel of your bike is to change the tires …. > > > On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 9:44 AM Davey Two Shoes <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> … I’d like the bike to feel quicker and more inspiring with this >> wheelset, I've often thought that the "ploddy" feeling my Sam has is down >> to the uninspiring wheelset. > > -- 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/f87b975c-cdb9-4429-9577-dad975acb09dn%40googlegroups.com.
