FlashBazbo

What is bike weight worth to you? More specifically, what would you be willing to spend to save 1/2 pound from your wheels?

Doge

Depends a bit where you are starting from.
My answers are for ready to ride tires, cassette and skewers.

Starting from
2,500g - $300 to get to 2,000g
2,000g - $1500 to get to 1500g

joejack951

I think the question might be better asked: what would you have to spend to shave 1/2 lb. off your current wheels? For some, the answer might be $300. For trekmogul and his Lightweights, there may not be an answer....yet

For me, the real cost to shaving 1/2 lb. would be a more shallow and narrow rim profile, going from 40mm deep x 25mm wide to 20mm deep x 22mm wide. I could shave another 1/2 lb. by running narrower and less flat-resistant tires, all of which I may do as a sunny day I-feel-like-climbing wheelset. I'd be all in at around $650 including tires.

Symtex

I saved 1lbs on my wheels and it made a significant difference for me as a small/slower rider. My previous wheels were 1960g and my new wheels are 1450g

lsberrios1 

$5.000

PepeM

$5.000.000

Doge

Shoot, I could have knocked the weight of my seat off these already over 100g lighter than those Lightweights. But that would mean moving away from steel (really good steel) spokes. Best left for the hanging on the wall department. I like wheels on the road.

ax1370RTR.jpg

noodle soup

$1 spent, for every gram saved, sounds reasonable.

wphamilton

I spent $129 for Vuelta Corsa Pro wheels, at or just under 2000 grams. I don't know the exact weight of the original wheels, half a pound more but likely more.

I don't think I'd pay that for the weight savings alone though, crank set for example. It's more like I bought some wheels and they happened to be lighter. So I consider that $129 to be an upper bound.

Doge

I've wanted to see these **********, I just don't trust them to perform.
14g ~ 6.5g
These ~ 2.5g
Mine ~ 3.5g
This would save about 44g / set against the lightest steel.


Maybe on an aero rebuild.

DrIsotope

For me, durability is of such paramount importance that weight is barely even a consideration. Anything under 2000g a set is lightweight by my standards. Dropping half a pound is just 113g per wheel-- easily reached just by going to lighter tires. But I want durable tires, too, so I don't much worry about that either.

So I guess the short answer is zero dollars. I'd like to see just how much Venn overlap there is between "people who obsess about the weight of components" and "people who ride a lot of miles."

cycledogg

1/2 Lb. is right about 227 grams. So, yeah, $1.00 per gram.

HTupolev

Seems like that might be one of the more challenging cases for these spokes. One of the bigger issues with laterally stiff rims (i.e. carbon aero rims) is that deflection at the contact patch can carry to the opposite side of the wheel (causing things like brake rub), so the spokes need to brace the rim extremely well. And featherweight titanium parts aren't exactly known for stiffness.

noodle soup

It's a fairly common standard (that weightweenies on a limited budget use) to justify the purchase price of one component over another.

mulveyr 

$0, since it's likely that the weight savings comes at the cost of compromising durability or functionality.

( Not totally true, since I like Compass tires, which are moderately expensive, but could add up to 1/2lb of weight savings over other tires of similar width. )

Doge

My point is you can get lighter, but then lose performance, or options. So far...I have found nothing works as well as steel for spokes.

The Lightweights and RZRs are good examples.

My little 130 lb kid experienced that brake rub you mention on the RZRs - the 790g ones. Later UCI said they asploded and were dangerous. Reynolds fixed that at a 200g cost.

I have not tried the low spoke Lightweights but they are not approved wheels anyway, so it doesn't matter.
They were not an option from the start. Many junior, collegiate and road bike TTs require metal spokes a of a certain number. So how good they were/or not didn't matter.
Then they have/had the same UCI approval issue the RZRs did. The UCI approved ones (as of May 17,2017 https://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/R...NG_English.pdf ) , are not on their site any longer. That does not matter to many.

And then there is the performance/specs. Meilenstein 16/20 are listed as 1105g, in 47 profile and 20mm wide.
The 20/20 are 1125g or 5g/spoke. Compare that to a 3.5g steel spoke and you have surface area etc.

My steel spoke Mercury M5s weigh 1110g in 20/24 and were 25mm wide 50mm profile. My kid raced 4 year on them and still is, in college.

nycphotography

^ the relationship is not linear, ie light <...........> durable.

it's more like the classic engineering triangle where optimizing for any 3 variables tends to be exclusive of the 3rd.
IN this case, it's: light vs durable vs cheap.

You can get light and durable, it's just not cheap.

You can get cheap and durable, but it's not light.

Or you can get light and cheap, but it's not durable.

cthenn

Had to do the maths on that. 0.5 lb = 227g. Over both wheels, that's just over 100g per wheel.

Therefore, less than $99, oh...let's say $98.

edit: someone else did the conversion. Did not RTFA.

Jarrett2

This. I'm too heavy/strong/hard on bikes to focus on anything but durability as my primary concern.

Jarrett2

I spoke with a friend of mine who is also a Clyde that has been riding 40 years for 900-1,000 miles a month every month and he said, don't ever get hung up on the weight weenie stuff. He suggested for bigger guys, the stuff that is actually light enough to improve performance is a waste of time for someone our size as it just means we will break it fast.

His suggestion was just to get strong, quality parts and put lots of miles on them and the speed will come that way. He's in his late fifties, easily 240 lbs and is one of the fastest riders I know. The younger, lighter "fast" guys line up behind him for a pull on the local training rides.

stockae92

Get a lighter wheelset for under $499

Doge

Well...
A broken part makes for an unhappy day. But there are a lot of super quality lighter parts where you are paying for the engineers to decide what material can be removed, and what needs to be there. It is engineering and art.

I had to go to one piece cassettes to support my kid's junior riding on 11 speed.

I didn't give up reliability, or money - I gave up component wear/life but got a 120g cassette.

rpenmanparker 

That has always been my standard.

Doge

It is an asymptotic line. I can get weight down fast for less than that starting out, but once getting to a certain point I can't go lighter without quite a bit more.

I went to an off brand ceramic bearing - not for weight, for roll, but that also saved a few grams. As you know I don't tape tires, I glue them. That is for my belief I do a better bond and - it is lighter.
I was thinking of going to a skewer that screws on vs bolts on - for 10g.

But I think I'll stop about there. A few threads here reminded me that what I like is figuring out the best build for what I'm trying to do, not the build where you just add up the highest price, or least weight.

joejack951

My comment was based on admittedly some ignorance of the weights of various Lightweight wheelsets but also on the notion that they sell a sub-1000 gram set (which I confirmed they do). I can't say I have ever seen a 750-770 gram wheelset but perhaps they do exist. As far as liking wheels on the road, I haven't read anything to suggest that LW's wheelsets are collapsing under riders all the time.

Like some others, I have always erred on the side of over-built, too, though I am straying a bit lately using only 24 spokes for my latest front wheel. Prior wheels have always been 28 or 32 spokes but I have read enough to assure me that 24 is good enough at my weight and use and with disc brakes I can still ride home even if I lose a spoke. Tire on fork rub could still be an issue.