Wheels - lighter weight vs aero
 

Budget in mind - 500+\-, found examples of both.

Aluminum for both choices -

Hunt 34mm deep at 1500 grams

vs

Bontrager 50mm deep aluminum/carbon mix at 1900 grams, floor model and 60% off.


Replacing heavy stock Emonda ALR 5 wheels. The lighter set with tubeless tires will take 1.5 pounds off the bike. But I am 195, so it’s a very small # of the total system weight.

Most of my riding is on flat terrain, will do some mountain riding.


Leaning towards the aero wheels… not sure what would be better overall.

Since you ride the flats, the 50s make more sense unless you live in a windy area.

Aero trumps weight…when it comes to speed.

Lightweight feels good, but is an illusion.

Unless you’re a climber. Aero doesn’t help at typical climbing speeds. Dropping weight helps.

Once you are up to speed and rolling along, the 50mm wheel will benefit you more. However, the more you have to accelerate the wheel (stop lights, turns, climbs, etc.) aero benefits start to fade, and a lighter wheel’s benefits increase.

All that said, deeper wheels look sexier.

I've gone both ways. Enve 7.8's on DT180's (ultimate aero at OEM weight) v/s 957 gram Stans Grail CB7's, & Berd spokes laced to Extralite hubs (ultimate weight at box section, non-aero OEM shape)...What changes more than anything from one extreme to another is the feel of the bike.

Yeah, some super heavy OEM package with garbage OEM rubber & thorn resistant tubes is gonna roll like dookie & no one is going to dispute that. But it's very much worth noting that it's the rubber more than the rims. Garbage tires are a drag. Literally.

I'm thoroughly convinced that rim weight or aero (in isolation) is hardly important from a strictly performance perspective for the speeds & distances average enthusiasts tend to ride. Not that either is a non-factor or is unimportant. It's just that neither is as important as the industry hype would lead you to believe.

For performance: Good high quality tires & the lowest possible rolling resistance will be the most significant factors no matter the rim or wheelset weight.
For feel: It's hard to beat a nice light weight wheelset to make the bike feel like you can make it dance.
Fortunatly you can have both with the 1500gram wheelset.

I'm not saying you wouldn't benefit from a deep section rims. On the contrary: Deep section aero rims are cool AF. I'm only cautioning you against the placebo effect & tempering expectations of miraculous performance based on one wheelset vs any other. They're cool. But if you are not laser mind focused on all TT, all the time, their biggest benefit may be appearances & group identity signaling moreso than clock time on a segment. Realistically speaking Barometric pressure & wind direction/speed, or how you hold the handlebars, or one kind of shoe cover vs another or clothing choice on a given day will have a far more significant effect on supposed aero benefits than rim shape/depth.

The lowest, low hanging fruit is good tires, of appropriate width at an appropriate pressure, run tubeless. You can then feel good about installing them on whatever wheels suit your budget.

I'd get the light wheels.

Possibly, yes, if all you ride is uphill at speeds under 10mph.

But who does that?

Aero gains are so much more significant than weight savings that, even on an out-n-back route of a climb like that, the descent would be enough to advantage aero wheels.

There have been lots of studies and tests on this matter, from FLO to SwissSide to GCN, and aero trumps weight in all but the most extreme cases, most of which are only attainable by pro level cyclists. In other words, aero is even more advantageous to the typical, amateur cyclist than to pros ( in terms of time saved).

Here’s a link to the more recent SwissSide study; pay-walled, but Reader-view on Safari browser makes it accessible if you don’t want to do the email signup:

https://www.velonews.com/gear/road-g...els/#_reg-wall

Thanks everyone- few more things.

the aero wheels are clearance items, one set only. Just noticed the inner rim is only 17mm and the outer is 21. Would they require 23/25mm tires in order to avoid the mushroom effect?

The 34 hunts are wide rims, can easily take 28’s.


And yes on the tires. Currently on stock wheels that weight a ton, and riding 28mm armadillo winter tires. A pair of tubeless or latex tube Conti’s will be mounted to the new wheels.

Plus a lighter cassette and brake discs.

with that setup, the Hunt wheels will be 2.5#’s lighter than what I’m running now, Bontrager’s 1.9#s.

Both decent weight savings.

Tire width may be the deciding factor here.

If you buy a bike that has disc brakes, they come with rims that are lighter, stronger, and more aero.

I was going to mention rim width. I would go with the wider rims to take full advantage of modern wider tyres. The 17 mm rims will work with 28 mm tyres, but the resultant mushroom profile is not ideal. For me that trumps everything else.

Aero for solo riding.

Light weight for pack riding.

Sew-ups for nostagia trips. :)

Both of those wheels are aero. Hunt actually gives aero data on theirs but there may not be any on the Bontrager so hard to compare. The difference could only be a few watts.
also depends on the speed that you ride, 15 mph will not make much difference, 30 mph much more difference. Personally I like wheels that are light and went with 30mm carbon wheels with no regrets but I am light and ride hills. At 195lbs wheels with 20/24 spokes maybe under built for you.
24/28 would be more appropriate.

Why are you getting new wheels at all? Are your current ones broken? And why do you need higher performance wheels? Pros who make a living at riding have their livelihood depending on having all t he marginal gains, but they mean zero for the average rider, or is there someone you ride with regularly you can not keep up with? . If you can not enjoy riding with out having expensive equipment that makes no practical difference, then that is the problem you have to solve, not how heavy your bike is.

I chose the new Zipp 303s wheels. Decent weight, with a good warranty. I like the 23mm internal width hookless rims, which allows for lower tire pressure. I also Have BTLOS wheels with 25mm internal width, hookless and require no rim tape. They're well made and considerably cheaper. I run even lower tire pressure with the BTLOS wheels.

https://btlos.com/ar-clincher-hook-less-carbon-wheels

I do, for the most part. I ride uphill under 10 mph quite a bit, and I don't care much about the stuff in between.

On a typical climbing ride, I'll spend 75% or more of the time going uphill. It makes sense for me to optimize the bike for going uphill.

Another point: For most people, the climbs are where they are tested to their limits, so making climbing easier is the most sensible thing to optimize first.

Seriously, what’s the problem with having the best, highest quality stuff you can afford? Personally, I get far more enjoyment having the highest quality parts on a top end frame than I would riding the cheapest crap. We get that you don’t care for high quality. Stop trying to tell others that cheap is the only way to go.

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

In November I purchased Hunt 60MM carbon wheels with Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires and they have made a noticeable difference in average speed and cruising ease. I was rather stunned at how well they performed. I was running 32MM carbons before which were good, but not this good. On climbs, I am not getting the PRs now like I am on the flats, but I also have not been doing much hill work due to slippery conditions on descents and debris on the shoulders where I usually ride when vehicles want to pass. But full disclosure, as in my “Cadence, who needs it?” Thread, I am also spinning at 90+ RPM on the flats and 100 on the climbs, where before I averaged 82 and 90 respectively. Don’t know if or how much that factors in.

In my experience, go for the deep section rims.

Something to consider are the carbon wheels from Light Bicycle. They have "Quick Buy" wheelsets for rim brakes or disc brakes that start around $500.

There's a pretty long BF thread about Light Bicycle Wheels.

If you climb and are a weight weenie, you absolutely should also be a Crr weenie. Even on pretty steep climbs, small improvements in Crr can trump fair-sized decreases in weight.

Neither choice. I learned that it's a waste to compromise -- you should shop around to get wheels that are deep, light, and wide.

At my lightest riding weight of 61kg I bought 1.5kg Hunt Aero Light Disc wheels to replace my 2kg Giant OEM wheels. The improved PoE made more of a difference to ride quality than dropping the weight. Sure, the Hunts felt lighter, but if anything using them slowed down most of my rides because while everyone talks about how lighter wheels accelerate faster, they forget that lighter wheels also decelerate faster. When I upgraded to a 50mm/56mm Light Bicycle wheelset, I finally realized what a meaningful wheel upgrade felt like. Lighter than my Hunts so no penalty for climbing, wicked maintainable speed on flat terrain. I absolutely hate being on shallow rims on my current rain bike, where I don't even bother with the Hunts as the OEM DT Swiss wheels are only slightly heavier but much wider and stabler.

Preach! Self-identified weight and rolling resistance (Crr) weenie here.

At the low speeds of climbing, rolling resistance is bigger than aero drag:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...796aa88c4f.png
Source: wikiwand


My current setup: GP 5000 with Vittoria latex tubes, inflated per the SILCA inflation calculator.

So I guess you ride a Huffy? If not, why?

Yup. Even for steep gradients, small improvements in Crr can be "worth" several hundred grams in mass. That means if you regularly climb OLH or Tunitas Creek, you really want the right tires/tubes/inflation pressure. For not so steep gradients, better Crr is a slam dunk.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...145a036bef.jpg

34 is still deeper than a box section rim. Not by much but we’re not comparing squares to torpedoes here.

I’d get the lighter one then ride the heavy wheels you already have most of the time.

Which wheel set has the widest internal width and is tubeless? That's the best option.