Rotational Weight Saving

moster

As in title - what's the minimum to make it worthwhile?

I bought myself a Spec Camber Comp ( a very good bike for the money BTW) a couple of months back and am running an old set of Ritchey Pro Disc's that came off my Boardman as I also swapped the Reba's onto it so needed the 20mm front hub.

I didn't really plan on doing much until I'd killed bits but I find myself with about £400 of unexpected cash.

Looking at Pro2/Crests I reckon I can save about 300g (a bit more if I go tubeless) - will I notice enough of a difference to make the outlay worth it?

I plan to upgrade the chainset (3pc Octalink Alivio) but only once I've done in what I have (can save another 300g by going SLX for £100) & pretty sure the seatpost is hefty too but not weighed it yet.

Cheers, Mo

supersonic

Does your Alivio set up really weigh 1200g?

aaronmroach

Rotational weight savings on wheels helps a rider on acceleration and decelleration, you can make similar saving for a lot less by dropping a few kg's of weight tbh!!!! however there are some good weight savings to be had in the price range you have quoted!!! Im assuming you dont want to blow the full £400 on wheels tho??

If you do you can save approx 400g - 500g thats taking into account the reviews of the Ritchey wheels weighing in at 850g Front and 1150g rear?? Dont know how accurate that is? May be best to weigh them!!!

Try

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=427

superstar on stans crest come in approx 1650g with the 20mm axel adapter and standard QR for the rear!!!!! Thats a hefty 350g saving for £229 in the sale!!!!!!! If the internet search on wheel weights is correct!!!!!!

As for cranks and seat posts and seats £170 left if you buy the superstar wheels should easily save you a further 300g. As I said before alot of money to drop less than a kg tho!!!!

moster

supersonic wrote:

Does your Alivio set up really weigh 1200g?

I believe so - I saw it listed somewhere as 960g + 250g for the BB - SLX I seem to think is 889g incl BB

moster

cheers Aaron,

I'll take a look at the Superstars as they are quite a bit cheaper than the Hopes.

I agree that it's a lot of cash for not a huge saving and in a bit of a dilema as to bother or wait - shiney seems to override common sense too often though!

aaronmroach

Tell me about it......

I bought a set of easton Havens on spec because they looked nice!!!!!!! and they saved me 400g over the bontys fitted!!!!!!!

Ryan Jones

What tyres are you running as that's where the most obvious way to reduce rotational weight and change the ride is on a bike

u05harrisb

i just upgraded my stock wheels on my mondraker podium to a set of crests on pro 3 hubs wrapped in a ust 2.1 schwalbe RR man this thing is far far quicker now! very eary acceleration! its incredable, sorry just thought i should mention since your thinking of crests

moster

Ryan Jones wrote:

What tyres are you running as that's where the most obvious way to reduce rotational weight and change the ride is on a bike

yeh I'm looking at tyres too. Running Rampages at the minute which I'll keep for the front but going to get something less draggy for the rear.

moster

u05harrisb wrote:

i just upgraded my stock wheels on my mondraker podium to a set of crests on pro 3 hubs wrapped in a ust 2.1 schwalbe RR man this thing is far far quicker now! very eary acceleration! its incredable, sorry just thought i should mention since your thinking of crests

cheers, any feedback that encourages me to switch is very welcome!

u05harrisb

they trully are awsome! it could have been lighter but i settled for the full UST RR's instead of the lighter normal RR but they are just soo soo soo good! just keep going for ages on the bearings and the rims are so light getting upto and keeping my speeds for fast XC stuff is so easy its mental!

Briggo

Why bother with heavy UST tyres on Stan rims? Just use standard evo carcass for even more weight loss.

Oh and crests on hopes are nice, not quite as smooth as my American classics but still, light and sturdy. They really can take a bashing, thrown them around various trail centres and natural stuff since owning, but you got to take into account your own weight as well.

njee20

Agree, the UST Schwalbe's are heavy, normal Evo ones are a better choice IMO, Snakeskin if you ride somewhere rocky.

I'd do that before wheels, the Superstar ones are great value. Look at your cassette too, changing to XT can save a chunk for not too much.

aaronmroach

PG990's are 50 % off at CRC at the mo and are as light as the XT but now cheaper!!!!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Sear ... arch=pg990

I find that a good quality Butyl tube and a lightweight carcass tyre can be lighter than a thick walled UST tyre and fluid!!! Same as above realy!!!

MattJWL

Because the wheels, as you say, rotate (hopefully), the 300g saved there will have a much larger effect than, say, the handlebars/saddle/whatever.

Taking this idea further, because the wheels have a far larger moment of intertia than the cranks (also rotating) the effect of losing weight here will be larger. Next step, looking at the wheels themselves, the further 'outboard' from the hubs you make the weight savings, the greater the effect. So lighter rims/tyres.

Of course, this is subject to some 'common sense' caveats; if you weigh 150kg, and fit balsawood rims, they will snap. If you put an 18c road tire on your rim, a. it won't fit, b. it won't grip at all & you'll fall off.

These days I'm running Mavic XM819 at the rear, which is the equivalent of the Crest, and something lighter up front. The Mavic is 'Normal' weightwise, but very bombproof (and properly UST, unlike my Stans, which needed a rim strip).

toasty

moster wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Does your Alivio set up really weigh 1200g?

I believe so - I saw it listed somewhere as 960g + 250g for the BB - SLX I seem to think is 889g incl BB

Yeah, sounds about right:

http://bikescale.com/index.php?d=artykul&kat=30&mar=14&art=1444
http://bikescale.com/index.php?d=artykul&kat=31&mar=14&art=2087

I'd still prioritise the wheels as others suggest, the Pro II + Crest are a fantastic wheelset. Personally at 15 stone and 6'6" I'd go Flows every time, I had a set of 355s and found them a bit bendy on corners.

The Crests are a very solid choice, but be careful you don't end up getting too fixated on only weight with bike bits as you upgrade. Flexy parts can have a far bigger negative effect than the original weight did. Weights get tossed around forums as it's pretty much the only way of comparing components without riding them.

njee20

These days I'm running Mavic XM819 at the rear, which is the equivalent of the Crest, and something lighter up front. The Mavic is 'Normal' weightwise, but very bombproof (and properly UST, unlike my Stans, which needed a rim strip).

The XM819 is more like a narrow Flow than a Crest! True about UST, but personally I prefer Stan's system, don't assume UST = better