Clinchers for Cross - weight?

milese

I'm in the process of stripping and cleaning my cross bike for the new season and weighed my wheels, and am a bit disturbed by how much they weigh!

They are Pro-Lite Como's, 20 spoke front, 24 rear with a 30mm rim, that came as standard on my Focus Mares.

Older version of these: http://www.pro-lite.net/road-wheels/como-ds

They weigh 937 front and 1241 for the rear, without skewers, but with rim tapes. Thats 2178g, or nearly 60% heavier than my road bike wheels!

What clincher wheels are others racing on? I get that these are bomb proof but how much greater are the demands of CX on a wheel than road riding?

Any recommendations for something that will be a fair bit lighter without breaking the bank?

BeaconRuth

I did a couple of seasons on Xero Lite 1's and liked them so much I have two pairs. Admittedly I can't compare them to anything else! I'm only 57kg though, and I wouldn't have used them for something really rugged like the Three Peaks.

imposter2.0

Wheel weight doesn't really count for much when you are carrying several pounds of mud around with you anyway. I've never really been able to tell the difference between any of the wheels I've used for cross...I still get passed by riders who can push the pedals harder...

DavidBelcher

I went down the "old school" route rather than off-the peg low-spoke-count clinchers - 32h Mach1 CFX (somewhere between a Mavic Open Pro and Open Sport) front & back with double-butted stainless spokes on Hope hubs and alloy/stainless Hope "lookalike" skewers which Helmut Berns at Sonic Cycles built for me. Fairly respectable in weight, but also good strong wheels with durable bearings, which are equally important criteria for CX.

David

slam that stem

Imposter wrote:

Wheel weight doesn't really count for much when you are carrying several pounds of mud around with you anyway. I've never really been able to tell the difference between any of the wheels I've used for cross...I still get passed by riders who can push the pedals harder...

Ok great but most races are not that muddy. And why don't you have a pit beeatch cleaning your bike every lap for you?

Milese, in cross having light wheels is arguably more important than most road disciplins b/c you're accelerating from 0 very frequently. Where do you think Zipp tested the 303 tubs that Boonen won Roubaix on? Under Tim Johnson who rides for Cannondale. Carbon wheels made it to cross as soon as they were available on the road.

At the weight you quoted your wheels are holding you back. My rear RS80 with cassette and clincher tyre isn't much more than 1450 grams. You're right you're lugging around about 600-700 grams too many. RS80s are great cross wheels, they're robust, lightish, and the rim is wider than normal (21mm vs 18 or 19) and the braking surface is good. If you're easy on equipment and can afford them, the Clythsdale version Hed's Ardennes could be a great option as they're even lighter and wider. Money is your only impediment to wheel happiness.

While you're at it, why not find a cheap pair of 30-38mm carbon tubs, run some Fangos or Grifos and see how you get on. It's not as expensive as people think if you buy second hand.

imposter2.0

slam that stem wrote:

Ok great but most races are not that muddy.

if you say so..

mentalalex

why not buy some Hope Hubs and Mavic Rreflex rims put some tubs on and you have bomb proof wheels

milese

Thanks for replies.

I did consider them too heavy and found some secondhand hope pro 3 hubs with stans alpha 340 tubeless ready rims, come in at about 1450g, and ride nicely.

I'm now considering trying tubeless, but don't know if it's worth the faffing around...

FransJacques

It is, I bought Ultegra 6700s and bodged some regular Challenge clinchers on them. They were easily 80% of feel of tubs. Not all the way mind, but the ride was noticeably better and they squirmed less at the lower limit of the psi range. Good luck with it.