Wheel Weight

mr_eddy

Hi All

I have mentioned this in the past but only now has it got to crunch time. I am very keen to by a Halo Aero Track Wheelset for my Single Speed road bike. The total weight is 1907g compared to my current stock 4000g 50mm wheelset, so in other words for £150 I would save just over 2kg from the wheels.

Will 2100g wheel weight saving give a real performance boost ?

Thanks

ugo.santalucia

Can we see a photo of your 4 Kg wheels?
I have once built a 5 Kg set, but it had an Alfine Hub, which weighs over 2 Kg alone and a dynamo hub at the front, which again, is close to 1 Kg

iPete

4kg wheelset, is that with tyres :shock:

You should notice a tangible improvement in how the bike rides, yes. A dramatic increase in speed, perhaps less so but as long as its more fun to ride...!

mr_eddy

Its these but mine are 36h not 32h. Cheap, heavy (strong) and nasty:

http://www.fixedgearfrenzy.com/no-logo- ... tubes.html

Think I am gonna go for the new wheels.

mr_eddy

Note that weight is WITHOUT tyres so with my Gatorskin 28c they come in around 4.6kg all in. I will probably also get some 25c Ultremo ZX V Guard which will save anoter 120g+ so my total weight saving will be around 2.3kg for £200

marcusjb

Yeah - you'll feel that sort of difference for sure, especially if you are using the bike for stop start commuting etc.

I am impressed - I thought I had some heavy, cheap wheels on my commuting fixed at about 3Kg with tyres.

Tandem wheels with Rohloff, Schmidt Son, 203mm Hope rotors etc. are about 5Kg with 4 Seasons on - but there's 2 of us to push them around!

smoggysteve

mr_eddy wrote:

Note that weight is WITHOUT tyres so with my Gatorskin 28c they come in around 4.6kg all in. I will probably also get some 25c Ultremo ZX V Guard which will save anoter 120g+ so my total weight saving will be around 2.3kg for £200

Wow that is a hefty wheelset. Even the cheapest shimano set undercuts that by about half.

ednino

Jesus, I think anything over 1,500g is heavy :shock:

ugo.santalucia

ednino wrote:

Jesus, I think anything over 1,500g is heavy :shock:

narrow minded...

bernithebiker

ednino wrote:

Jesus, I think anything over 1,500g is heavy :shock:

if you live in Tubby land, anything over 1250g is heavy!

sloppyschleckonds

bernithebiker wrote:

ednino wrote:

Jesus, I think anything over 1,500g is heavy :shock:

if you live in Tubby land, anything over 1250g is heavy!

Does that include tyres fitted?

mr_eddy

Thanks for all the advice, I have took the plunge and ordered a new wheelset with some 25c tyres - Ended up going for another set of Gatorskins but the 25c version now. Total outlay was about £185 but by my calculations I should get about 2000g weight saving, In addition I will be sticking the old 50mm clinchers and 28c Gatorskins up for sale so should get maybe £60-80 back bringing total actual cost to around £130 ish so not bad!

Final bike weight even with the steel frame and fork should be just around 9kg which is fairly respectable I think. I could have spent more and got 24h or 20h wheels but given that this is my everyday ride I need to keep the reliability as a top priority.

Will post pics once wheels fitted.

Cheers

rickeverett

4kg for a wheelset :shock:

Are they made of steel ?

Over 2kg of rotational weight will certainly give you some noticeable gain.

Pross

madasahattersley wrote:

The answer is the same as it was a couple of weeks back when you asked the same question hoping everybody would say yes.

You might notice the bike feeling a bit quicker, but you won't get the 3-5mph increase in speed you're hoping for. I'm now riding an 11kg bike vs my last race bike of 7kg and I've also put on 10kg and I don't notice any real difference in speed.

You don't notice any real difference having put on 10kg? I guess it is flat in Cambridgeshire :shock: I lost about 10kg a couple of years back and it made a huge improvement.

I agree on the wheels though. They'll make a difference but not 3-5 mph! Especially on the sort of terrain where most people would ride a single speed.

simon_masterson

Pross wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

The answer is the same as it was a couple of weeks back when you asked the same question hoping everybody would say yes.

You might notice the bike feeling a bit quicker, but you won't get the 3-5mph increase in speed you're hoping for. I'm now riding an 11kg bike vs my last race bike of 7kg and I've also put on 10kg and I don't notice any real difference in speed.

You don't notice any real difference having put on 10kg? I guess it is flat in Cambridgeshire :shock: I lost about 10kg a couple of years back and it made a huge improvement.

I agree on the wheels though. They'll make a difference but not 3-5 mph! Especially on the sort of terrain where most people would ride a single speed.

Forgive me for assuming that you didn't have lipo/drastic surgery, but I'm guessing that some training was involved in your weight loss!

But I don't understand why anyone thinks that losing a little bit of bike weight is going to make a huge difference to their speed. The two discs that Fignon rode in Paris in 89 were probably about as heavy as the OP's wheels.

Pross

Simon Masterson wrote:

Pross wrote:

madasahattersley wrote:

The answer is the same as it was a couple of weeks back when you asked the same question hoping everybody would say yes.

You might notice the bike feeling a bit quicker, but you won't get the 3-5mph increase in speed you're hoping for. I'm now riding an 11kg bike vs my last race bike of 7kg and I've also put on 10kg and I don't notice any real difference in speed.

You don't notice any real difference having put on 10kg? I guess it is flat in Cambridgeshire :shock: I lost about 10kg a couple of years back and it made a huge improvement.

I agree on the wheels though. They'll make a difference but not 3-5 mph! Especially on the sort of terrain where most people would ride a single speed.

Forgive me for assuming that you didn't have lipo/drastic surgery, but I'm guessing that some training was involved in your weight loss!

But I don't understand why anyone thinks that losing a little bit of bike weight is going to make a huge difference to their speed. The two discs that Fignon rode in Paris in 89 were probably about as heavy as the OP's wheels.

Nope, that weight loss was down to diet alone. I was fed up with struggling on the bike so gave it up for a couple of months until I shifted the weight.

Fignon lost the race due to those wheels, LeMond's were lighter and 3-5mph faster

simon_masterson

But but but Greg had those fancy handlebars... and the pointy hat!

diy

I know this is a bit of a hijack but its very difficult to shift weight with exercise alone. If you wanted to drop 10kg in say 12 weeks you'd need to add an additional 10 hours a week of fairly intensive exercise.

Pross

diy wrote:

I know this is a bit of a hijack but its very difficult to shift weight with exercise alone. If you wanted to drop 10kg in say 12 weeks you'd need to add an additional 10 hours a week of fairly intensive exercise.

Depends on how much body fat you have. I did it fairly 'easily' with no fads or crash dieting, just a case of eating fruit, veg and lean meat - no other foods and nothing over 3% fat. I was allowed to eat as much as I liked as long as it complied with that. Monitored by a nutritionist to ensure all the essentials were being consumed and body measurements taken weekly as well as weight to show that it was coming from fat. Unfortunately I've undone all the hard work and I'm struggling to find the motivation to do it again.

ugo.santalucia

Pross wrote:

Unfortunately I've undone all the hard work and I'm struggling to find the motivation to do it again.

Fancy a doner?

CXrider

I found lighter wheels did aid improvement in hill climbing but it probably makes bugger all difference on flats and downhills. In fact, downhill is a LOT scarier. The wheels are 1.35kg and tend to stray fairly easily. Still, I mainly climb so it was good for me.

diy

We often forget though that we tend to get better hubs too. Its not just the weight.

On the fad dieting. I wouldn't dismiss them, if they work to kick start you in to weight loss then why not. I've been on the 5:2 for over 2 years now, though recently I dropped to 6:1 as I was struggling to maintain weight. I found 6:1 harder as you get used to normal eating between fasting days for longer. I never did it to lose weight, it was always about targeting the health risk indicators.

I regularly get my resting HR below 35 now on a fasting day and am able to train pretty hard too. Last night I did 2 hours cardio and high rep weights without too many problems. My problem is I'm getting old and no amount of carbon fibre is going to change that