|   Looking for a rear wheel below 800g............. | berni
Dec 4, 2002 3:51 AM | | ...for a road bike...
(www.roadbikereview.com is just not as good as mtbr.com!)
I currently have Rolf Sestriere at 865g for the rear. I need a 2nd wheel for my home trainer.
I am looking at Tune MAG 200, 205g, Mavic OPen Pro, 425g, and SAPIM Xray spokes. This should come in at about 830g.
Any better ideas?
I have Tune MAG 200 with Mavic X517 and XRays on my GF Sugar 1, and it is a very good wheel - very light. |
| Mavic's Open Pro is pretty much obsolete... | Bianchi4Me
Dec 4, 2002 1:27 PM | | The Open Pro is a well-proven, reliable rim. It's great for general-use cycling, training wheels, long-distance touring, etc. It's not exactly "state-of-the-art" from a performance perspective.
Velocity's AeroHead has also got a good track record in terms of reliability. It averages out 5-10g lighter and has slightly better aerodynamics due to it's 19mm deep, triangular "semi-aero" profile. The Open Pro is more of a "box". The aerohead has a new asymmetrically drilled rear rim for 2003 that might be worth a look. Not relevant for your build, but the Aerohead also comes in a 24 spoke drilling, so you can make light front wheels. Nice rim that outperforms the Open Pro in every race aspect and still offers good relibility.
Interloc Racing Design has been offering a rim called the "Cadence" for about 6 months now. It's manufactured from a proprietary Aluminum/Niobium T10 alloy that is allegedly 50% stronger than standard rim alloys. The Cadence averages an actual weight of 395g, so it's 30g or so lighter than the Open Pro. It also comes in an asymmetric rear drilling (32h only). This rim has been very reliable for my customers so far, including some folks in the 80-90kg range.
If you really want light, American Classic Design's CR350 rim is the lightest 700c aluminun clincher rim on the planet now. Actual weight on these is 366g with stickers (lotsa big stickers). Weight limit is 170 pounds (74kg) per the manufacturer. These rims have a small brake track area, so brake set-up must be pretty much perfect, but they offer astonishing performance for an aluminum rim. I would not say they are "race only" rims, but then again they aren't really intended for doing tons and tons of training miles either. More of a competitive weapon than a everyday beater rim.
On the hub. The Tune 200 is a sweet hub and very capable of handling most ride conditions. My weights for these have been around 209g average. I think it's a great choice for your target weight.
American Classic's HH220 will run about 236g, but it is significantly stiffer and requires shorter spokes than the Tune hub. If you're in Europe and can get the Tune hub inexpensively, that might be the "weigh" to go. Here in the U.S., the Am Classic is less expensive by a good margin.
The CX-Rays are very light, and seem to be working well for the many Pro teams that use them. In the U.S., they are ridiculously expensive, more than Titanium spokes even. If you can get them without paying a fortune than it sounds like a good choice. For the ultimate weight savings, Titanium bladed spokes are available that beat even the CX-Rays by about 20-25g per wheel. |
| Mavic's Open Pro is pretty much obsolete... | berni
Dec 5, 2002 1:42 AM | | Many thanks for such a comprehensive response. Very useful.
I am in Switzerland, so all the European stuff is reasonably priced. The whole wheel as I described it was quoted at 330 Euros, so about 330$.
My problem now is swapping the rim for something better as you described, but rims aren't the easiest things to get from the US to Europe and I doubt I can find them here.......
SO can I get below 800g? 209 for the hub, 366g for the rim, leaves 225g for spokes and nipples. Enough?
Thanks. |
| What about Zipp rims? | berni
Dec 5, 2002 7:50 AM | | I am looking at shipping costs for the CR350's, but in the meantime, what about the Zipp rims?
They seem to be the cutting edge as far as performance goes, but the price is pretty cutting edge too.
The 303 looks pretty funky, half carbon, half alu. Any feedback on this stuff?
Thanks |
| Carbon tubulars are amazing, wouldn't mess with the clinchers. | Bianchi4Me
Dec 5, 2002 8:27 AM | | The 1/2 carbon rims with the bonded aluminum brake track aren't really much lighter than some conventional aluminum rims, and they are incredibly, ridiculously, expensive for the weight. I've also had problems with the glued-on aluminum brake tracks not being precisley aligned with the carbon rim, which makes it a nightmare to true properly.
The all-carbon ones offer untouchable weight advantages, especially when you consider how aerodynamic the profile on these rims is. Downside is that you have to deal with the hassle of running tubular tires. You have to worry about spending several hundred dollars if if you drop the wheel, have a crash, step on the thing putting it in the car, etc. Finally, when things go wrong, carbon fiber has a tendency to fail catastropically, unlike aluminum which tends to bend and fold rather than blowing apart.
Unless you are doing the sort of riding where saving a minute or two is very improtant, I'd hesitate to invest that much money. |
| Why worry about weight? | TechniKal
Dec 4, 2002 5:22 PM | | Why worry about weight if you're using it on an indoor trainer?
That said, The Areoheat rims that B4Me mentioned are quite nice. I built up a set around a pair of 105 hubs, and besides dinging the brake track once when hitting an expansion joint too hard, they've help up quite well for me the last 3k miles. Nice looking, decently light, durable, inexpensive and easy to build. |
| Why worry about weight? | berni
Dec 5, 2002 1:45 AM | | The idea is to buy a very light wheel which I will use for hill climbs, etc next summer, and use the current Rolf Sestriere as the trainer wheel, with an old tyre on it, 'cos although the 1upusa trainer is great, it does seem to chew up tyres a bit and at 40$ a go, that ain't cheap! |
| Just get a cheap wheel and cheap tires for the trainer | shiggy
Dec 5, 2002 8:33 AM | | The cheap tires should last much longer and you should be able to get a lower end replacement wheel for 50-75 euros.
Save the wear and tear on your race wheel and it will last much longer. |
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