Mountain Biking - Light Wheels

I'm looking to turn my old raliegh mtbike into some form of roadie thing. First up would be the wheels as they weigh a hell of a lot more than my new mtbike's so I assume this could be a big improvement. Are frames a bit contributation to weight? It is an old steel thing. Whats a good lightweight 26inch wheel set for a resonable price. Say no more than £100ish. Don't need to be very strong maybe XC wheels of somekind.

Mavic 517's are about the lightest there is. They are old tech so pretty cheap in most cases.

from what ive read frame isnt the most significant weight worry. Of course weight is weight but wheels really are the thing you wanna get good. Besides, lots of people swear by steel frames and you dont see many people swearing by steel rims.

wheel weight is important if you wanna shed weight....circular motion and "fictional" forces exerted towers the outside of the wheel increase weight of the wheel....mavics are nice...i think rhyno lites are prety lite in most cases and pretty strong...

[QUOTE....circular motion and "fictional" forces exerted towers the outside of the wheel increase weight of the wheel....mavics are nice......[/QUOTE]


Gotta love those fictional forces. They're the easiest kind to counteract! :D

lol.....centerfugal forces.....gotta love that they dont "really exist" but they do...

Mavic 517's on a light hub with double butted spokes, but don't forget the tyres. Some of the MTB slicks don't roll very well. Look for a thin tyre that can take high pressures-- I use Conti Grand prix. Also remember that a thin slick is going to give you a lower speed, or the decrease in rolling resistance will mean that you will run out of gears on an MTB quicker. If it is out and out speed you are looking for, look at raising the gearing aswell.

Seeing as you quote in £'s look at merlin cycles for quality at an acceptable price.

Yeah, the custom build wheels on merlin look the best, can pick all the parts. Probably do this next year, or I could upgrade my new bikes wheels and swap the old ones over hehe.

Honestly here is what I would do...

Mavic 517's on XT hubs, should be under $200 US
Specialized Fatboy 100psi slicks, 1.5" $30ea?
11-25 105 cassette $25-40?
(so you get bigger gears and less of a gap between gears)

If you get the 517s off of Pricepoint, Performance, Jenson, Nashbar, they are really cheap. Sure, they aren't handbuilt, but if you take them to a shop and have the dish/true/tension checked for about $12 per wheel you can save a lot of coin. This is one point where its hard to make an argument for buying handbuilt wheels from your LBS, unless you are a very demanding rider with very particular tastes.