Originally Posted by
njkayaker
What does "noticeable" mean? I suspect that some people might be able to notice a large difference in wheel weight when accelerating quickly but it's hard to say whether there will be any significant difference in overall speed for "normal" riding (which is where the value would be).
I can tell you that when I swapped out tires and tubes on my commuter (from light-weight road tires and light tubes to kevlar-belted tires and thorn-resistant tube) I added well over 1/2 lb. to each wheel far away from the axle. It makes a huge difference in acceleration but minimal once I get it rolling (I have less than 10" of elevation gain on my entire commute). As I commuting involves a lot of stops and starts, it has a real impact. Not getting flats is worth it to me but you can not say that it does not impact "normal" riding.