First off, I'm sure this has been discussed at length before, but I don't care.


I am looking to build a lightweight wheelset that won't cost me an arm and a leg for my go-fast Fort alu track bike, which is currently running a blinged out, but not especially lightweight Phil Wood-DeepV wheelset. This combo is heavy and I can really feel the rotational weight when accelerating/climbing. Intended for road use, so I am looking for wheels that can take some beating.

I did some googling and found that most low spoke count wheelsets on the market (Mavic Ellipse, C-C Volos etc) come in at the 2000 gms mark. the cheapest I could find was 370 euros for the Ellipse set.

After some math, I figured that if I use DT Swiss RR 1.1 rims, DT revolution spokes/brass nipples, a 28 hole front road hub, a 28 hole low flange rear track hub (Campagnolo, Shimano, Miche they all come in at the 300 gram mark), I could make a wheelset that weighs in at about 1650 grammes for about the same price as the Mavic Ellipses!

Could shave off some weight in the form of, let's say, a Tune Mig 70 front hub and alu nipples, but that will come at a premium (cost for the hub and durability in the case of nipples).

I never thought that I would be able to 'beat' a pre-built wheelset, both in cost and weight, so there is likely something wrong with my math :-)

Does anyone have further suggestions as far as a rear track hub that is even lighter, or rims that are lighter without going into carbon rims, ridiculous prices etc? Has anyone tried and succeeded in building a wheelset similar to this? Thank you in advance for your input!