Recommend me a good *LIGHT* wheelset
 

So I'm over the whole riding-brakeless-with-hella-deep-rims thing. I don't do triathlons nor do I ride competitively; deep rims are useless. They're expensive and heavy.

I currently have two wheelsets, which I'm considering selling off to fund a well-built, logical wheelset. I have:

1. Front Weinmann LP18 on generic hub (stock with a KHS Flite), Rear B43 on a Phil Wood hub (I might steal the Phil wood cog and lockring off this one)
2. Miche Pistard set, spokes need tensioning and I can't be bothered

I can get a set of Alexrims DA22s on Formula hubs built at my LBS for about $300 CAD + tax. I find that a bit steep, but I imagine it would be worth it for the high quality. I don't know much about these rims; but they felt light.

Alternatively, I can order from an American site like Velomine or BikeWheelWarehouse. I find Velomine to be easier on shipping (Ben is a great guy) and cheaper overall, but they carry mostly deep rims.

Anyone have any links/suggestions? These wheels need to be light but decently strong, and well-built. I want to keep the truing/tensioning to a minimum when its in my hand.

Oh yeah: prefer black w/ black spokes, though silver spokes are find, nipples I don't care, and front should be machined; rear I'd prefer NMSW.

Cheers!

I'm keeping an eye on this thread. Had considered replacing my silver veeps with black ones, but something light, like Mavic open pro's (which I can also get in black) is starting to sound tempting. I was looking at the bicycle wheel warehouse custom builds, but I'd love to know about any other, cheaper options.

Apparently Velomine is doing custom wheelbuilds now. I'm going to ask them for a quote on OpenPros to Formulas. I'll post back with results.

lightweight doesn't mean good.

cane creek are light.

so are zipps.

it's the whole "well built" "nice" thing that's difficult here. i was going to suggest alex R450's to formulas. light as hell but not good.

I didn't say that light meant good. That's why both adjectives are in the title thread. I've heard that Mavic OpenPros are a gold standard for a "good/strong" AND "light" rim.

I used to ride R500s. They were extremely light and from what I could tell it was fine for me.

Looking for some links to said good enough + light wheels or for some other hub/rim suggestions. :)

novatec/joytec rear track hub.
novatec or formula road hub front.
kinlin XR-270 rims.
DT swiss super comp spokes all around.
brass nipples.

If you go 24/28 it should be plenty strong.

which should be around 1650g

Attachment 154791 Box rim similar in weight, if not lighter than Mavic OPs, love 'em.
To minimize farting around after you get 'em, have them hand built to your weight + carry weight of a bag.

I'm in the process of building up a bunch of 750~760g 18 spoke front wheels from velocity fusion, shimano hubs and DT super comp spokes, but I wouldn't recommend it for riders heavier than 150~160lbs.

off the shelf, or custom?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...lset&highlight

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...e%21&highlight

your biggest limitations are the hubs.
finding a decently priced, light weight rear hub is annoying.

or impossible. CA$300 is a pretty modest budget for 'light' wheels. what were you thinking in terms of total weight? you can probably do 1kg for the *pair*, but not at $300!

I've made a pair of sub 1600g DA road wheelsets for around $300.

If you scroll up, the wheels I've outlined are around $80 for novatec hubs, $110 for kinlin rims and $1/ea. for spokes with nipples.

Both the Mavic Open Pro and Ambrosio Excellite will run you about $100 per rim in Toronto.

Canadian prices are redonkeykong. I'll buy complete bikes, clothing & accessories, etc. here, but the prices on new components are just far too high. I'm probably going to end up going with the DA22 build (just because it's from Urbane) or a custom Mavic Open Pro build from the states.

Box rims; seriously they are cheap (any LBS should still have some NOS laying around) and durable under normal conditions (better than decently strong? :rolleyes: ). I have a 20+ (was 700C upgrade when the size was phasing in) year old weinmann alu road set from my peugeot conversion laced to campy and they are light as hell compared to my current b43 set up or my HED3; I even keep the front mounted with a tire as a universal spare.

There are a lot of good suggestions here. All I really have to add is that, for the same price as a "track" front hub, you can probably get a lighter road hub for the same price.

no doubt. what's 'light' about 1600g?

scroll, my ass.

...implying that a sub-1600g road wheelset is heavy

for the price and weight, better than average.
and I said they were road wheelsets.
and they're clinchers.

700c clinchers only get down to about 430g per hoop before they become really flimsy and force you to use more spokes.
some of the lightest clincher rims you can get are kinlin XR-200 that weigh 390g, but they're not for riders over 60kg and even for 60kg riders, it's recommended to keep a high spoke count of 28h/32h.

for hubs, a fairly priced novatec or formula road front hub is 70g.
While a track rear hub is about 260g

I know for a fact that a 24h XR-270 with novatec road front hub is 700g with 14/15/14 spokes and brass nipples.
so, that basically makes the track hub the boat anchor.

getting a good, lightweight rear hub that's under 150g and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, now that would be something

yes, all that. and yes, i can read. can you?

road, clincher...check. i'm quite familiar with the kinlin offerings. did the OP require a track hub?

1600g is not light. really, not. which is not to say that sub-1600 is heavy, nor that light is necessary...but the OP said "*LIGHT*", and 1600g ain't that. why are you all so touchy?

like I said, find a light weight rear track hub that's cheap.

like i implied, $300+light ain't gonna happen, unless your dictionary says something unusual about 'light' track wheels.

wait...that's what you said. so what's the argument?

OP--I ordered some Open Pro rims to Dura Ace hubs a month or so ago from Velomine and love them. They are light and very well built. Wheels were almost perfectly true when I received them and all of the spokes were tensioned evenly.

I went for DA hubs b/c I wanted that bling factor, but if you don't care about that then Formulas are fine and maybe even better for street use (sealed bearing). Either way, I recommend the Open Pro rim as well as BUTTED spokes. Light spokes make a big difference.

Were those custom-built by Chuck or just ordered from the site?

just ordered; i'm not sure who built them.