Anyone have any recomendations for wheelsets good for climbing? I am aware that nearly all wheelsets out there that are good for climbing are road wheelsets, but id like to know anyway.

I live in a fairly hilly area.

Just wondering.

Something light.

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But seriously. Buying lightweight tires and tubes will help a lot. But, they are less durable and might flat easier.

But even more seriouser. The few ounces you lose by spending a few hundred dollars on a new wheelset mean nothing if you are gonna ride in jeans, double straps, and cro-mo bars while wearing a messenger bag.

Going up those hills, ounces are ounces are ounces no matter if they are on the bike or your body.

Get stronger...change your gearing...or buy a roadie...Sf will tear light wheels up

It is commonly believed that the lightest wheels are the best for climbing.
But don't expect a dramatic difference over ordinary wheels.
You really can't BUY anything except maybe performance enhancing drugs, like the pros use, to dramatically improve your climbing performance.
It's something you learn to do after a lot of hard work.

Yes, a lighter wheelset really helps with climbing. I have a pair of open pros laced to DA 7600 with sapim cx rays and they slice through hills. But, as mentioned above, durability is sacrificed.

Nevertheless carleton has a great point about losing weight yourself than making your bike do it for you.

On a side note, Poor poor Carleton, forced to eat a anorexic's meal...

I get TWO little potatoes on Sundays!

fat***.

I got to hold some Kinlin rim wheels. Freaking feathers

Ahhh. Ok. I dont exactly live in SF, but i live on the peninsula, and yes its still hilly. Since I dont wear the full kit, and I usualy ride with a backpack and with straps, I guess buying a lighter wheelset won't matter to much. Haha. Thanks for the advice gentlemen.

On that note, I am fairly fit and im like not fat...i dont think I am. 5' 9.75" @175-180lbs....should I lose more weight/put on more muscle?

I am seriously considering building up a roadie though......i first wanted to do road biking before I found out about Singlespeeds.

I've heard that weight on the wheel matters more than weight on the frame (or shoulders, or jeans).

Everyone else who is giving you advice in this thread has heard the same thing, but they're choosing to ignore it.

Budget matters, too.

No. We are just choosing to ignore you.

B43's for everyone!!

Or how about Aerospokes? ounces (or pounds) are ounces =]

Weight of the bike and weight of/on your body are two very different things.

It does mater more, but not so much for climbing. It matters most for quick acceleration because there is forward acceleration of the total mass of the bike and rider, and also rotational acceleration to spin the wheels up to speed. For climbing, total mass is extremely important, but the significance of rotating mass VS total mass is diminished when you add the force required to lift the bike/rider into the equation, the rotational inertia of the wheels is a drop in the bucket.

Srsly.

yes i've been very happy with kinlin. stiffer than i thought they would be.

I'll be picking up some kinlin's when i get a chance.

What do you guys think of kinlin 270 + novatec track rear 24h and a novatec road front hub 20h with some double butted aero spokes? Seems like the best value lightweight wheel set without losing too much durability you can get? https://www.bdopcycling.com/ is where I was thinking about buying the hubs from since he's a contributer to the forum.....I'd really like colored hubs but I don't think I can do as light with color for as cheap.

Leuky I feel like the amount of bike sh*t you have adds up to more money than my father's life insurance policy is worth. How the fawk do you afford all this stuff doing what you do? Just curious

Upper management business/ economics. With a portfolio on the side. Let's just say google was a outright brilliant choice on my behalf.
Nonetheless I'm a bit older than most of you guys hence the head start; stay in school.

Many people make the mistake of thinking they can "buy performance" going up hills.

The best way to go faster on hills is to lose excess bodyweight. Using Tour de France (elite cyclists) as a rule of thumb, take your height in inches and multiply by 2.

5' 9.75" = 69.75"

69.75 x 2 = 139.5 lbs. This is the competition weight of a typical Tour de France rider.

At your lighter weight of 175 lbs., that means you need to lose 35.5 lbs. The increased performance from such a weight loss yields a climbing advantage many orders of magnitude above changing the weight of your wheels.

If the hills are but short inclines, you can attack them with speed and sprint. But if you want to ride mountains, you need to lose weight.

wow.......35.5lbs. Thats one tall order. XD. But then again, this is given the fact that we are talking about elite cyclists as a rule of thumb. So say I did half of that?