Light weight Wheels for heavy okes (29ers)

[wapad]

I went for the EA70 XCT eastons they are 1800g 24 spoke but are full tubeless so no rim tape etc

 

to be honest compared to the Giant wheels the bike came with I could not feel a noticeable difference

 

I lost 5g and that made a huge difference to my Single track TT route that i use in Tokai

 

They are lighter and full UST and thats what I convince myself is the big factor for getting them, as for performance ..?

 

My new take on weight is if you lose all the weight that you can and are down to single digit body fat then there could be a case for a 100 g saving in the wheels

 

Lighter wheels usually mean flex which equates to a loss of energy/performance but if you are in the 100 kg dept i doubt it would be noticeable except in the case of a failure

 

to give an example i am/was in the 100kg bracket and lost 5kg that equates to a time loss of 1m 05 ish on my 5km route which is mostly at a gradient

 

Most of the weight loss is a fixation on getting bikes to a certain weight, i have got my large Anthem 29er to 11.95 with all fittings etc i tried all the small gimmicks but body weight loss has made the biggest diffs

 

I suppose a bit of the topic but value for money try the Easton EA70XCT 5 grand and a solid wheel in our fighting category

[hdp_gmx]

IMHO, if you are not a weight sensitive individual, like myself, as slick/hairy mentioned the Hope/Flow combo i have going will be pretty much bulletproof, plus going tubeless on those rims took me less than 30min for both wheels. The reality of the situation is we are not professional cyclists who do this for a living so those few extra grams is not going to matter much or cost you a podium finish, worry free riding to me is more important

Edited May 31, 2012 by hdp_gmx