wheels: cheap/strong/light - choose 2

[mustang1]

We've all come across this one. Whenever someone talks about buying wheels, somewhere along the thread someone will say "cheap, strong, light - choose two".

Ok, I choose strong and light. Which wheels would you suggest?

Now someone will say "What's your budget?" and I will say "there isn't one". So which wheels are strong and light? I always thought strong wheels had to be heavy, regardless of price.

 

[Milzy]

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Li...NZddvvVCHUcW9Q4cAhBoC1jwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you build them yourself you can have the cheap as well.

 

[Kestevan]

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Li...NZddvvVCHUcW9Q4cAhBoC1jwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maximum system weight of 90kg pretty much rules them out on the "strong" front as far as Im concerned

 

[Soltydog]

Depends how strong & how light you want I've got handbuilt wheels 36 rear 32 front & even when I've been around 17stone they have been strong enough, light enough for me, think they were around 1600-1700g before tyres & tubes etc

 

[400bhp]

Enves

 

[Milzy]

Maximum system weight of 90kg pretty much rules them out on the "strong" front as far as Im concerned

Even large sprinters like Kittel only max out at 86kg. Lose some weight.

 

[Dan B]

somewhere along the thread someone will say "cheap, strong, light - choose two".

OK, I choose "front" and "rear". That's not going to be enough for the trike, but should be fine for any of the other cycles in the household

 

[StuAff]

+1 for the Lightweights (though Enve & Reynolds, to name but two, have some similarly fab offerings). Depending on model, up to 110kg system weight limit. I'm in no danger of getting anywhere near that

 

[vickster]

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Li...NZddvvVCHUcW9Q4cAhBoC1jwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

So you would choose expensive and really really fugly

 

[raleighnut]

If these are really at £150 a pair then they're a fantastic bargain,

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...4114244.html&usg=AOvVaw1Evb5GC6itdYZJi9rF6Qds

I paid £300 for my pair about 5-6yrs ago and they were reduced in a sale.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

We've all come across this one. Whenever someone talks about buying wheels, somewhere along the thread someone will say "cheap, strong, light - choose two"..

Cheap and strong will do for me. There's no such thing as a heavy alloy bike wheel. Don't agree with me?
OK, try this:- get on an old steel bike with chromed steel rims, ride it a lot in all sorts of conditions, pick it up and heave it over a few barriers/gates and carry it up a few flights of stairs. Then you'll know what heavy really feels like, and you'll never complain again about even the most basic budget set of alloys, such as those found on low-priced hybrids.

 

[DCLane]

Superstar Components wheels - they regularly have a sale on.

Light, strong and relatively inexpensive.

 

[Alan O]

Cheap and strong will do for me. There's no such thing as a heavy alloy bike wheel.

My thoughts entirely.

My lightest wheels are the ones I have for my road-only bike, clad with 25mm GP4000sII tyres. They have Weinmann R18 14mm rims, Quando hubs, and 36 spokes. The components are very much budget items, but they seem very good value for money to me - the cheap hubs in particular should last years with regular bearing cleaning and re-greasing. The pair cost me £65.

I don't know how much they weigh, but in my hand they do not seem remotely heavy. I see reviews crowing about 100-gram savings in weight, but that's a good bit less than the weight of the food and drink I carry with me on a ride, and far less than the natural daily weight variation in my body.

But if people want to pay big money for super light wheels, I'm all in favour - it helps low-weight technology trickle down to budget components for the rest of us.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

But if people want to pay big money for super light wheels, I'm all in favour - it helps low-weight technology trickle down to budget components for the rest of us.

There isn't really much "technology" involved as far as the structure and material of an alloy is concerned. OK, you can no doubt use CAD software to design the minimum mass of metal required for a given load capacity, but the weight savings are going to be a couple of ounces, not pounds as in the case of going from steel to alloy.
The biggest weight saving in modern road bike wheels I suspect comes largely from the silly low number of spokes deployed, rather than the cross section design of the rim. That's all fine and dandy all the time you don't break one, but if I've got a 36-spoker & Mr Weight-Obsessive has got a 20-spoker and we both ping one on the same big pothole, guess which one of us is likely riding home and which one is likely going to be walking? The trouble with cutting the material to the bone is there's nothing left in reserve, and the slightest failure could render the wheel unrideable.