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I have a sort of tripster ATR hybrid bike, which currently runs mavic a719 rims with hope disc hubs. The tires are 35 hypers which seems to roll OK.
What I am curious about is whether a lighter wheelset is going to make much difference and if so what? What I seem to miss on this bike, as compared to my old steel racer, is a bit of snappiness, if that makes sense.
I really a lot is in the geometry etc, but how much difference do wheels really make.
Also I am hoping to run these as tubeless and summer only
thanks
Ah thought you meant one of these beauties at £2.5k...
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Probably not worth it on the tripster 🙂
FWIW, a lighter wheelset will generally make a bike feel sprightlier, even if it doesn't make it quicker. Might be worth just trying some lighter faster rubber.
cheers, I think you are right, I may get some thinner and ligher tires try out
35 is pretty wide unless you are on bumpy roads or have a lot of weight. That said narrower tyres will be lighter which will feel snappier but not actually be faster. Wheels will make a difference to feel too as above.
how heavy are your wheels? Lighter wheels will make a difference (or not, see massive recent thread...) but how much do you think you'd lose? The OE wheels on my Hack were 2200g 😯 so fitting <1600g CX V3s, along with much lighter tyres (dropped over 200g per tyre) transformed the bike.
You might not lose that much weight off the wheels, and as above the tyres will make a big impact. Not only are the 35mm OE Contis on my Hack heavy, they have such a tall profile they ruined the bike's handling - huge rolling resistance, so slow to turn initially you'd run wide, then fell into the turn alarmingly.
The rims seem to be around 565 grams and Hope hubs are a pretty good weight so you are not going to save that much unless you have really heavy spokes. You may feel the difference but it won't turn a non snappy bike into a snappy one.
they have such a tall profile they ruined the bike's handling - huge rolling resistance, so slow to turn initially you'd run wide, then fell into the turn alarmingly.
As well as the huge effect rolling resistance has on turning, and how huge that can be on conti tyres, that might also be down to the huge change to trail given how tall they were.
I don't know how much practical different it makes but in terms of feel it makes a big difference imo. Mine aren't super-light... 1550g I think, they're mtb xc wheels. But compared to the old 2kg wheelset it [i]feels[/i] fast, which encourages me to put the effort in. Once up to speed I don't think it makes that much difference tbh, not like a mtb where you're constantly changing speed.
If you like fat tyres, I love my schwalbe kojaks- still pretty light, and quick. A lot of fat 700c tyres are very commutey, these are just fat road tyres. I'm not sure exactly which tyres you have though.
I had pretty much the same issue as you, with a very heavy wheelset, basic avid discs and Hyper tyres. I got a slightly lighter wheelset, nicer rotors, and light 25mm tyres. All in (inc tyres and rotors) i saved about 520g, which was definitly an improvement, and felt less sluggish. I think it made a small overall improvement which was worth the relatively small outlay. If you are going for summer only, then it's worth going for a light wheelset like kinesis crosslight cx disc V3, as you won't be battering them all year.
I think the snappyness of your old steel steed is to do with the feel of the steel frame more than anything. I had the same feeling with my old 853 Rock lobster, a feeling of quick change of speed. I think it's mainly just a feeling though, from a nice bit of flex! 🙂