New wheels day. Lightweight Gipfelsturms

[ak47]

Seriously the Standard 2 Lightweight I had were utter crap in crosswinds. Believe it or not, but they were actually a lot WORSE than my 81 Vision Metrons! Lightweight wheels are outdated crap.

[sungod]

Seriously the Standard 2 Lightweight I had were utter crap in crosswinds. Believe it or not, but they were actually a lot WORSE than my 81 Vision Metrons! Lightweight wheels are outdated crap.

imho that's unfair, the profile is not as good as more modern shapes, but for stiffness/strength/weight there's nothing one else even close

my obermayers with tubs, skewers, cassette, glue and a bit of air weigh 1682g, that's a standard sram cassette+zipp skewers+veloflex tubs, not ultralight stuff

the previous set got a large hole knocked in the side of the front wheel in an accident, it was trashed but didn't go out of true, it didn't collapse, and i rode them home, lw gave me a complete latest generation set for <20% of list including shipping (actually might have been about 10% of list, it was a few years ago)

on the lightest wheels for their depth that i know of, i take speedbumps at >50kph and (accidentally) hit potholes, they don't care

at narrow yaw angles the profile performs within a few % of the most exotic competition

the only downside is they get snatchy with changing yaw angle

overall, for a wheel, that's not 'crap'

edit: in the 1682g is also a garmin speed sensor

[Calnago]

Would agree... they are not crap. Very stiff etc. And look pretty badass on certain builds. Serviceability however, is indeed crap. Can't true the wheels, and rims are quite often not perfectly true, which causes unavoidable pulsing while braking. Let's not even get into what happends if you're unlucky enough to break a spoke etc. Front hub at least, and I'm not sure if this is still the case, has to be sent off for a simple bearing replacment. And all that might even be acceptable if you could simply ride them down a hill on a windy day, but... there are far better options for that to even consider them anymore other than a bling build where dollars spent matters more than practicality.

[sungod]

yep, if you break one it's likely to be terminal

only had two sets, both perfectly true and stayed that way, which is what i'd expect, going out of true in what's effectively one piece would be a sign of serious trouble

bearings i've changed ok, just be careful and it's alright, i get a lot of practice in windy conditions so mostly am ok, lighter riders could have more issues i think

tbh i like the look and it saves me a kilo going up hills, and they make good noise too

[Calnago]

Oh yes, they are very very lightweight as well so for going up there’s not much better. But even that is being adequately challenged by the competitors these days. However, I’ll add that I’ve ridden very light weight wheelsets, and by and large they do not inspire confidence at all. At least with Lightweights, light as they are, the part of confidence that comes from feeling your wheels are solid, is very good. It’s only when the winds pick up at speed that the confidence goes out the window. Which is a shame because for going skyward at slower speeds, stiff and light rules the day. But eventually, what goes up, must come down.

[KCookie]

I have no confidence in riding my Obies in strong winds, when that unexpected side wind suddenly hits the front wheel at speed making that awful woobling affect, well that certainly makes my heart miss a beat, that's why I got the Gipfelsturms. So much better in all respects.

[cunn1n9]

I have no confidence in riding my Obies in strong winds, when that unexpected side wind suddenly hits the front wheel at speed making that awful woobling affect, well that certainly makes my heart miss a beat, that's why I got the Gipfelsturms. So much better in all respects.

Indeed.

I had a set of LW and found them terrible in the wind. I also found them not very confidence inspiring on descents. I suspect it was the shape it made the tyres go with their very narrow clincher internal width.

I noticed one day that the rear wheel had a crack in the brake surface. I don’t remember hitting anything really hard but I obviously did. I had them insured so got a payout then sold the front wheel. Moved onto 303’s that have done over 30000km and are very stable in cross winds, stick descents like they are on rails and are faster in a straight line as well. Can buy two sets of these for one set of LW’s. IMHO the only real advantage LWs have is weight and stiffness which simply doesn’t outweigh their deficiencies. (Well they also look nice but that is only noticeable at the coffee shop.)



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[ak47]

The look great, I concur,. They are excellent on uphills, but you have to go down from top and they can be scary on descents. They are terrible choice if you live in windy area. It's an early 90s rim design and we have 2018 right now. There are simply better choices - not a lot less stiff, but in diferent world in terms of aero, crosswind stability, etc. And Lightweights are 2x more expensive than any high end choice out there. Only gipfelsturms seem to be a decent choice if you don't care about how much they cost, but Meilensteins are outdated crap especially when you consider their price.

[kgt]

'outdated crap' ? :

https://lightweight.info/de/de/news-pre ... 017_03.pdf

https://lightweight.info/de/de/news-pre ... 017_04.pdf

[Nefarious86]

I have no confidence in riding my Obies in strong winds, when that unexpected side wind suddenly hits the front wheel at speed making that awful woobling affect, well that certainly makes my heart miss a beat, that's why I got the Gipfelsturms. So much better in all respects.

Obie/Gip depth combo would be perfect in the new 24mm width.

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[Vuong05]

I have the LW Gen 3 tubulars, and also deal with the pulsing brake effect due to an out of true wheel. Always a treat to ride them when going uphill, but going downhill and cross winds make these a handful. Still, my favorite wheelset on any nice day.

[glepore]

I love my Lightweights (standards and ventoux) but yes, they are often not true. The wind issue is with yaw variance, in a true crosswind they're fine, but if the angle changes suddenly (think descending thru curves or gusty spring winds that shift) its like managing a rowdy 150 genoa. Whoa nellie.

They have an unmatched mix of spin up/stiffness/ ride compliance though.

[mrgray]

i want to pile on with my anecdata / story.

lightweights to me are a pretty extraordinary consumer good and it is an achievement in the context of the cycling industry and $400 carbon stems and stuff to stand out as a major luxury high cost item.

IMHO lightweights look better than anything else. and like miles better. i think Bora 50's are great wheels but i don't rate the looks. (bora 80's on the other hand )

however having owned 2 sets of std/meil you couldn't really use them. because what if it got windy later on? (also if it rained you were screwed because even with swiss stop black prince which were great in dry, in wet forget it). despite what the wind tunnel says, in an environment where the wind is being blocked and then not (buildings upwind for example or funnelling/concentration of wind) my heart would miss beats as the front wheel got snatched away from you. in the prescence of Sydney traffic it just couldn't be done.

so i would buy them, they would be on the bike, they would come off the bike for some ride, they would end up staying off the bike. then they would go back on the bike when i rembered i had lightweights and how awesome they are. and so on. buying and selling them you notice no one has worn out brake track (even though it is perilously thin) because no one really uses them.

gipf's / ventouxs different story. great wheels.

so you buy (in my case), $6k meils, then face having to shell out another 2.5 k for a gipf front wheel. and that is a great combo. except for in the rain.

so you get rid of them because "this is crazy right"?

but then you see a cippollini with fernwegs and you think "what looks faster than that?".



also most of my lightweights had some wobble in them (unlike Bora's and all my camapgnolo wheels which are amazing and in my eperience always perfect with no wobble whatsoever). but it never changed. i have ridden my meils through terrible pot holes that almost threw me off the bike, and i'm 90kgs, and nothing happened. i did not find them fragile at all.

at one time i seriously considered hanging the meil front wheel on the wall. it is an extraordinary wheel and i believe it is art. i used to love giving it to visitors; especially when the tyre was off. they couldn't believe it! how light, how perfect.

enjoy the ride KCookie and enjoy no more bowel loosening extremes when it's gusty!

[KCookie]

To be honest i couldn't think of any other wheel set to go with my frame.
I agree with you mrgray they look awesome, ride well and are pretty scary in the wet, but i love them. I also was doing the same and consistently changing the front wheels. The wind would seem light so i would put the Obie on then regret it during the ride when that front wheel was hard to control as the wind would always pick up. Now ive got the Gipfelsturms that front wheel will be staying put. I actually like the look of the combo.
And thanks i will certainly will enjoy no more bowel loosening moments.


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[KCookie]

Gipfelsturm - Obermayer combo.

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