I currently love the ride quality of my road tubeless wheelset (Shimano 7850-SL with Hutchinson Fusion 3s)
sitting at 1515g, I am wondering if the holidays can bring me the lightest possible road tubeless compatible wheelset for a 95kilo rider.
I ride my current tires at 80psi front/85 rear.

Ultimately I desire to maintain the ride quality of my current set and drop a couple hundred grams.

The best rim option looks to be Stan's new model, as the Shimano DA rims I am sure cost a serious mint.
Anybody know of any other rims? What do people think of this rim?


Was thinking of pairing the rims with Alchemy hubs and CX ray spokes, I think I need to do 24fx28r spokes.
Anybody think I can get away with 18 spokes in the front? How about 24 in the back?
Any spoke suggestions other than CXRays?
Iread here:
http://www.prowheelbuilder.com/blog/?p=32
That the rims don't like a ton of tension and that might not work ideally with ultra light spokes,
Is there a heavier spoke that would reduce issues?

Stans themselves produces complete wheelsets, their "Pro Version" is 18x24 but not recommended for riders of my weight. It is 1200g
http://www.notubes.com/product_info.php ... cts_id/520
Their Team Version would work, it is 24x28 and comes in at 1330 grams. It uses AM Classic hubs and DT supercomp spokes. around $900USD
http://www.notubes.com/product_info.php ... cts_id/524

I am thinking for around the $1k price point I would rather get a custom built set with Alchemy hubs, and I think it could come in around 1200-1250g range, maybe closer to 1350g based on some threads I have read here, while still supporting my weight easily and comfortably.
Does this sound like the best alternative? I could also build up the same pair for half the total cost (and at nearly identical weight) with Circus Monkey hubs, but I have read in threads here that the rims do not take too much tension well so the hub becomes more important- would the CM hubs be problematic?




Specifically to anyone who has worked with these rims –
1. how easy is it to get off those stickers? I assume none of the advertisements are etched on there and the rims are just black ?
2. Have you run these rims tubeless WITHOUT Stans goo in there? Right now I run my tires with just air, I really would prefer a design that rides well without requiring any goo.

Thanks.

1) The stickers are easy to remove. Took me about 3 minutes.

I have not build up my wheels yet, so I cannot answer your second question.

My build will be 28h American Classic Micro 58 and 32h AC RD205 w/ DT Swiss Aerolites. Should clock in at under 1300g.

Actual weight of the rims were lower than the claimed weight. In fact, the 28H rim was under 340g.

I weigh over 200lbs and have complete faith in Stan's, as their MTB rims have always treated me well.

Thanks for the info,
I assume that those higher spoke counts are going to add strength, that is why you are looking at 28/32? OR was that also a function of availability?


Stans sells their direct wheelsets using your hub combo, but with less spokes
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... t-10-39678


That sounds like an awesome wheelset, I would love to hear back once you have them rolling!

I built a set for a 102kilo rider , who has been riding them for the last 5 weeks , and he likes them alot
American Classic hubs Stans Alpha 340 rims Dt Swiss Revolution spoke Red Aluminum Nipples 24Fr 28Rr 1220gr

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Where did you get the 24 hole rim? I was under the impression that only 28h and 32h rims were available for sale.


i opted to custom-build my wheels because it was cheaper. I already had the hubs, and a good friend of mine is a talented wheelbuilder who will gladly build me a set in exchange for a six pack. Furthermore, I am a weight weenie to the core, but I think 18/24 is a bit too insubstantial for a clyde like me. 24/28 or 28/32 is more my speed. I passed on the pre-built 24/28 set because they were built with SuperCompetition spokes, not Aerolites.

I talked to Stan at inter-bike an he agreed to sell all the rims.

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The January issue of VeloNews has a review of the Stans road wheels (Alpha 340 with AmClassic hubs). It's very light, but the reviewers felt it was too flexy.

I thought that Velonews review was interesting. I'd guess that the hubs were part or all of the problem... especially the front. Of course such a light rim is not going to be super stiff or strong, but they build up stiffer than I expected.

The rims are available in all normal holecounts from 18 to 32... except for 20h unfortunately.

Nominal weight with Alchemy hubs and 350g rims would be 1195g for 18f, 24r and CX-Rays. Add ~5g per extra spoke + nipple.

Tires fit differently on the Stan's rim because of the bead socket. It effectively adds a couple mm of tire sidewall extension past the rim on each side... making the tire volume and width bigger. I'm thinking of using 20mm tires when I get mine built up. They should make a fairly aero shape as well.

The only reservation I have about the rims at this point, is: will they last without developing cracks at the spoke holes? That is too common even among much heavier rims these days...

I have been using the NoTubes Alpha 340 Pro wheelset myself for several weeks - love the ride, and the weight, however I am a pretty small guy ~130 lbs...So I don't think I would see stiffness issues others have reported. They are a perfect wheel for someone my size and strength and feel very solid and stiff to me. I have used many wheel combos that don't feel as nice as these do.

I have also built up some custom wheels using the Alpha 340 rims, one set is laced with 28 front and rear, radial in front 3X rear, using American Classic hubs. These are my every day training setup.

These rims work really well, and so far in obviously very limited riding are holding up just fine. I have run Fusion 3's on one set and they have a very nice profile. I have also run Atoms on these rims and the tire fills out to around 23mm wide - which is much wider than the Atoms are on any other rims I have used before. I also found that in the past with standard rims and tubeless tires if I went below 80psi I would start to get noticeable tire squirm, however with these 80psi feels very firm.

The Stan's Bead Socket does work as advertised and the tire sits very tightly in the rim (popping into place). It might be possible to run without sealant, but I have found that there are a few areas in each installation that have very minor air leakage that the sealant properly sealed - either on the rim/tape interface or around the rim to tire edge. The addition of sealant only adds to my confidence in the system anyway. It might be possible to add sealant, ride them for a while and remove the sealant after everything seals tight - but taking off the tire to do that might cause later leaks without the sealant...

I also will be building a set of 28-24 with better hubs than the American Classic hubs for a rider that is a bit harder on equipment later this winter. He is in the 170 lb range and wants some hubs with bigger bearings than the AC58 front that Stans offers on their Team wheelset

I'm a solid 233 lbs. and had these custom built by Prowheelbuilder.com for cyclocross use and I'm really impressed with them. They ended up around 1460 grams with valve stems and rim tape.

After several races now they need to be slightly trued and the only real issue is that they lost some spoke tension--which I fully expected. They are pretty thin-walled rims so Notubes recommends pretty low tensions to start with. For that reason CX-Rays may not be the ideal choice of a spoke, since I think they are meant to be used with high tension.

So, even with how much I weigh, there was NO BURPING with these at 37-40 psi using Notubes Raven cyclocross tires. At really low pressures you can literally grab the tire and fold it over to expose the yellow tape on the rim bed without air leaking out. Of course, I was using sealant. No flats either--even when riding on goat-head infested trails.

After the cyclocross races I've done this year, I have pretty high confidence that road riding in the spring won't be a big deal.
I can't wait to put some of the Hutchinson tires on these for spring.

Are the wheels still rolling?

I think you could find better hubs than Alchemy, or the rear one anyway. The flange spacing is fairly wide and while that is good for bracing it is bad for tension difference (NDS to DS). That would imply that you would have to use fairly high DS tension and the Stans rims dont like high spoke tensions. I assume that's why the Stans wheels use AC hubs with closely spaced flanges.

I have very little experience with wheel building by the way. Maybe one of the boffins will comment.

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My Wheels, currently 3 different sets, are still working great. A nasty crash on one set required some minor truing, but the wheels are still doing fine.

I have also supplied other custom wheel sets for riders that are working great in racing and training situations on Northern California's terrible pavement.

I still think they are a great rim for the weight, love the tubeless function - and most importantly continue to recommend them after 18 months of riding them myself.

sounds like a very bad idea to me. 23mm tires are already stretched out on these rims.

I have a thread going on my experience building up a set of Stan's.
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=97281

First time ever that I took the stickers off a wheel because they are so ugly.

I'm also totally not sold on the tubeless issue. The tires are so heavy, and then you add sealant, there's inflation issues, and the reports of them failing in road applications put me off.

My PR3's are 200g. My Conti tubes are 50g. I'm not seeing any tubeless tires at that weight.

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dangerous curves ahead

IRC formula pro light tubeless. 240 declared, 245 weighted by me. I currently run thme on Alpha rims and I love the, Check out my other 3ds!