How much weight can be saved - 32 hole wheelset to a 28 hole

[bones]

How much weight can be saved going from a...
32 hole wheelset to one that is....
28 hole wheelset?

[seandonovan]

8x weight of a spoke + nipple 8 (material lost through drilling)

anywhere between 40g and 80g (Aerolights + alu and Sapim race + brass).

[Frankie - B]

This topic is rigged to favor shimano/sram over campagnolo.

[artray]

It depends on rim weight , sometimes rims with more holes can end up weighing less .

[MarkMcM]

This is a trick question. The answer is:

None. The 28 spoke wheels will be heavier. Here's why -

Keeping all else equal, eliminating spokes reduces not only weight, but also stiffness and durability. To gain back that durubility, you have to use a stiffer rim, which will add weight back. The weight needed to added back to the rim will be greater than the weight eliminated from the spokes.

But, if you are willing to reduce stiffness and durability by removing spokes, here's the potential weight savings -

Stainless steel spokes vary in weight from about 4 grams each (for 2.0mm/1.5mm/2.0mm butted spokes) to about 7 grams each (2.0mm straight spokes). Nipples vary in weight from about 0.3 grams each (aluminum) to about 1 gram each (brass). So the spoke and nipple combined weight varies between 4.3 grams to 8 grams per set. If you went from a pair of 32 spoke wheels (64 spokes total spokes) to an otherwise identical pair of 28 spokes whels (56 spokes total), you'd eliminate 8 spokes, which would have a total weight of between 34.4 grams to 56 grams - or in other terms, about 1 to 2 ounces, which isn't much.

[XLR8R]

This is a trick question. The answer is:

None. The 28 spoke wheels will be heavier. Here's why -

Keeping all else equal, eliminating spokes reduces not only weight, but also stiffness and durability. To gain back that durubility, you have to use a stiffer rim, which will add weight back. The weight needed to added back to the rim will be greater than the weight eliminated from the spokes.

But, if you are willing to reduce stiffness and durability by removing spokes, here's the potential weight savings -

Stainless steel spokes vary in weight from about 4 grams each (for 2.0mm/1.5mm/2.0mm butted spokes) to about 7 grams each (2.0mm straight spokes). Nipples vary in weight from about 0.3 grams each (aluminum) to about 1 gram each (brass). So the spoke and nipple combined weight varies between 4.3 grams to 8 grams per set. If you went from a pair of 32 spoke wheels (64 spokes total spokes) to an otherwise identical pair of 28 spokes whels (56 spokes total), you'd eliminate 8 spokes, which would have a total weight of between 34.4 grams to 56 grams - or in other terms, about 1 to 2 ounces, which isn't much.

I realy like your theory therefore my next wheelset will have 360 spokes per wheel. So when you see a Specialized S-works Roubaix racing Nascar you'll know it's me!

[prendrefeu]

This topic is rigged to favor shimano/sram over campagnolo.

(I see your reference!)

[VTBike]

This is a trick question. The answer is:

None. The 28 spoke wheels will be heavier. Here's why -

Keeping all else equal, eliminating spokes reduces not only weight, but also stiffness and durability. To gain back that durubility, you have to use a stiffer rim, which will add weight back. The weight needed to added back to the rim will be greater than the weight eliminated from the spokes.

So your saying that when Mavic makes a rim that can be drilled for 20 or 24 holes, or 28, that they are changing the manufacturing design, and adding more material into the 20/24 holed rims than the 28 - rather than just changing the build pattern? I don't think so.

What your saying is true technically, but probably makes no difference in the real world.