I’m tossing up the idea of replacing my 2019 Zipp 303 Firecrest disc wheelset. They still run fine but the carbon finish has gotten a bit hazy so this is my excuse hehe.
I’m looking at getting one of the popular chinese brands -
I’ll be saving close to 400g and the newer wheels apparently have newer “technology”
My question is will I notice much from 400g lighter wheelset. And will the newer tech make any difference… They now all run the DT Swiss ratchet hubs which are no longer patented. Apparently they are also much stiffer due to carbon spokes.
If the carbon finish is wearing and not shiny it’s time for a new set. The new set will probably be a bit stiffer and more aero. If your a fast rider you might notice a difference.
They’ve started developing a white haze. Zipp told me to take a hike as the older models do not come with lifetime warranty. For me seems cosmetic but after 5 years of use will look to replace.
Just curious if there is much of a difference between the tech over the years and if wheel stiffness helps with acceleration and maintaining speed.
Getting a non-Zipp hub may give you lower long-term maintenance and reliability.
Newer style rims will be wider internally and externally for better aero.
The biggest benefit of spending the money on new wheels instead of keeping your older-gen firecrest wheels is the new wheels will look cooler…and sometimes, that’s worth $1k.
Thanks for that. The deteriorated look of my current wheels is starting to bug me so will get the newer wheelset. Might keep the old set as a spare or sell them as they’ll probably get no use.
Honestly, you’ll notice 400g but it won’t make much difference overall. The amount of effort required to move 400g up a hill is like a couple of watts.
Personally, I’m skeptical of carbon spokes. They seem fine now but people losing their teeth with those early Mavic carbon spokes still give me pause.
I’d be tempted to polish those wheels in some way, like with some Meguire’s for auto paint, some gentle clear coat polish, or the lightest rubbing compound. You could even paint those rims though that would require a lot of prep to actually do it nice.
It’s mostly cause weight is weight not matter how you look at it, but ride quality is so subjective and not easily boiled down to a number that it’s hard to express. One person might like compliance, another likes vibration damping, another likes all out stiffness, etc.
It would be great if there was an easy way to demo lots of wheels to compare stuff like that though. I’d be interested in feeling the difference between different kinds of wheels before buying.
IME, going from my stock DT R470 wheels (alloy, ~1950g) to Roval Rapides (Carbon, deep, ~1500g) was a massive difference in handling quickness which is makes a difference in crit racing.
Exactly.
Which is why I really wish there were better reviews out there. Weight is such a simple number, but like you wrote, going carbon from heavy aluminum wheels is such an upgrade for more reasons than just weight.
400 grams is a huge amount of weight in a wheelset that will pay dividends in almost all circumstances. As for Chinese wheels, absolutely do consider ones from any of the well known brands (Farsports, Winspace, Elite, etc.) even going custom from Lightbike. I am on my 5th set of Chinese wheels, 3 customs from Lightbike going strong and would buy a high priced brand just due to the value proposition. You’ll get all of the available tech for much less money.
I bought a WR45 wheelset from Light Bicycle during their Black Friday sale last year and have been extremely happy with them. There are a lot of Chinese brands with good reputations and hard-to-beat prices these days, and LB seems to be among the top rated as far as ‘affordable’ wheelsets go. I paid a little over $1,000 out the door for a 1440g wheelset with DT Swiss 240 EXP hubs. You can go lighter and cheaper than that with other brands, but I knew LB was a highly respected brand. I was fine paying a bit more and being a bit heavier for something I knew wouldn’t explode on me. Several other brands I’ve looked into recently include Elite, ICAN, BTLOS, Winspace, and 9Velo. They all have pretty similar prices, weights, and technology for a lot cheaper than name brands. I’m in the market for a gravel wheelset and will likely go with LB again during their upcoming Black Friday sale.
Edit: forgot to mention that I agree with another poster that I’m a bit skeptical of carbon spokes. Not so much because of their quality (or lack thereof), but more from an ease of maintenance perspective. I have CX Ray spokes with external nipples and valve holes in the rim bed on my WR45s and know that kind of setup will make my life so much easier if/when I break a spoke.
I just wish Farsports had wider wheels. I’m wanting a 35mm deep rim for a gravel wheelset and both of Farsports “off-road” wheels have an internal width of 21mm, which already feels quite dated considering my road wheelset is 25mm.
I have tried over 15 Chinese carbon wheelsets in the last 2-3 years. Honestly, 400g is a lot. You’ll notice it especially when accelerating. Personally, I can tell the weight difference of a 150g. And I’m not much of a racer. It’s simply less weight you need to spin. Once the wheel is moving, it doesn’t make much difference.
As for the carbon spokes, they do indeed make the wheels stiffer, but mostly at the expense of ride comfort. So I’d recommend considering the quality of the roads you ride and what tire pressures you’re used to.
Lately, rim width has become more of a concern than weight and stiffness. On modern road wheels, the outer width exceeds 30mm. Maybe it’s a placebo, but I find them more stable and comfortable.
I have a bunch of reviews on my site, primarily of wheels from brands like Winspace (Lún), Elitewheels, Farsports, YOELEO, Up-Vine, Superteam, etc. If you have any questions, feel free to message me.
Physically speaking, there is a difference: heavier wheels will have more rotational inertia, which makes it harder to accelerate (= the sensation you have described), but also harder to decelerate. Then the disadvantage turns into an advantage.
That’s why you benefit the most from light wheels in races where aero is not as much of a factor and you have lots of braking (where you lose the rotational energy in the form of heat). Both conditions are rarely met, crit races tend to be fast, for instance.
This explains why people can easily feel the difference, but in practice weight is much, much less important than people think.
I hope you will let us know what the difference is compared to your previous wheels. Btw. I’m currently testing the Farsports C5. 