# Road Wheelset Only 790 grams !



## Macilvennon (Jun 22, 2009)

Anyone ever heard of Extralite Hyperclimb E25 Tubular wheels? At 790grams for the wheelset they are the lightest road wheels I have ever seen. They are less than half the weight of my Zipp 404 Clinchers!

Open the link below, go to Road Components and the Hyperclimb E25.
http://www.extralite.com

The rims are Edge Carbon Fibre and the Hubs are by Extralite. At 1999 euro they are fairly expensive. I have never heard of edge rims before. Anyone else heard of this brand?

I am very tempted to buy these wheels, but am not sure how they will perform and am afraid they will fall apart, crack etc, due to them not being a mainstream brand such as Zipp, Mavic etc.

All opinions are welcome.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Edge is a US company. http://edgecomponents.com

They make some very good carbon parts and have a good reputation. I would not hesitate to buy their rims if I was looking to spend that kind of money. They are arguably the best made carbon rims at the moment. (zipps and heds may be slightly more aero though).

But I would get the E45s... deeper more aero rims for a small weight penalty. Unless you're doing uphill-only races, the lower aero drag will be worth more speed than the loss of 200g would. 

The deeper rims also make for a stronger wheel. I'd be worried about low profile rim like the 25s not having enough stiffness when laced with only 24 spokes. 

I would not bother with all-carbon rims at all except for racing. They're just not worth the hassle for training.


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## sabre104 (Dec 14, 2006)

ericm979 said:


> Edge is a US company. http://edgecomponents.com
> I would not bother with all-carbon rims at all except for racing. They're just not worth the hassle for training.


What kind of hassles are carbon rims for training ? Enquiring minds want to know.


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## DIRT BOY (Aug 22, 2002)

Macilvennon said:


> Anyone ever heard of Extralite Hyperclim E25 Tubular wheels? At 790grams for the wheelset they are the lightest road wheels I have ever seen. They are less than half the weight of my Zipp 404 Clinchers!
> 
> Open the link below, go to Road Components and the Hyperclimb E25.
> http://www.extralite.com
> ...


EDGE rims are the BEST IMO. Yes, those are verified @ 788g

I hope to a have a customer's set here real soon.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

sabre104 said:


> What kind of hassles are carbon rims for training ? Enquiring minds want to know.


They require brake pads made from a different material. You can't use pads that you have used on aluminum wheels- the aluminum shards will chew up the carbon.

So you have to swap pads when you switch wheels. And you will want to switch wheels because carbon rims don't brake well in the wet and wear fast (like all rims do) in the wet. Some carbon rims also go through expensive brake pads quite quickly. 

Someday those problems will be addresssed- I have seen a few rims advertised recently that have coated brake tracks that are supposed to allow use of regular pads, but I haven't used them or seen them in real life (or even on sale) yet. Obviously the carbon rims with alumium brake tracks (i.e. Zipp clinchers) don't have these problems.

The purpose of training is to improve your body. You don't need expensive rims to do that, and saving a few grams or being slightly more aero is not important. Rims are a consumeable and I'd rather use up $80 rims than $400 ones.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

788?? Feh.  

Zen Cyclery's Enlightenment wheels are 718g, although he admits that he doesn't prefer the titanium spokes he uses and brings it up to about 780ish with other steel spokes. 

As Eric noted, training on carbon rims is generally overkill. I personally plan on purchasing Zen Cyclery's Enlightenments with stainless steel spokes, but I'm a racer. I'd also agree that a deeper dish rim generally will offer a little more speed. I mainly want them for climbing races, something I can swap out if I get a flat or other wheel problem, or to deal with crosswinds since I'm a very light rider. 

For training purposes, I still use my stock Campy alloy wheel set. My training bike is fairly heavy and tough as nails. There's nothing like jumping on a much lighter race day machine!


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## Mdeth1313 (Nov 1, 2001)

ericm979 said:


> They require brake pads made from a different material. You can't use pads that you have used on aluminum wheels- the aluminum shards will chew up the carbon.
> 
> So you have to swap pads when you switch wheels. And you will want to switch wheels because carbon rims don't brake well in the wet and wear fast (like all rims do) in the wet. Some carbon rims also go through expensive brake pads quite quickly.
> 
> ...


I have 2 sets of carbon wheels-- a reynolds stratus dv 2003 or 2004 set that I purchased used (in 2004). I'm just now, in 2009, getting ready to retire the rims. They have been my "everyday wheels", except in the dead of winter (pretty much March thru November). Rain, wet, muck, etc. I have no issues braking with swissstop yellow pads. 

My other set, which I grow more fond of everytime I use them is a 970g set of reynolds cirro sv (24mm rims) w/ a m5 front hub and tune rear (w/ ti spokes). I also have no issues braking in the wet w/ them. 

When I do use alloy rims, it takes about 2 minutes (if that) to switch out the brake pads. I dont know- I love my carbon wheels. I'd rather have them. 

incidentally, I picked up replacement rims for my stratus wheels- couldnt afford edge, but I nabbed another pair of dv wheels on ebay which have around 500 miles on em. Set for another 5 years.


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## sabre104 (Dec 14, 2006)

I don't see where switching pads is a big deal. I own 4 bikes and all have swisstop yellows in them as of right now. Anytime you switch wheels there is some type of adjustment you need to make to the brake blocks anyways. Atleast I only have 2 sets of wheels that when I switch I don't need to adjust the brake blocks on the braking track of the rim.Switching other wheelsets I have too make some type of adjustment, maybe small but it still requires adjustment. Both of those wheels are Bonti Carbon Aeros that I use for training. I own 7 sets of carbons and 2 sets of alum. wheels ( all tubular). As far as aero is concerned, I suspect that 99.9% of the people that own "aero" wheels do so as a matter of "Bling" and not actually benefitting from the improvement the wheels have to offer. In other words most people are too slow( me included). I still don't see what the hassles are. As far as being " expensive", that is a relative term. What's expensive to some, is cheap to others.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

sabre104 said:


> As far as aero is concerned, I suspect that 99.9% of the people that own "aero" wheels do so as a matter of "Bling" and not actually benefitting from the improvement the wheels have to offer. In other words most people are too slow( me included).


Sometimes, yes. I've been surprised to see weekend riders using aero (clincher) rims. 

In the racing community, some have them, some don't. I have a set of Mavic CCUs and really enjoy them. I wouldn't say I'm the fastest guy out there, but I'm fast enough to notice a performance improvement when I use them. Between their somewhat fragile nature (although as a warranty replacement) and tubulars, I simply don't use them for everyday riding. If I had lots of $ and a support vehicle to hand me another wheel, perhaps I'd use them exclusively.


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## sabre104 (Dec 14, 2006)

Oh hell Spade, nothing hard about changing a tubbie if/ when ya get a flat. Rip off the flatted one, put the spare on and go on your merry way( abit slower) till ya get home and have a chance to glue up another. No worries dude.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

sabre104 said:


> Oh hell Spade, nothing hard about changing a tubbie if/ when ya get a flat. Rip off the flatted one, put the spare on and go on your merry way( abit slower) till ya get home and have a chance to glue up another. No worries dude.


That's what I've heard, just never had to do it. If my racing tires need replacing or I get some new rims, I'll give it a shot. It can't be any worse than trying to convince a Conti tire to get on a Campy rim.


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