Light rim brake clinchers are great - but advice is needed!

[Jdm]

I have Light Bicycle rim brake wheels and BTLOS gravel wheels. I wouldn’t hesitant to buy from either. Old Potatoe is worth contacting for BTLOS wheels.

Extra light is fine as long as you fit the weight limit

Definitely get the graphene or whatever upgraded brake surface. It makes rim braking bearable for me. Still not as good as discs.

LB just had their anniversary sale

[oldpotatoe]

For aluminum, either DT 411(asymmetric rear) or Kinlin VR-200.
OR carbon, BTLOS...

Match to appropriate spoke type and count for you and go ride..

Don't make the 'three strikes and you are out' mistake..too few spokes, too thin spokes, too light of a rim...plus poorly built.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mass_biker

Think I’m going down the rabbit hole of BTLOS and/or Light Bicycle and am curious about this new-gen of carbon clinchers for this specific purpose. A few 100gm x 2 seems to make a difference?

If you could:

1 - any feedback on one vs. the other including customer service (LB vs. BTLOS - likely I will buy 2).
2 - any feedback of “extra light” vs. anything else - likely to focus on the non carbon spoke versions FWIW
3 - any feedback on bad weather - from what I understand, carbon rim/brake + rain = bad outcome? If raining, I will choose something else I hope before I leave the environs. Note that I am no longer racing, so I am happy to drift back on a group ride to ensure I see what the descents look like
5 - any feedback on “stiffness”/“engagement” - as noted, our stuff is all up and down, so immediate acceleration and “stiff” ride out of saddle is helpful.


Please continue to share your feedback - it is welcomed! Especially if you have gone down the path of al. Clincher > carbon clincher.

Best
MB

MB

1.I've built many BTLOS wheel sets, their CS is excellent.
2.I wouldn't do carbon spokes nor would I do the rims w/o nipple holes. REALLY tough to fix w/o a magnet, steel nipple inserts and lots of patience.
3.The modern brake tracks on BTLOS are excellent.
5.(?)..how 'bright' they feel is due to their stiffness, not necessarily the weight. 'Ease to spin up' is stiffness, the 'flywheel effect' is lost in the noise.

Either have them design and build you a set or have a good wheel builder do it..like me

BTW-both companies are in the same city in China...actually very close to each other. I wouldn't be surprised if they are under same ownership or otherwise associated with each other..

[tellyho]

Under 1500g is easy to achieve with many components. I suspect some would argue that's not even lightweight.

[bigbill]

My climbing wheels are the ones on my bike when I get to the hill. Neutrons are my favorite rim brake light wheels. I also have some BTLOS wavy 45s for disc with Bitex hubs. I have 28mm Panaracer Race A's set up tubeless and they're stupid light. I would completely trust their rim brake rims.

[bob59]

Get oldpotatoe to recommend and build a set for you .....if I could get him off the forum, I should have my new 3rd set of wheels from him in a few days.

:-)

[bfd]

Originally Posted by tellyho

Under 1500g is easy to achieve with many components. I suspect some would argue that's not even lightweight.

Nope. My BTLOS wheels were 1305g for 45mm deep rims and my buddy's set was 1304g! And that's with using the Pillar spokes and aluminum nipples.

So far we are two very happy customers and my buddy bought a disc wheelsets with the carbon hubs with carbon spokes. He says his wheelset weighs 1251g!
So light!

Of course, YMMV!

Good Luck!

[macaroon]

I suspect you're limited in terms of rim width and tyre width, due to using rim brakes.
If you're happy using 26mm tyres then a rim that's about 20mm internal width will probably be about right.
Lightbicycle build good wheels
I've also had two pairs of Farsports/Wheelsfar wheels so can recommend them.
The Farsports Feder is the lightweight option, and would probably be the right width. I imagine if you asked them, they'd build you a set on Bitex hubs (cheap and cheerful option) and you'd be somewhere in the 1200g range.
Also, probably avoid hookless rims.