Petrolbendini
Retro Newbie
What are the lightest 26ers available? I'd like xtr hoops and hubs but I open to the wisdom of others, thanks.
Lightest 26" wheelset
- Thread starter Petrolbendini
- Start date
gtturbo
Senior Retro Guru
Depends what you need really. For example QR, Thru Axle, Disc or Rim brake, period correct or open to modern ?. lots of variables to consider. The carbon Roval Controls SL's I have on one of my S-Works from around 2011 are silly light in 26". From memory around 1200 grams in disc/thru axle spec. I cant imagine XTR hubs being particularly light. Have a look at Tune hubs if you want light weight and nicely made. I have a couple of Tune hubs and they seem OK. R2-bike.com is always good for some shopping as they weight everything and show the weight for each item.
Petrolbendini
Retro Newbie
Thank you
Frankenorange
Orange 🍊 Fan
Lightest 26" rims are Stans ZTR 355 which are around about 350-360grams followed by Matrix Mt.Aero which are around 360-370grams. Matrix Mt.Titan were stronger i believe and only a bit heavier. The Stans crack easily at the eyelets and are hard to true again if they have gone a bit wobbly. The Matrix rims had very poor quality control and can vary alot in weight. Both are rare to find in good order.
The lightest common hubs are Tune and some random asian makes and then American Classic. There are various models from each and i think the lightest offering from Tune would be a tad over 200grams for both hubs!! but are for road hillclimb wheels. There are others that are very rare and custom. What i have listed are non-disc hubs. Maybe the lightest disc hub is by Carbon-ti?
Lightest spokes are titanium and are very expensive and not so common. These will be closely followed(or are they lighter than ti?) by those weird rope/string? spokes made by Berd and then there are a few different options, that are more common, like Sapim CX Ray etc
Lightest quick releases are probably Tune and Carbon-ti.
The problem with some of the options above is you cant get the right hole counts in the lightest hubs to match the lightest rims so the ultimate lightweight will not be acheivable. Even going for 28h and 32h you can still go pretty light though. Maybe around 1100grams is possible but they would have limits!
The lightest common hubs are Tune and some random asian makes and then American Classic. There are various models from each and i think the lightest offering from Tune would be a tad over 200grams for both hubs!! but are for road hillclimb wheels. There are others that are very rare and custom. What i have listed are non-disc hubs. Maybe the lightest disc hub is by Carbon-ti?
Lightest spokes are titanium and are very expensive and not so common. These will be closely followed(or are they lighter than ti?) by those weird rope/string? spokes made by Berd and then there are a few different options, that are more common, like Sapim CX Ray etc
Lightest quick releases are probably Tune and Carbon-ti.
The problem with some of the options above is you cant get the right hole counts in the lightest hubs to match the lightest rims so the ultimate lightweight will not be acheivable. Even going for 28h and 32h you can still go pretty light though. Maybe around 1100grams is possible but they would have limits!
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XTR factory built wheels used proprietary spokes and nipples which are now next to impossible to replace without fabricating something yourself.
If you want rim brakes then, as has been said, stans 355 rims are pretty much the lightest, though again almost impossible to find - they were prone to cracking so not many survive.
If you're after disc wheels the stans mk1 crests were silly light (about 340g in 26"). I have a pair built up with tune hubs and d-light spokes and they are around 1250g. Also they're decently strong and don't ever feel too fragile.
If you want rim brakes then, as has been said, stans 355 rims are pretty much the lightest, though again almost impossible to find - they were prone to cracking so not many survive.
If you're after disc wheels the stans mk1 crests were silly light (about 340g in 26"). I have a pair built up with tune hubs and d-light spokes and they are around 1250g. Also they're decently strong and don't ever feel too fragile.
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