Finding weight of stock wheels on 2018 Emonda SL 5
Posted Jan 15, 2021, 7:01 PM UTC
06
TLDR; Upgrading wheels, curious about stock wheelset weight and weight savings
I have this 2018 Trek Emonda SL 5 and I was curious how I figure out the original wheelset total weight.
I am looking at upgrading the wheels but would like to know what sort of weight savings I will get.
On the page above it only says:
Rims: Bontrager Tubeless Ready (Bontrager TLR on wheel - see pic)
which I am unable to find any details on.
I suspect they may be comparable to these current wheels on the Trek site:
Paradigm TLR wheel
These are 1750g total, which doesn't seem super heavy.
I recently had my wheels off to replace the tires/tubes and I tried to weigh them but probably did a poor job.
Front wheel: Bare, no skewer, but had rim tape: 786g
Rear wheel: Bare, forgot to remove skewer, 105 cassette was installed - 1500g
105 cassette is supposedly 284g, skewer is around 50g? so that gets it down to 1166g
This gives me 1166g + 786g = 1952g
I don't know if that is accurate as I think I didn't include the nut for the cassette and maybe something I'm not thinking of too?
If I buy a wheelset that is 1600g is that really an upgrade?
Let's say it's 1900g to 1600g.
300g is only 0.66lbs. Is that even noticeable?
Thank you for any advice.
1
I think your weight estimate is probably pretty close, maybe even a bit under.
A new wheel isn't just the weight though--it might have more refined hubs/bearings that roll better.
And weight isn't everything. Some porkier wheels are more aero.
2
Thanks, the wheels I was looking at I believe have DT Swiss hubs so I'm sure those hubs and the overall wheels are higher quality as well as more aero.
1
If I buy a wheelset that is 1600g is that really an upgrade?
Let's say it's 1900g to 1600g.
300g is only 0.66lbs. Is that even noticeable?
I can't really weigh in from a roadie perspective because my new wheelset is for gravel, but despite the beefier gravel tires I measured it as being over 600g lighter than my stock wheels when you include savings from the finishing kit (mainly disc rotors). For reference the gravel wheelset was specced at 1,701g without that finishing kit.
So it definitely makes my bike noticeably lighter, but as not-a-roadie (and not a powerful rider), maybe partly because I'm running draggier gravel tires, I don't feel it jump off the line the way people say it should. Also since they're not aero, they certainly don't make me faster either.
What I do notice though, is how much more nimble my bike is. Even with a bigger tire contact patch, it's so much easier to turn my bars, and I'd say my bike almost feels twitchy with the lighter wheels.
But yeah, I'll echo u/SnollyG's comment that weight isn't everything. Feeling the new wheels rolling more smoothly is probably placebo effect (I doubt I could tell in a blind test) but the faster engagement is nice off-road. On-road I'm not sure how important that is, but maybe it helps on steep climbs when you want to re-engage faster as you shift.
2
+1 on the bearings/hubs improvement. My son and I both ride the same Emondas but mine has upgraded wheels. We are the same size and weight. When we start to coast down a hill together I always end up way ahead. That is not the weight savings but the quality of the hub/bearings. His bike has those wheels and mine has Mavic Ksyrium Pros.
Thank you, that helps.
I have noticed that one of my Strava friends has a bike with nicer/carbon wheels that are not super deep (maybe ~30mm). We are about the same weight. On a few downhill segments he said he was coasting for most of it and he almost matched my PR where I was pedaling down it.