document updated 15 years ago, on Jun 18, 2008
- wheels are REALLY important:
- there's two of them, so any weight savings is doubled
- a wheel's mass counts ~double because it has rotational inertia as well as linear inertia
- and wheels are what determine rolling resistance
- ways to reduce wheel weight:
- (particularly on mountain bikes) go to a smaller tube/tread. This is REALLY good because 1) you reduce the amount of material in the tread, and 2) you reduce the amount of material in the tube. Example figures for a Forte 26" standard presta tube:
- 26 x 2.1 - 2.5" — 200g
- 26 x 1.5 - 2.0" — 178g
- 26 x 1.1 - 1.4" — 129g (64% of the big tube)
- self-sealing tires have "slime" in them that's at least as heavy as the tube itself, so you shouldn't use it unless you're sure you need it... though it sounds like it works well for lots of small holes (e.g. cactus)