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920g, that’s how mild can a contemporary mountain bike wheelset construct go today, it appears. German wheelbuilder Gentle-Wolf’s needed to see how ultralight they may construct some trendy XC wheels, working with off-the-shelf serviceable parts and a contemporary broad 30mm inside tubeless-ready carbon rim. Combining Belgian rims, Italian hubs, and a few distinctive carbon+ti spokes Gentle-Wolf is pushing the bounds of standard wheel constructing…
Gentle-Wolf ultralight 920g, 30mm inside XC wheels
c. Gentle-Wolf
So our first questions have been who’re these for, and what sort of using will they stand as much as?
Berg charges their rim for riders as much as 90kg/198lb and for cross-country & marathon using. Gentle-Wolf is only a bit extra conservative, merely saying they’re probably not appropriate for heavyweight riders or downcountry use.
Additionally, they wouldn’t actually suggest them for as we speak’s way more technical World Cup XC tracks plagued by gnarly rock gardens and meter-high drops. However actually at this crazy-low weight, they’re fairly certain any potential patrons know what they’re stepping into.
Tech particulars
The wheels are constructed round tubeless-ready 29er Berg Ratheberg carbon rims, dubbed the “World’s Lightest 30mm inside rim” at simply 270g.
Gentle-Wolf laces the ultralight hoops to CNC-machined 7075 alloy Extralite Hyperboost3 hubs with customary metal bearings and an XD freehub physique – hub weight claims of 74/148g, entrance/rear.
Every wheel will get 28 carbon spokes which have been sourced from Asia, that includes titanium heads and spoke threads, laced with Sapim Polyax Double sq. 16mm alloy nipples. Gentle-Wolf says the spokes weigh simply 2.3g a bit, but nonetheless have comparable stiffness to Sapim’s premium benchmark C-Ray spokes.
Plus, they are saying that because of the rim’s offset profile, the wheels construct up with a properly balanced spoke rigidity profile that ought to imply strong sturdiness – entrance 1000/919N & rear 918/1100N.
Gentle-Wolf ultralight MTB wheels – Pricing & availability?
Gentle-Wolf proprietor Felix Wolf tells us the 920g XC wheelset would retail for about 2500€, however… he received’t promote them to you simply but. At the moment, they’re nonetheless within the “research” section and Gentle-Wolf doesn’t wish to “make experiments on paying clients”. However past experience testing them by way of the winter in Germany, they’ll subsequent go to unbiased analysis on a wheel testing rig to “achieve extra confidence about long-term sturdiness”. Solely then will Felix construct you a set so mild.
With that mentioned, Gentle-Wolf often construct customized MTB wheels within the 1000-1200g vary, and drop bar wheels which are just one or 2 hundred grams lighter. So, be at liberty to drop them a line if you wish to fulfill your inside weight-weenie.
What’s subsequent for Gentle-Wolf? They inform us a sub-UCI-limit 6.5kg XC hardtail with these wheels, 2.2″ tires & a 1×11 drivetrain is within the works. Coming quickly, simply to not a UCI race begin line…
