When it comes to wheels, my philosophy is that I'd prefer to use the lightest possible rim and build it as stiffly as I can.
The weight of the hub and spokes—well, I don't really worry about those much, even if they're heavier.
For example, Gokiso hubs are heavier than old-model PowerTap SL+ hubs (around 428g), but I've never criticized them on weight grounds.
I think I've written this countless times, but the "combined front and rear wheel weight" that wheel manufacturers and brands publish is—while it's certainly an easy-to-understand benchmark since weight is a clearly quantifiable metric—not really reflective of actual wheel performance.
If you've been poisoned by the Nomunlab perspective on wheels, you might notice things like "it's useless because the rear rim brake wheel is built with equal spoke counts on both sides in radial lacing on the anti-freewheel side" or "the flange width is too narrow so it's no good."
But for people without that kind of knowledge, the combined front and rear wheel weight is convenient information—easy to use for quick deception, you might say.
When I rebuild pre-built or hand-built wheels, most of the time I actually make them heavier by increasing the spoke gauge ratio—basically swapping out wheels that were entirely built with CX-RAY spokes (or all Aerolite).
But I've never had a customer say "I can feel the heaviness in the ride because of the spoke weight."
And by the metric of combined front and rear wheel weight, those builds actually look worse.
If wheel makers really wanted to give end users useful information, they could include the combined wheel weight, sure, but then also include the rim's nominal weight separately—even if it's a bit of a fudge on the numbers.
But almost no manufacturers or brands do that.
I know the actual measured rim weights of quite a lot of complete wheels out there, and for Nomunlab Wheels No. 1, No. 5, and No. 8, I can rattle off rim weights of 462g, 375g, and 435g respectively—but I have no idea what their combined front and rear wheel weights are.
The Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 rim (AL22W rim) has a list price of ¥5,300 (before tax) and weighs 435g—pretty light, really—and honestly, there are plenty of complete wheels at much fancier price points that don't roll as well as this one.
But here's where my perspective diverges from conventional wisdom: I often get feedback that people don't like the look of an aluminum rim, or that the 22mm rim height makes the bike look cheap.
So I also offer a "Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 Rimless"—where you swap out the AL22W rim for a carbon rim of whatever height you prefer (30mm, 40mm, 50mm, whatever), and we build the rest of it using Nomunlab methods.
The other day a customer asked me what the weight of a rimless Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 would be, and I started to say, "Look, just weigh the rim itself when you bring it in or send it to us. The combined front and rear wheel weight is almost meaningless information anyway."
(I might have actually said it)
But I thought, fair point, so I went ahead and weighed one.
Rear rim, here it is!
I can sound like some weird crustacean when I say it that way, but this is the rim I used on the rear wheel of the Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 I built recently.
Front rim.
When a customer provides two rims with the same spec and hole count with no front/rear distinction, I use the lighter one for the rear wheel.
But with Nomunlab rims, I just pull them out in order from the box and don't usually weigh them.
Earlier I mentioned that rim weight I'd give as an answer: 435g, but the distributor's spec is 445g.
When I wrote that the list price is ¥5,300, that was for the non-offset rim—there's also an offset version at ¥5,500 (before tax).
The 445g figure is somewhere in the middle between those two types, with most non-offset rims coming in under 445g and most offset rims coming in at 445g or heavier.
When I weighed both rims together, I expected 441 + 439 = 880g, but both came in a bit over, so the reading stabilized at 881g.
These two rims are almost the same weight, but since I know the weight of the rims, it doesn't matter if they're the same or different—no problem either way.
↑Front wheel
↑Rear wheel
No rim tape, no spoke set connectors (welded connections).
The connectors barely change the weight anyway.
The rimless front and rear wheel weights are:
Front: 703 − 439 = 264g
Rear: 826 − 441 = 385g
Combined: 649g
Add the actual measured rim weights to these figures.
But here's an important caveat: when the rim height is greater than 22mm (which is usually the case), the spokes are shorter, so the rimless weight will be lighter.
Both wheels are 24H, with the front wheel in a half-CX sprint 64 lacing pattern and the rear in a half-Compé 46 lacing pattern, using standard 12mm aluminum nipples (not internal nipples), and working from the measured weight, here are the estimated rimless weights:
Front wheel rimless weight:
22mm height: 264g (actual measured weight)
30mm height: 261g
40mm height: 257g
50mm height: 252g
Rear wheel rimless weight:
22mm height: 385g (actual measured weight)
30mm height: 382g
40mm height: 378g
50mm height: 373g
And if the rear wheel were half-CX sprint instead of half-Compé:
22mm height: 378g
30mm height: 374g
40mm height: 370g
50mm height: 364g
The weight of the hub and spokes—well, I don't really worry about those much, even if they're heavier.
For example, Gokiso hubs are heavier than old-model PowerTap SL+ hubs (around 428g), but I've never criticized them on weight grounds.
I think I've written this countless times, but the "combined front and rear wheel weight" that wheel manufacturers and brands publish is—while it's certainly an easy-to-understand benchmark since weight is a clearly quantifiable metric—not really reflective of actual wheel performance.
If you've been poisoned by the Nomunlab perspective on wheels, you might notice things like "it's useless because the rear rim brake wheel is built with equal spoke counts on both sides in radial lacing on the anti-freewheel side" or "the flange width is too narrow so it's no good."
But for people without that kind of knowledge, the combined front and rear wheel weight is convenient information—easy to use for quick deception, you might say.
When I rebuild pre-built or hand-built wheels, most of the time I actually make them heavier by increasing the spoke gauge ratio—basically swapping out wheels that were entirely built with CX-RAY spokes (or all Aerolite).
But I've never had a customer say "I can feel the heaviness in the ride because of the spoke weight."
And by the metric of combined front and rear wheel weight, those builds actually look worse.
If wheel makers really wanted to give end users useful information, they could include the combined wheel weight, sure, but then also include the rim's nominal weight separately—even if it's a bit of a fudge on the numbers.
But almost no manufacturers or brands do that.
I know the actual measured rim weights of quite a lot of complete wheels out there, and for Nomunlab Wheels No. 1, No. 5, and No. 8, I can rattle off rim weights of 462g, 375g, and 435g respectively—but I have no idea what their combined front and rear wheel weights are.
The Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 rim (AL22W rim) has a list price of ¥5,300 (before tax) and weighs 435g—pretty light, really—and honestly, there are plenty of complete wheels at much fancier price points that don't roll as well as this one.
But here's where my perspective diverges from conventional wisdom: I often get feedback that people don't like the look of an aluminum rim, or that the 22mm rim height makes the bike look cheap.
So I also offer a "Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 Rimless"—where you swap out the AL22W rim for a carbon rim of whatever height you prefer (30mm, 40mm, 50mm, whatever), and we build the rest of it using Nomunlab methods.
The other day a customer asked me what the weight of a rimless Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 would be, and I started to say, "Look, just weigh the rim itself when you bring it in or send it to us. The combined front and rear wheel weight is almost meaningless information anyway."
But I thought, fair point, so I went ahead and weighed one.
Rear rim, here it is!
I can sound like some weird crustacean when I say it that way, but this is the rim I used on the rear wheel of the Nomunlab Wheel No. 8 I built recently.
Front rim.
When a customer provides two rims with the same spec and hole count with no front/rear distinction, I use the lighter one for the rear wheel.
But with Nomunlab rims, I just pull them out in order from the box and don't usually weigh them.
Earlier I mentioned that rim weight I'd give as an answer: 435g, but the distributor's spec is 445g.
When I wrote that the list price is ¥5,300, that was for the non-offset rim—there's also an offset version at ¥5,500 (before tax).
The 445g figure is somewhere in the middle between those two types, with most non-offset rims coming in under 445g and most offset rims coming in at 445g or heavier.
When I weighed both rims together, I expected 441 + 439 = 880g, but both came in a bit over, so the reading stabilized at 881g.
These two rims are almost the same weight, but since I know the weight of the rims, it doesn't matter if they're the same or different—no problem either way.
↑Front wheel
↑Rear wheel
No rim tape, no spoke set connectors (welded connections).
The connectors barely change the weight anyway.
The rimless front and rear wheel weights are:
Front: 703 − 439 = 264g
Rear: 826 − 441 = 385g
Combined: 649g
Add the actual measured rim weights to these figures.
But here's an important caveat: when the rim height is greater than 22mm (which is usually the case), the spokes are shorter, so the rimless weight will be lighter.
Both wheels are 24H, with the front wheel in a half-CX sprint 64 lacing pattern and the rear in a half-Compé 46 lacing pattern, using standard 12mm aluminum nipples (not internal nipples), and working from the measured weight, here are the estimated rimless weights:
Front wheel rimless weight:
22mm height: 264g (actual measured weight)
30mm height: 261g
40mm height: 257g
50mm height: 252g
Rear wheel rimless weight:
22mm height: 385g (actual measured weight)
30mm height: 382g
40mm height: 378g
50mm height: 373g
And if the rear wheel were half-CX sprint instead of half-Compé:
22mm height: 378g
30mm height: 374g
40mm height: 370g
50mm height: 364g