Published by Tristan on 07 Mar 2010 at 08:41 am
Janine’s 1394 gram climbing wheels
Janine rode in the Womans Tour of Wellington for the first time this year and she wanted a lighter pair of wheels to handle the hilly course. I had some Alex R400 rims which I’d been keeping for a special build – they weighted 381g and 383g which is amazingly light for such a great rim.
We chose the White Industries H3 hubs. These are not the lightest hub in the world but their flange geometry is great and they build into very stiff wheels. With a titanium freehub body and one more bearing than most hubs the durability is great. The front is 95g and the rear 252g so they’re still very light.
I laced them using bladed DT Swiss Aerolite spokes which keep the weight and aerodynamic drag down.
Janine rode really well in the Tour and was photographed by cyclingnews.com in the break on day 1. Unfortunately a good GC placing escaped her after being taken down in a couple of crashes – she escaped with minor roadrash but the rear wheel had 4 spokes cleanly broken through the middle by the pedal or quickrelease of another rider. It’s nothing I can’t fix – both the rider and wheels will be back for next years Tour.
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