[LoozinSkin]

I've read the term "rotaional weight" thrown out a few times in posts about wheels or rims. What it is the word on how it specificly affects the ride feel in terms of physics or just plain english?

 

[freerider167]

more rotation weight is harder to stop and harder to rotate. it helps to keep you stable if your wheel is a perfect circle, but if it isn't, and the more rotation weight you have it can make it rumble.i'd perfer a lighter wheelset, but it makes the whole bike feel lighter, because you don't need to rotate that much weight, so you can accelerate faster in less time.

 

[austinb89]

well man you first need to understand this is gonna be opinions of what people think. i personally dont mind a heavy bike cuase once you get going i feel the bike becomes more stable, harder to move around but for some reason i dont mind it at all. it is true about rotating forces and all that stuff said above. wheels can really add some weight to your bike exspecially with certain tires. once your bike gets heavier and you start to go faster your probly gonna wana get 8 inch rotors to stop the bike. it really depends what your into what wheelset are you looking at? to me heavy wheels dont make thta much of a difference but that could be becuase i have never really used light wheels. ask SMT he runs his tubeless rims and he LOVES them

 

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

me 210 pound rider

heavy Double tracks, big tires, and thick heavy tubes...hard to get the bike rolling...pedaling sucks

went tubeless (lighter rims....... no heavy, thick tubes)...sections I couldn't pedal up before are a breeze...I am not as tired pedaling in general. Bike is more responsive for changes of speed..........

personally if my rim (Mavic EX823) holds my a$$ and stays in true....then it should work for you

 

[Tracerboy]

i would definetly get a lighter wheelset. i used to not mind a heavy bike. i got a much lighter, stronger wheelset for it and the bike feels so much lighter and improves the ride completely. i love the feel for it now so much more then before.

 

[jungleuk]

Well my wheelset weighs alsmost as much as the rest of the frame + fork. Its like anything, you get used to it. I've got atomlab trailpimps with Specialized roller 2.7s with heavy DH tubes (never had a single flat in 2 years) and I love em. Feels nice and stable when you are thundering down the hills.....

 

[mxrider489]

If riding DJ/Urban heavier wheels make it harder to hop, and especially spin.

 

[drumstix]

me 210 pound rider

heavy Double tracks, big tires, and thick heavy tubes...hard to get the bike rolling...pedaling sucks

went tubeless (lighter rims....... no heavy, thick tubes)...sections I couldn't pedal up before are a breeze...I am not as tired pedaling in general. Bike is more responsive for changes of speed..........

personally if my rim (Mavic EX823) holds my a$$ and stays in true....then it should work for you

Just curious, I have a King 20mm frt and a HD Funbolt rear laced up to a set of 823 rims. The wheelset weighs 2280g's. Ive seen Kings laced to 819's that way around 1900g's, add a QR for the rear and its around 2000 grams. Is the King/823 set considered to heavy for an all-mountain bike wheelset?

 

[Reptile]

Just curious, I have a King 20mm frt and a HD Funbolt rear laced up to a set of 823 rims. The wheelset weighs 2280g's. Ive seen Kings laced to 819's that way around 1900g's, add a QR for the rear and its around 2000 grams. Is the King/823 set considered to heavy for an all-mountain bike wheelset?

I've spent a lot of time on a Hadley/Mag 30 wheelset with Minions and downhill tubes. The Mag 30's are bombproof rims, but pedalling uphill or even on the flats is not much fun. I'm going tubeless with a new Mavic 823 wheeset.

 

[KomodoRider]

you can get away with a climbing / ridding a heavy frame if you have a light wheel set, I personly think that a light wheel set makes the bike. the lighter wheel will allow you to start turn and stop easier > making the whole experiance better. I did a Stans NO Tubes job on my bike and WOW what a differance I was doing 15 mile XCs with the locals and keepin up where before I was left in the dust (climbin wise). Most deff lighter helps BUT generally not as strong

 

[Guest]

I am using heavy wheels (double track/mag30) I for one dont mind it one bit, I am also on a hardtail though, so its easier to pedal anyway.... It all depends, if you are a person that pedals alot and climbs, a heavy wheelset will most likely not be your best option. But if you are really hard on your stuff and dont do alot of pedalling, heavy wheels might be choice... But remember, dont sacrifice strength for lightness when you need the strength more...

Do yourself a favour and get some tubeless wheels

 

[XSL_WiLL]

I've read the term "rotaional weight" thrown out a few times in posts about wheels or rims. What it is the word on how it specificly affects the ride feel in terms of physics or just plain english?

More rotational mass makes the bike feel even heavier once it starts moving. It's harder to get the wheels to start rolling, it's harder to get the wheels to stop rolling. More unsprung mass, which means the suspension isn't going to perform as well. But the weight will also make the bike more stable.

 

[DtEW]

The relationship between wheel mass and strength has already been mentioned, but there is also another relationship that is usually there: heavier wheels generally feature wider rim widths.

Rim width affects the performance characteristics of whatever tires that are mounted, four that come to mind are:

1) Tire profile. As rim width is increased, most tires will become more square-shouldered. This affects many things, including rolling resistance and the way that they corner.

2) Tire contact patch. As rim width is increased, tire contact patches will get bigger, which changes rolling resistance but generally increases traction. The changes to rolling resistance may be brought about by the combination of additional tread contact/squirm (increases rolling resistance) and increased flotation (decreases rolling resistance).

3) Tire carcass stability. As rim width is increased, the tire carcass becomes more resistant to sideward deflection, which in combination with momentum/gyroscopic effects, makes the bike much more stable in side impacts, ie rock gardens.

4) Tire volume. As rim width is increased, the tire volume is increased. This allows you to run somewhat lower pressures without increasing the risk of pinch-flatting.

 

[goRz]

Wheels weight also affect the suspension since it's non-suspended mass (sorry for my English, I don;t know if that's the correct term). The heavier the wheels the greater the wheels' inertia. I.e. once they start moving through the suspension travel (up or down), it's harder to stop them, consequently suspension is less responsive... It's the same thing as with USD forks - they have smaller non-suspended mass.
As mentioned above the heavier a rotating wheel is, the harder it is to rotate it from vertical to horizontal position - e.g. to make a flatty...