Three of the Wildest Weight Weenie Wheels in the World

These days there is essentially no limit to how much you can spend on your mountain bike if you're into fancy lightweight components, and lightweight carbon wheels are the absolute pinnacle of what weight weenie dreams are made of. However, regular old carbon wheels just don't cut it like they used to - now they have to be laced up with some futuristic spokes like the wheels in this article or else you risk being scoffed at like some sort of plebeian.  We've been lucky enough to have a few of the wildest wheels in the world come through the shop recently and they are each unique and interesting in their own way.

Roval Control World Cup Wheels

Roval has been making featherweight wheels for years, and we've built plenty of bikes with the Control series wheels. Their Control World Cup wheels are the wildest ones they've ever made. With an internal rim width of 28.5mm and every component of the wheels whittled down to their lightest form, this wheelset tips the scales at just under 1,000g.  This version of their Control series features insanely impressive carbon spokes with titanium ends in order to balance stiffness and light weight. All of this culminates in a wheel that accelerates with vigor and puts a sheepish grin on your face when you put the power down - even though they cost as much as some entire bikes.

Shimano XTR WH-M9200 Wheels

I've been running these wheels on my ASR for nearly a year and they been pleasantly surprising. Having never run a set of wheels from Shimano before, these latest wheels got some major updates in the form of sealed cartridge bearings, a 29.6mm internal width carbon rim, and titanium straight pull spokes. Tipping the scales at under 1200g, they aren't as flashy or quite as light as some of the other options you see out there (which is insane to say) but they have been working well for daily driver duty for hundreds of miles and I haven't exactly been going easy on them. I've been able to trust them far more than I had originally anticipated and as a result I'm quite impressed. They are running true and spinning smoothly. 

BERD HAWK 30 Gold Wheels

We're no stranger to BERD and their amazing lightweight spokes, and they claim this latest wheelset is the lightest production 30mm internal width wheelset in the world at 1,022g for the set. Pretty unbelievable when you realize that is actually lighter than a single Maxxis Assegai tire. We made a video on BERD wheels a while back & we've run multiple sets on our bikes since then. We've continued to be impressed by the amazing acceleration they provide as well as their impressive durability. The spokes are made of an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) which helps to make their wheels insanely light. Paired with their own Talon hub and Hawk30 Gold rim, BERD has taken a unique approach to featherweight XC wheels and have gained popularity over the years.