Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

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TheLastMan
Posts: 18
Joined: 21 Oct 2019, 8:56am
Location: Hounslow

Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by TheLastMan »

My Trek Domane AL4 Disk brake bike is a heavy aluminium framed model - about 10.45 Kg as sold and around 11.0 Kg in minimum riding configuration with pedals, bottle cages, light mounts and mudguards (my choice). In most respects it is a great bike, but hills are a chore. The wheels seem excessively heavy - deep aluminium rims with lots of cheap spokes. A cyclingtips.com review describes them thus:
"Clearly built to take a beating, the stock wheels are anything but light. I weighed them at 2,270 g for the pair (1,050 g front, 1,220 g rear) which makes them the heaviest road wheelset I’ve seen in recent memory. At the centre are basic cup-and-cone loose ball bearing thru-axle hubs (made by Formula) and straight gauge spokes. On the outside sit aluminium rims with a surprisingly modern 21 mm internal width and tubeless compatibility (required rim strips are sold separately). Weight aside those are two good things.

Those wheels may be tubeless compatible, but the provided Bontrager R1 Hard-Case Lite tyres are not. These feature a wire bead construction, good puncture resistance, and also carry a fair bit of weight in the process (460 g apiece)."
So the wheels and tyres total 3.19 Kg, 30.5% of the weight of the whole bike!

Given a circa £300 - £400 budget, how much weight could I shave off with replacement wheels and tyres? I like the wide rims and 32mm tyres, so am contemplating an alternative with that combination. Any suggestions?
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TrevA
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Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by TrevA »

A set of Hunt alloy wheels will be about 1500g depending on which ones you choose. They come with a good reputation for reliability and a guarantee. You’ll find Carbon ones are out of your price range.

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/collecti ... rial=Alloy

As regards tyres, some more race focussed tyres will be lighter, such as Continental GP5000, without sacrificing too much in terms of puncture resistance.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
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Gee
Posts: 102
Joined: 24 Mar 2021, 10:11pm

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by Gee »

I’d try a pair of Hunt x Mason. About £300 I think and much lighter, decent quality, okay with 32mm tyres. Cant go wrong!
wirral_cyclist
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Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by wirral_cyclist »

I've just bought a set of Hunt Mason X 4 season disc wheels for my wife's best bike.

Weight as delivered with the fitted Schwalbe ProOne 25mm Tubeless tyres (35ml of sealant) are as follows:-

Front 1377, with disc fitted.
Rear 1690, with disc and cassette (11-34 Tifosi so a bit of a lump).

As a guide the front is 10% lighter than the stock Giant PR-2 wheel shod with Conti 5000's 25mm
Rear is 15% than the stock wheel, again with conti 5000 and the heavy cassette.

My wife can really feel the difference and she knows nothing of the voodoo properties of rotational mass.

Carbon would save more weight but sound horrible.
rareposter
Posts: 1992
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by rareposter »

Hunt wheels are a good call - something like this:
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products ... c-wheelset
is within budget, lightweight etc.

Worth looking on Chain Reaction as well, their own brand Prime wheels are surprisingly good:
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mob ... prod187141

They're not quite as wide but from experience they'll take 32mm tyres.

And on the subject of tyres - for not much extra, Hunt will supply wheels with Schwalbe tyres set up tubeless which is well worth the extra outlay. Those Bontrager ones you have are very heavy and rather dead feeling so something like Schwalbe Pro One will be a massive difference. A decent road tyre (ie not something insanely light for pro racing, just a general purpose "all riding" one) should be around 300 - 350g.
If you can cope with the mismatch of having Specialized tyres on a Trek bike, these are very good - tough but fast rolling.
https://www.specializedconceptstore.co. ... iss-ready/
TheBomber
Posts: 525
Joined: 16 Feb 2020, 8:18pm

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by TheBomber »

Given the comments about your existing tyres, would it be worth trying some of the alternatives suggested for just them before deciding to shell out for new wheels? Worth looking at the bicyclerollingresistance website for suggestions too.

It’s a shame that wheels on stock bikes seem to have become such a throwaway item. They always used to be the second most important item when choosing a new bike.
rareposter
Posts: 1992
Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by rareposter »

TheBomber wrote: 6 Sep 2022, 9:47am Given the comments about your existing tyres, would it be worth trying some of the alternatives suggested for just them before deciding to shell out for new wheels?
With prices only heading one way (up!), I'd buy the new wheels now (especially since end of season sales are normally around now) then just run the old ones into the ground over winter.

As the good weather comes around again, a service and a new set of wheels will feel like a new bike!
TheLastMan
Posts: 18
Joined: 21 Oct 2019, 8:56am
Location: Hounslow

Re: Lighter wheels for Trek Domane AL4?

Post by TheLastMan »

Realised I rudely didn't do an update. In the end I took the advice re Hunt wheels and, keeping in mind the type of roads and tracks I ride, bought Hunt 4 season all-road wheels and upgraded the tyres from Bontrager R1 to R3 tubeless ready. The weight saving was over 800 grams! It really does feel like a new bike.

I also swapped the solid crank Tiagra chainset for hollowtech 105 and replaced the seat post with a carbon one. It's summer so I also dispensed with the mudguards. The bike is now 9.5kg when set up for a ride, a reduction of 1.5kg. Almost decent for an aluminium framed bike!
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