Lightweight Meilenstein Wheels

by John · 04/11/2013

All this advancement does come at a cost however and it’s the overall weight of the wheels which has suffered. A pair of Meilensteins now weigh 1100g, which though still lighter than the competition/my frame/most of my meals, is not the gaping chasm that it used to be (Zipp 404s are 1355g). Lightweight however, is pretty confident that the benefits of the better braking they have introduced, outweigh (no pun intended) the small weight penalty.

Lightweight Meilenstein Wheels on the Ritchey cross bike

So, all talk and ‘keine hose’? Thankfully, no. These are without doubt the stiffest climbing wheels I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding. I’m certainly no powerhouse but my best efforts failed to produce any flex whatsoever. Every input into these wheels sends you surging forward at an unbelievable rate.

Lightweight Meilenstein spoke

Rolling along a flat road they perform like any other deep section wheel slicing through the air with the greatest of ease. Considering aerodynamics is not really an area that Lightweight has spent much time worrying about for this model, I found it pleasantly surprising, and so did the folks in Germany; when they stuck them in a wind tunnel they found themselves to be not far behind the market leaders. One thing I and everyone else noticed was the noise they make when zooming along a flat road. Hovering at around 45kmh produces a deep thundering noise from the wheels that needless to say is very, very cool.

But where these wheels really excel is when the black stuff kicks up towards the sky, and this exceptional climbing ability also means that it’s ridiculously easy to open a gap on the bunch with these wheels, due to the rapid rate at which they can accelerate. The stiffness Lightweight have achieved is out of this world and it really felt as if not an ounce of energy was being wasted.

Advanced braking surface on the Lightweight Meilenstein Wheels

However, I did have one small bugbear about them; I found when climbing and when really pushing it I could often hear a rather irritating sound coming from behind: “Ey up lad. Slow down…”

Cresting the hills and tipping back down the road, I found the hubs didn’t spin up quite as quickly as those in the Boras we tested recently, but I put that down to the low mileage they have covered more than anything.