Lightweight Obermayer III Tubular Wheelset

Lightweight wheels have a renowned reputation within the pro peloton with many of the big names wanting to ride them during the big pro tours. The wheels first gained their fame after Bjarne Riis rode them to his 1996 Tour de France victory and have played a major role in every Tour win since. Many top names within the peloton including Armstrong, Pantani, and Ullrich have all purchased and used these wheels in major Tour and World Championship victories. One instance of this, which was captured on film during the 2003 Tour de France involving Lance Armstrong, Iban Mayo and Jan Ullrich, was on the penultimate climb of the stage. The now famous photograph showed Lance and Iban on the floor, brought down by a spectator watching by the side of the road, with Jan leaning heavily to his left to avoid hitting them both. If you look at Jan's bike it clearly displays a set of 53mm deep section Lightweight wheels and proving that no better evidence exists of the seemingly impossible balance of stiffness, lightness, aerodynamics, and toughness offered by Lightweight.

Lightweight wheels are 100% handmade in Germany with their quality and reliability setting them way above their competitors. They take the all-carbon wheel in a direction no other wheel manufacturer has gone. Lightweight laminate the carbon/kevlar spokes directly into the hub and rim, and all wheels are equipped with a memory chip. These chips store data tracking each wheel's manufacturing history, including serial number and production data. The chips weigh only 0.2g and can facilitate top level service. With all this in mind these wheels have become a must-have wheelset of the professional peloton and riders personally purchasing a set, at full retail price, for themselves to use in specific stages of all the big tours.

You can see more evidence of their usage by the pro peloton when you look back in time at other major events. In 2002 Mario Cipollini won the 2002 World Championships on a set, Lance Armstrong also rode to victory in the 2002 Tour de France on a set, most noticeably on the worst mountain stages and Team Bianchi in 2003 and T-Mobile in 2004 utilising them nearly exclusively for all applications in the Tour.

The benefit of a pair of Lightweight wheels is not just going uphill or on the flat, it's also when descending at high speed when their perfect balance reduces gyroscopic effects and enhances the bikes handling. This was one of the main benefits to a certain great climber who had difficulty getting back down the other side after destroying riders going up the climb!

These wheels can be used in any road racing event both up and downhill. The thickness of the carbon layers and the heat protection in the rims brake tracks have been designed accordingly. However, the carbon lay-up has been redesigned to lower the weight even more compared to our proven standard wheelset.

These high-tech wheels are built using the original processes and techniques developed by the wheels inventors Dierl and Obermayer. They consist of an all-carbon rim with a lightweight foam core. As well as the hub body, the Generation III of our wheelsets uses new spokes which are completely made from carbon fibre. Thus the wheels are 30% stiffer than the previous version with aramid/carbon fibre mix.

Aside from the enormously increased rigidity the new all-carbon fibre spokes offer marked improvements in three important fields: tensile strength, notched bar impact testing and spoke pull-out. So far the use of these spokes was technically not possible. By means of a new, secret production procedure our wheelsets with deep-section rims can now be equipped with these stronger all-carbon fibre spokes. Thus, the current generation III wheelsets are 30% stiffer than those of the 2nd generation, and 40% stiffer than Lightweight original wheels.

During all stages of development, the goal was to develop wheels for the needs of professional racing. Pro racers unanimously prefer their wheels to be stiff, but at the same time aerodynamic and light. As a wobbly wheel will not transfer a racers power to the ground adequately, stiffness was always the top priority. Accordingly, Lightweight wheels are by far the stiffest wheels in their weight category.

These wheels feature lighter rims measuring 53mm high and 19.5mm wide. The rim's sides are slanted in the same angle as the spokes, aiming the spokes for the opposing brake surface. This is the secret behind their unsurpassed stiffness as the spokes are at a shallower angle than in conventional wheels. The aerodynamic lens-shaped spokes are seamlessly joined to the rim, so there is no spoke nipple creating unwanted turbulences. Altogether, this design yields better aerodynamics.

The front wheel revolves around a high-precision low-drag hub from Lightweight. The rear is built around the excellent DT Swiss 190 Ceramic with ceramic bearings and lightened tooth lock washers. While even the 12-spoke wheels are plenty stiff, Obermayer front wheels can be ordered with 12, 16 or 20 spokes depending on rider weight and intended use. All rear wheels come with 20 spokes. There are no spoke nipples or other fixtures which could loosen or fail - no need to true your wheels ever again!