Made entirely in Germany and living up to their name as being lightweight, what is your guess for how much it would cost to buy a set of carbon Lightweight Meilenstein EVO Signature Edition Gold road, all-road, and gravel bike wheels? Yes, that’s real hand-laid gold leaf. They aren’t exceptionally modern with an 18mm internal width and flat sides. But at least they are tubeless, disc brake with thru-axles, fitted with CeramicSpeed bearings, and truly light…
Lightweight Meilenstein EVO S.E. Gold carbon road wheels
These limited Signature Edition carbon road bike wheels rolled through my inbox several weeks back. But spotting them again made me ask myself, “how much do these things really cost?” Lightweight has always been the de facto ultra-expensive, ultra-premium, ultralight carbon wheelset in my mind. But as I see more and more wildly expensive bikes and fancy wheels, are they really that much more expensive?
Ahead of this summer’s Paris 2024 games, Lightweight is using these limited edition gold-encrusted wheels to remind us of reigning Olympic road champion Richard Carapaz’s Tokyo 2020 win on Lightweight wheels.
So a tribute set of Meilenstein EVO Signature Gold Edition wheels seemed like an appropriate refresher on how exclusive these are. And to rethink how relevant Lightweight wheels might be?
Tech details
These Signature Edition Gold carbon road wheels start out as a standard set of Lightweight Meilenstein EVO road wheels. That means they are centerlock disc brake wheels with a 48mm deep hooked tubeless rim that is just 18.2mm wide internal, and full-carbon permanently-bonded spokes. With completely flat sides at 24mm wide outside, they’re probably not exceptionally aero with any modern-width road tires. But at least they are quite light at a claimed 1380g for the pair. Not ultralight, but Lightweight do apparently approve them for some gravel riding, too.
What makes these limited edition Meilenstein EVOs so special are the hand-laid 23-carat (95.8% pure) gold leaf logo graphics created for Lightweight by Rie:Sel Design. Big honking real gold logos to show off what number wheels you have.
Lightweight Meilenstein EVO Gold – Pricing & availability
Drumroll, please…
The Lightweight Meilenstein EVO Signature Edition Gold wheels sell for approximately $9850 / 7000€. Officially, Lightweight won’t tell us how much they cost, because “prices are set by the dealers”. But that’s what these are likely to set you back.
Lightweight only made 99 pairs of the Gold-edition wheels. And they’ve split them up with 33 sets for Europe, 33 sets for Asia/Pacific, and the final 33 sets for the Americas. First come, first served.
Snap a pair up if you have almost ten grand burning a hole in your pocket. And if you need the most ostentatious way to show off your disposable income on a not-quite-up-to-date set of uber fancy carbon hoops.
