Under 800g is unheard of for a solid TT & Tri disc wheel, but Light Bicycle has managed it with a new hollow carbon construction for their next-gen Falcon-series C25 wheel. Or… if it’s windy where you race, and a solid disc is simply unmanageable, they also have a wild 180mm ultra-deep new rim to build up a rear wheel, almost as fast. Plus, for the wheelsize adventurous, Light Bicycle’s new 32″ carbon Anax Gravel wheelset is lighter than many conventional 700c gravel wheel setups, and comes at an affordable price that could make trying 32ers sound like a more reasonable decision…
Light Bicycle Falcon Pro Precision C25 ultralight disc wheel
For the longest time, solid disc aero wheels for time trial & triathlon racing fought and struggled to get under the 1kg barrier. That started to shift in recent years, where sub-kilo disc brake disc wheels became the norm, and several even broke the 900g threshold – including a few from Light Bicycle themselves.
Now, they’re going even lighter, down to a claimed 779g thanks to a new derivative of their hollow internal construction with sandwich sidewalls method. The new tech keeps the main body of the disc hollow – molded with plastic bladders that are removed after the resin cures. But now, they have added 6 internal stiffening ribs that connect the two outer sides of the disc wheel, almost like spokes but not continuous from hub to rim bed. The partial-length internal ribs still allow them to get bladders out after molding the wheel, but enable a significant reduction in carbon material for the outer structural skin of the disc.
Tech Details
Current Falcon Pro PrecisionX disc wheels come in three variants: the rim brake QR-only 977g C20 (20mm int, 26mm ext); or disc brake thru-axle 848g C22 (22mm int, 28mm ext); or latest disc brake 890g C23 (23mm int, 30mm ext). These share the same hollow construction (formed over inner air bladders) with their thin rim walls made of a sandwich of hi-mod T700/800 carbon over a thin PMI foam layer to add stiffness without adding a lot of extra weight.
This still unreleased new ultralight Falcon Pro Precision C25 disc measures 25mm internal for its hooked, tubeless-ready bead. And it should come out to about 32mm external, making for a smooth aero transition for 25-30mm tires.
No official release date just yet, or official pricing. But it likely will command a slight premium over the $1344 C23 due to its more complex construction.
AER180 ultra-deep 180mm rear wheel for when a disc is too much
Now if a solid disc rear wheel is simply unrealistic for racing against the clock outside, where crosswinds play a role, Light Bicycle has this super deep AER180 rim to solve your time trial & triathlon woes. They call it the Kona Conqueror because it was specifically created for wind tri courses like the iconic Ironman Kona.
Light Bicycle claims “near-equal aerodynamic performance to a full disc while offering greater stability in crosswinds”. It features similar carbon/foam/carbon sandwich construction in its long straight sidewalls like their full discs, resulting in a rim-only weight heavier than the new disc. But that’s the price you pay for stability in the wind.
The rear-only complete wheel can be built up as low as 1126g, with retail pricing starting at just $872, and available now.
- 180mm deep aero U-profile T700/800 carbon TT/Tri rear-only rim
- 21mm hooked tubeless internal
- 28mm wide external at the tire
- ~820g rim weight
- custom builds with either 24 aero spokes
32″ Anax Gravel ultralight carbon wheels (or XC if that’s your thing)
32″ is coming, but is it going to add a lot of extra weight?
Light Bicycles says it doesn’t have to. Their new 32″ Anax Gravel carbon wheels can be built up as light as 1343g for a set, and with retail pricing starting at just $1070 with their own hubs. Making the jump to a new, bigger wheelsize may be easier and lighter than we ever thought! Plus, they’ll just build them with several other hub options from the likes of DT Swiss, Industry Nine, Chris King, or Carbon-Ti, if you prefer.
- 44mm deep low aero V-profile T700/800 carbon gravel rim
- 32mm hooked tubeless internal
- 37.7mm wide external at the tire
- max 39.4mm wide overall
- custom builds with either 24 (front-only) or 28 Alpina Ultralite Aero spokes (front or rear)
The Anax Gravel isn’t the only 32″ Light Bicycle wheel option either. We just wrote about the Anax32 XC wheels back in February, which now sell for as little as $1221 with Hope hubs or as light as 1465g with ST 240 hubs.
Who are Light Bicycle again?
Just a quick refresher on Light Bicycle for those who may not know them, since we don’t write about China-direct component companies often.
They are one of the longest-running factory-direct Chinese wheelbuilders, hand-building affordable carbon wheels and shipping them directly to consumers around the world since 2011. They’ve also seemed to be one of the most innovative consumer-direct companies, continually evolving to meet consumer demand for the latest tech. Light Bicycle even now has wheel building & warehouse setups both in British Columbia to serve North America, and in France to serve the EU market.
