Monday, February 13, 2006

Lightweight Wheel magnets for your cyclocross bike


Okay, so dont flip out yet, youre wondering how much weight can be saved with wheel magnets, just a dumn little part that doesnt need any examination right? Well, I think you might be surprised.


I had this wheel magnet on my bike at first


And thought there might be a better option out there, so i did some hunting. I found what I was looking for an an unsual place to find bike parts, Radioshack. They had these tiny rare earth magnets, sold in packs of 2, for only $1.98.

So I bought them. Upon weighing one on my tenth gram scale, they weigh in at only .2 grams a piece.



A weight savings of 12.9 grams for only $1. Also, this weight savings comes at a crucial area, rotational weight. Remember, in an earlier post I mentioned that $2 a gram is the upper limit on what you'll want to spend to lighten your bike. Well, this upgrade cost only 8 cents a gram. The only catch is, like the Tune magnet that sells out there, you gotta glue this onto your spoke with some 2 part epoxy. Now this really isnt a big deal. A little 2 part epoxy, and 15 minutes later you got a magnet permanently mounted on your wheel. Make sure to read your computers directions to see how high up the spokes they recommend the magnet to be mounted. Lastly, yes the epoxy will bump the weight a gram or so, but still, thats a good dollar to gram weight saver. And for those that dont think 12.9 grams will make any difference, thats why your bike is so heavy, big weight gains can be made through the examination of every part on your bike and thinking of how this one part could weigh just a little less.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

why bother to run a computer on your cross bike at all? you'd save like 100g with no computer, and 99% of cross racers don't use one anyways.

Jeremy Burlingame said...

Well my computer weighs 37 grams (Sigma 1200) and I like having a computer for when im training on my cyclocross bike, also its nice in races from time to time. Thanks for the comment though.