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Tech Report with Lennard Zinn - Hot Wheels

By Lennard Zinn
KGS Bikes technical writer
This report filed March 13, 2007

I spent a couple of days last week in Las Vegas, with Paul Lew, riding and inspecting his new superlight Pro VT-1 wheels. The pair I rode weighed less than - get this - 850 grams for the set.

That's not a claimed weight, either. I pulled the tires off after the ride, checked the scale by using my standard calibration unit (otherwise known as a good old American quarter) and then measured the front at 350.5 grams and the rear at 501.1. Keep in mind that includes what I'd guess to be about 10-15 grams of rim cement on the wheels.
Now here comes the hard part. The wheels cost $5000 a pair with hybrid bearings - ceramic balls and steel races. Full ceramic bearings - balls and races - add $1000 to the price and remove 10 grams from the weight. That price is going to be worth it to some people, too. Lew Racing promises a per pair weight of under 880 grams with the standard hybrid bearings.

The wheels are carbon fiber mixed with boron fiber (boron is far stiffer than carbon, and the material costs 100 times as much), and the boron brake track has an aluminum honeycomb mesh under it to act as a heat sink and a wear indicator. Lew Aerospace is a defense contractor making superlight unmanned military reconnaissance aircraft invisible to radar, and Paul Lew developed the DEX-LCM molding process he uses in the wheels for those planes.
The aero spokes are boron and carbon with two braided Spectra cords inside. The front wheel is radially spoked, while the rear wheel is radial on both sides from the outside flanges and has four pulling spokes coming from the center of the hub. After a lot of riding on them, they are as true laterally as I have ever seen a wheel; it would be extremely difficult to get a wire-spoked wheel any truer. Vertically, it was not as true, but it only had a very slight hop.

The hubs are boron and carbon bonded to the spokes, and the hub axles are boron front and rear (the rear is thicker wall; both are the same diameter, since the four bearings in the rear wheel and the two in the front wheel are all the same spec). The freehub is titanium from White Industries that Lew has machined to remove weight from the centers of the splines.
Another unique feature of the wheels is the two-day test ride in Vegas at the new billion-dollar Red Rock hotel and casino, which is near Red Rocks Park, home to a wonderful, hilly, winding 13-mile road loop beneath beautiful cliffs and canyons. There is great riding on roads with very light traffic right out the door of the hotel. The management intends it to be an "adventure" hotel and a gateway to the outdoors, not just a standard Vegas-style hotel trying to keep you indoors spending money. It offers, for instance, guided climbing trips into Red Rocks, horseback rides, and bike rides, both on and off road. 

Partnering with Lew Racing and a local bike shop, the hotel offers a test ride on Lew wheels that is a wash financially if you buy the wheels. For $500, you get two nights plus food at the sumptuous hotel, two days of riding on a supplied Cannondale System Six (or your own bike) on Lew Pro VT-1s, and if you decide to buy the wheels, you get $500 off the price. It's a no-brainer; think how much money you could save if you bought ten pairs! Check out the link if you're interested.
See  my full report soon on the Lew Pro VT-1 wheelset. And yes, the wheels are stiff, and they brake nicely.
Lennard

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