The ultimate deep dish wheel
One of the really fascinating things we've gleaned from our partnership with Cervelo is this: being light weight is not necessarily all it's cracked up to be. Of course, everything being equal, if you can shave some grams without offsetting performance or power transfer efficacy, then by all means shave the weight. But what Cervelo has shown us is that aerodynamics is in many ways just as important as low weight. Cervelo's white paper on their Soloist line of racing frames clearly proved this.
Now what if you could have the best of both worlds, especially in regards to a wheelset? Namely, a phenomenally light racing wheel that is also supremely aerodynamic. Could this be the holy grail of cycling? According to Lightweight, it is: and it's not nearly so elusive as the holy grail and it goes by the name of its designer: Heinz Obermayer.
The Obermayer is essentially the same as Lightweight's Standard Tubular with a few critical modifications. First, the Obermayer utilizes German manufactured Tune 160 magnesium rear hubs with a carbon axle; second, the front hub uses Lightweight's proprietary high-strength bearings for dramatically reduced rolling resistance. These bearings are also set in a specially formulated grease which further reduces any drag. Lastly, Obermayer rims use a special carbon lay-up process which reduces their weight even lower than the Standard's without sacrificing any of the Standard's notorious stiffness and power transfer efficiency.
The Obermayer wheelset is available in three configurations: with 12, 16, or 20 spoke front wheel. For time trialing and triathlon, the aerodynamic advantages of the 12 spoke configuration make it the clear winner; for all-around riding or road and criterium racing, and for larger riders (up to 198 pounds), the 16 spoke configuration is the most popular version; and for 'cross racing, and larger, more powerful riders up to 240 pounds, the 20 spoke option is optimal.