1020 grams of versatility
Mount Ventoux. Geant Provencal. The Giant of Provence. The massive, anomalous dome of Mount Ventoux rises majestically from its provencial plain to a height of almost 2000 meters. It stands so isolated and distinct that it can be seen from over 100 kilometers away. And it inspires sheer terror for those who must race up its alpine slopes to its barren, moon-like landscape summit.
It's fitting if not a bit hyperbolic that Lightweight chose Mount Ventoux as inspiration for the wheelset bearing its name. After all, this 1020 gram wheelset is but a speck of atomic dust in comparison to the grand Geant, but like fabled David, this seemingly inconsequential speck packs the punch capable of conquering the Goliath of Provence.
New for 2008, the Ventoux is already a venerable wheel and will surely become legendary for the lucky few who will own a pair. While the Ventoux may seem unlike the stout-looking Lightweights we've come to expect, it is still just as robust from a strength perspective. Where this wheel excels is where other Lightweight wheels have a potential and ever so slight vulnerability: crosswinds.
This first-ever, full-blown production version of a low profile Lightweight comes after repeated testing to assure that it would stand up to Lightweight's strict quality standards. The primary concern to over-come was heat dissipation for a carbon wheel with such a low profile: with a deeper dish carbon rim, the additional composite material helps dissipate the heat created from the extreme braking conditions demanded by bike racing. High heat transfer leads to at least two problems: increased air pressure in tubes/tubulars which can lead to blow outs, and chaotic spoke tensioning due to extreme temperature fluctuations. Thanks to the creative genius of Heinz Obermayer, Lightweight's co-founder, the new Ventoux is race ready--and already race proven before ever making it to market.
Setting out the build the world's best pair of climbing wheels demanded attention to not only going up-hill, but also going down. In bike racing, speeds in excess of 60 mph are not fantastically uncommon, and at those speeds, even the feathering of brakes is going to cause tremendous heat. A professional cyclist doesn't sacrifice their body on interminable climbs only to lose their advantage because they have little faith in their wheelset on the descent. Their wheels must be resistant to heat build-up (mentioned above), and they must be stiff enough to withstand the stresses of switchback cornering at 40 mph. Building a 1 Kilo wheelset to race uphill with a distinct advantage while not providing a disadvantage on the descent is no easy engineering task.
But the Lightweight Ventoux is all that. Lightweight paid painstaking attention to keep rim mass to an absolute minimum so that the cyclist's energy is not wasted on keeping the wheels' rotational weight in motion. In addition to this, the Ventoux is as safe, robust, and trust worthy as any Lightweight wheel.
Extremely light Samarian-Cobalt magnates are laminated into each rim. These .8 gram magnates in no way disturb the aerodynamics of the wheels. An individual microchip is also laminated into each wheel: this microchip is like the wheel's fingerprint so that the history, warranty issues, and other essential data can be stored for future reference.