Rider Profile
Name : Lydia
Origin : Germany
Information : Female, Height 1,70m. Fell in love with drop bars, but also love my mountain bike. My mileage is ~13000km/year. Riding for fun, but also won some podium places in local comps.
Specifications
Bike
Frame : Carbonda 505 (classic)
Paint : Custom, turquoise glossy with silver sparkles + teal matte
Groupset : Ultegra RX 2x11
Wheels
Rims : Light Bicycle Turbo 40 Disc, 24H, no access holes, with drain holes
Hubs : Customized
Spokes : Straightpull Alpina Aero Hyperlite + Ultralite
Nipples : Sapim Polyax black
Tires : Tufo Swampero (front) + Thundero(rear) 40mm
It all began with the hubs at Eurobike.
Hello again! I thought maybe you’d like to read my experiences about the new turbo rims.
Since I already do own too many wheels, let the story begin with why and how I decided to buy another set of rims. It started last year at the Eurobike exhibition, which I have visited for some years, just enjoying the exhibition. Last year, I met a hub company, and they had a turquoise set of road/gravel hubs as a color swatch – when I said “wow, they could fit my gravel bike!” I got the offer to buy them right away and take them home. I smiled, said that I already do have too many “bicycle shoes” and yet 5 minutes later, I changed my mind and grabbed those amazingly nice hubs with me. At home, I put them as decoration in the living room, no hurry to build something.
I decided to join the “team hot” after my summer cycling in France.
Summer time, anyway, meant cycling as much as possible. Then, in September, my friends from climbing and I went together for a vacation to the French area of Fontainebleau, super famous for bouldering. They took their climbing shoes, whereas I took my gravel bike instead. I was very convinced that gravel biking in this area would be a great experience. Well... not exactly. Many pavements in the woods were too bumpy for gravel, and at some point, I lost my good mood and escaped to the good tarmac on the roads. Also, it is not a good choice with 40mm gravel tires and high knobs. However, I would just be slower, but still had a strong mind to enjoy the rides. I picked a roughly 100km round trip, and then it even got worse. I had to fight with headwind and super strong side wind the whole trip. It was pushing me like a leaf in the wind. So I was on vacation, choosing the wrong bike, wrong tires, and stupid wind. The perfect conditions to think about new equipment.
I must, maybe at that point, tell that I am a very light rider. And that I am not very strong when it comes to resisting the push from side winds. Even though from climbing I do have some strength in my upper body and arms. That’s just not the same. I thought maybe I should just reduce the rim height from my AR36 and build another AR28 wheelset with these turquoise hubs to improve the situation. So I browsed the Light Bicycle webpage, and my eyes focused on the new turbo rims, which were launched very shortly before. Telling that they are much better against side winds than common rim shapes. Wait. Side wind stability? That was what I wanted! I didn’t want higher rims in fact, but only with the goal of more stability against wind. The lowest version was 40 mm, 4mm higher than my AR36, which was, in fact, a little bit contradictory to my initial idea. But the rim design hit me. I guess for this rim design, you either fall in love or you say it's super ugly. I decided to join the “team hot”. And I decided to trust the advertisement after all my good experiences with Light Bicycle so far. So I got in contact with Edwin from Light Bicycle again. Also, as I didn’t order the Pro series before, I was curious about the paintless finish.
The 1280g weight weenie Turbo 40 build fights against the wind effortlessly.
As usual, the order went straight, and everything was fine. The rims didn’t have special features this time, also no decals, as I wanted to find a perfect match to my custom paint job (spoiler: I did so, but it was not easy). When the rims arrived, this time I was very eager to finish the wheels and to put them on the bike. The hubs and the rims matched nicely. I also tried Alpina spokes for the first time in the Hyperlite and Ultralite versions. They are very fine, the build went just straight, I will definitely buy them again.
To come to the interesting weight weenie result: 1280g, which is a little lighter than the A36 build. It’s the result of lighter hubs, lighter spokes, and also lighter rims. When I went out for the first ride, I headed straight away to an unprotected free area, which is usually very windy. And there was immediately the strong impression that it took less effort to fight against the wind. What the ..?! Even though they are 4mm higher than the AR36, they behave much better; the profile shape really works! Since then, of course, I rode a lot of miles, and this impression stayed. This is .. strong. Unexpected at first sight, but yes. They are working. In my research for a suitable decal color, I was able to find vinyl that has a chameleon effect from greenish to teal to blue. To not cover too much of the rims, I only added the Light Bicycle emblem. And if you look at my bike, I think (if you joined “team hot”) you can agree that it got more shiny with the new wheels. It doesn’t mean the AR36 are ugly. The initial reason for the change was to reduce my issues with wind stability. I know more heavy riders don’t even know what my problem is. Whereas I don’t know why they hate climbs (just joking).
I will definitely buy more Light Bicycle wheels and recommend them to more friends and family.
To finally start finishing the last open loops in the story: My boyfriend asked me, “And what’s your plan with the old wheels???” “Well, I don’t know exactly. They are in super condition, and I can put them in the basement until I build a new bike.” “Can I take them?” … and this is the very short story of how they found a new owner within seconds. And in fact, he is very happy with them. I guess that’s just because the wheel builder is such an expert. To be honest, he gave me feedback that the wheels feel very stiff, and he likes how they feel – he is now also convinced about Light Bicycle, and the next wheel build from my side could probably be for him.
And for me: I enjoy ALL my wheels and bikes. They are all special in their building. And I also enjoy the building procedure. It must have been a mental accident (3 times), but I purchased 3 hub sets since this build. That’s kind of getting a problem. I need to find reasons for new builds.
As a last fun fact: I joined some fixed weekly group rides, and yesterday evening, 8 riders joined, 4 of them were equipped with Light Bicycle wheels, and I have been involved in 3 of them. My own, of course, one I ordered as a wheelset, and the third one I acted as Coach for the build. One of the remaining 4 riders was then asking me seriously about Light Bicycle, and when I am writing this today, maybe Edwin has already received an email from him.
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September 2nd, 2025 | Light Bicycle
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