New wheelset a great or no good upgrade for a road bike???

Question

Now, I bought the iron horse triumph 5.0 off amazon.com because it was a great deal at the time. 500 bucks and fully tiagra equipped. It had a semi-compact and butted aluminum frame so i thought it would be a great frame to get some upgrades on.

I heard the best upgrade to go with is definitely the wheels? Something like saving a ounce on the wheels is like taking a pound off the whole frame.....Now is that right or wrong? Because I am looking into some lighter wheels such as a set on performance or pricepoint at the moment. Now, are the standard freedom RLX2.0 wheelset that came with my bike a good or poor wheelset? I'm going to some races later on in the month and some in August so I am extrememly hard on weight and am probably a "weight weinie" haha. So, is a wheelset that has a 740 gram front wheel and a 1030 gram back wheel a good or actually worse upgrade? I don't have the scale I just need to know and fast!

Answer 1

rotational mass is where to shave weight. tires are probably the cheapest thing you can swap out. wheel sets can get pricey, but since (combined with tires) they're the largest ratational mass, that's where you get the biggest bang. pedals, crank arms, chain rings and cassetts would be next. if you're looking to change all that, you may end up saving money by getting a new bike though..

Answer 2

Upgrading your wheelset is probably the most important upgrade you can make on your bike. Using lighter moving parts for you r bike will make it much ore efficient