This year has seen a flurry of activity in the lightweight wheel market as manufacturers revert their attention to the once-prized characteristic, providing riders with weight-weenie alternatives to aero optimisation-at-all-costs.
But one new wheelset stands alone on the scales. Weighing in at 835g, the latest release from US-run, Hong Kong registered brand Particle is claimed to be the world’s lightest UCI-certified wheelset, undercutting some of the ‘lightweight’ offerings from established Western manufacturers by hundreds of grams.
Particle’s RCX27 Hyperlight wheelset, which costs £1,500 / $2,099, hasn’t sacrificed safety or usability to reach this sub-kilo weight either.
UCI-approved and durable enough to survive more than twice the impact energy of the governing body’s Vertical Impact Test, it also has longevity and everyday riding factored into its design and manufacture, including a three-year warranty as standard and replaceable carbon fibre spokes.
Bold ambitions
While you might not have heard of Particle before, the company’s founder, Patrick Clark, has been in the industry for a number of years. Colorado born and raised, he’s been living in China for a little over a decade, and worked for a Chinese OEM rim manufacturer for three years before setting up Particle in 2025.
“There is so much competition right now, so I needed to do something a little bit special to stand out,” he says. “We're trying to have the lightest wheels possible, but that are also strong enough.”
Clark explains that Particle doesn’t shy away from the fact that it contracts out production to factories in China’s Xiamen bike and carbon fibre manufacturing hub, and uses the expertise and experience of these specialist centres to be able to push the boundaries of wheel design.
But he believes he has an advantage where other Western brands don’t, in that he speaks Chinese. “I can find different engineers and different factories who can make it happen, because even wheels that are much heavier aren’t as strong as ours,” he says.
It’s not just the lack of language barrier that Clark uses to his advantage either. His immersion in Chinese wheel manufacturing from his previous job means he knows where to look for specialist manufacturing techniques and components.
Sum of its parts
While some lightweight wheelsets opt for a monocoque construction where the rims, spokes and hub shell are bonded together, Particle opted for an unbonded design for the RCX27 Hyperlight.
“The issue with [a bonded spoke] is if you break a spoke, you break your wheel,” says Clark. The design process therefore became a case of combining the lightest rim, spoke and hub, while also meeting Particle’s durability and longevity needs.
While Clark won’t reveal the secret sauce of the rim’s carbon layup, he says he managed to find a factory and engineer who could create a 27mm-deep rim that is not just light, but also stiff and strong.
The rim also features ETRTO-compliant minihooks and the 24mm internal rim width means they’re designed for 28-45c tyres.
“If it were hookless, it would save maybe five grams, but one of the issues is ‘are hookless wheels safe?’,” says Clark. “Everyone has their own opinion, but we wanted to be sure. We didn't want to have any potential issues in the future.”
Instead of being painted, each rim has been hand-sanded and coated in a UV protective layer, leaving a beautiful raw finish that shows every strand of carbon as well as saving roughly 15g. The decals are laser engraved, saving a further 3-4g.
The rims are laced to the hubs with new, more compliant carbon spokes that “offer a stiffness somewhere between steel spokes and the previous-generation carbon spokes”, the weight savings of carbon, the replaceability of an unbonded design and a non-rounded head that prevents twisting unlike earlier iterations of carbon spokes, according to Clark.
“Each spoke weighs roughly 1.8g and when you add the nipple, it's an extra 0.3g,” he says. “There are 20 in the front and 20 in the rear – you don't need to have as many spokes with carbon as you do for a steel spoke wheelset.”
The final piece of the puzzle is the SR1 hubs, which “are roughly 45g lighter than DT Swiss 180s depending on which freehub you're using”, says Clark.
Quality control
Particle didn’t only want the RCX27 Hyperlight wheelset to be the lightest around, but also durable and reliable enough to use for everyday riding.
In addition to the various testing requirements for the rim, Clark explains the SR1 hub has been designed for ease of use (for example, no tools are required to service the hubs) and to go the distance.
“The 36T ratchets have a low-friction coating, which should increase longevity, and they also use TPI bearings,” he says. “The difference between TPI bearings and a lot of other bearings is the seals are a bit better, which will theoretically allow them to last longer.
“We also chose 36T because the ratchets should last longer, and unless you're doing crit racing, most people don't need really high engagement.”
Particle also wants riders to have confidence in their products, so included a wheel-building report with each purchase. “The spoke tension for each spoke is written down and provided because in general, I think it's hard for most people to know how well their wheelset is built. They can be rest assured that it was built well,” says Clark.
High performance, low price
Despite Particle’s high-performance design for the RCX27 Hyperlight wheelset, the brand has kept a keen eye on price.
“We're trying to make the wheels for the people,” explains Clark. “Not everyone can afford a £3,500 wheelset and I'm not trying to make the most expensive wheels possible.”
He adds that the size and location of the operation means he hasn’t got the overheads of Western brands. Particle’s range also includes carbon-spoked wheels starting from $1,099 a pair, as well as mid-depth road and gravel wheels that also weigh less than 1kg.
- Read more: https://particle-bike.com
