Lifetimes of low-lying states in the yrast nu i13/2 band in 165W have been measured using the recoil distance Doppler-shift (RDDS) method. The excited states of interest were populated in the 92Mo(78Kr,4p1n)165W fusion-evaporation reaction and their decays were investigated via gamma rays detected in the Jurogam II detector array in coincidence with nuclei separated and detected using the RITU gas-filled separator. From the experimental lifetimes, corresponding reduced transition strengths, B(E2) values, were deduced and an unusually low experimental value of the ratio B(E2;21/2+-> 17/2+) B(E2;17/2+-> 13/2+ ) = 0.59(7) was extracted, similar to what has been observed in neighboring nuclei in this mass region. The experimental results have been compared with Woods-Saxon-type mean field and interacting boson-approximation (IBM-1) calculations.