(I’m sure this has been discussed here previously, but I can’t find a recent relevant thread)
I got a Giant Revolt Advanced last year. I love it and have put a lot of miles on it. I’ve heard the stock wheelset is super heavy and slow, so I may be looking to upgrade. I ride a mix of road and smooth gravel with a little singletrack and class IV mixed in now and then. Mostly solo, around 15-17mph average (there is plenty of climbing where I live). I do a couple of events per year, but not competitively.
My criteria in a wheelset would be around 1500g, ≥25mm internal width (will run 45 up to 2.1 tires), and under about $800.
At this price point, it looks like I can get into entry level Chinese carbon: Elite Wheels, ICAN, Light Bicycle, etc. These are all over the internet and look like they would work fine.
For around the same price or a little less, I could get a nice set of alloy wheels built up by a local shop I trust: Stan’s/Velocity/Boyd rims on some basic hubs.
Aluminum wheels feel like they would be more sustainable, durable, and serviceable. Am I wrong about that? I am hoping this upgrade makes my bike feel a little quicker/livelier and maybe a tiny boost in speed overall. Not sure if I am fast enough for aero gains to come into play. Also not sure what is likely to be most comfortable.
I got rim braked versions of these wheels before lockdown and they’ve been great (they have prices in US dollars so I suspect they ship to the states).
I have a set of wheels with Light Bicycle WR45 rims. They’ve been great, the first 7000 miles were on my gravel bike then 2600 more on my road bike. The rims have held up great, are easy to setup tubeless and they build wheels well, they’ve never had to be trued either. It’s been such a good experience I’m going with Light Bicycle next time I need a set of wheels
I have Roval Terra C and love them. Gave them to my wife now but they were great for the price when I was ridding them! Plus you get a solid warranty and good hubs!
Another option is to order rims from Light Bicycle and have your local ship build them out for you as you prefer. Light Bicycle and others should be announcing a big sale in the coming weeks (you can actually ask LB now over email, it’s probably 15% off)
Yes.
Especially on rims carbon can play out its advantages. I recently had an aluminium MTB wheel, there were cracks around essentially every single nipple hole. It was Stans rim, so not a cheap, entry-level rim, but not super expensive either.
Such fatigue cracks are much, much less likely with carbon. And carbon wheels will stay true for longer (as they either stay true or break). My carbon road wheels (3T Discus C45|32s) have seen quite a bit of abuse here, including cobbles from hell with at least one very hard impact directly to the rim.
Regarding serviceability, that’s mostly a function of your hub. And you can mate the same hubs to a carbon or an aluminium rim.
WinSpace has a new wheelset. They are like 1300g (a little heavier) carbon and under 1k in price. 25mm iw. Wider external than roval, plus 50m deep. They are brand new, so they dont have ride review like others. But they seem solid and I love my WinSpace wheels.
I guess I stand corrected – I genuinely didn’t know. I would have thought aluminum would have some advantage other than just price.
Seems like there is no shortage of good options for carbon wheels in this range. I guess I wonder how much worse something like this would be in terms of comfort, speed, and ride quality than the carbon options folks have suggested?
I’ll throw in my issue, I have a Lauf True Grit that has 15x100 front spacing. The rear spacing is normal 12x142. My DT Swiss wheelset that came with the bike is 1850g so I’d like to upgrade. However, almost all wheels I see that are ‘gravel’ are 12x100. There are a few mtb wheelsets that are 15x100 but most are either 12x100 or boost which won’t fit.
I figure the TR hive mind may have some ideas. At worst case, I can get changes to the fork openings to make them 12 vs 15. But that’s one more failure point/cost.
That’s the difficulty with rims, apart from weight it is really hard to know something about how well a rim rides — or not. For example, deeper wheels tend to be harsher as the taller structures imply they are stiffer. You want some flex in the up-and-down direction, but not too much side-to-side flex. Then the wheel feels comfortable and cornering can feel as if you are on rails.
The best carbon wheels I have ever ridden were 3T Discus C35, a shallower version of the current wheel set I own.
Aerodynamics is largely determined by depth. If you stick to the goldilocks depth of 40–50 mm, you should be fine. 35 mm deep wheels are still alright, though.
Weight is much less important than people think. I’d rather have a wheel set that is 100–200 g heavier, but rides better.
Here are your options with the pros and cons as I see it:
Used wheels can be great if they (and the hubs) are in great shape. Personally, I would only consider that if you either trust the seller (e. g. because he’s a friend of a friend you trust) or if you can see them in person.
“Chinese wheels” are great in terms of price and if you stick to the more established brands, most likely you will have a great experience. However, if you need to warranty your wheels, this may be quite an ordeal as one of the reasons “Chinese wheels” are cheaper is because they don’t have to include a network of distributors (which take a share).
Direct-to-consumer brands like Hunt are a middle ground, they offer good service and yet, are not overly expensive. AFAIK you are not entitled to a (cheaper) crash replacement.
Wheels from established brands like Zipp’s 303S wheelset (45 mm deep, 25 mm internal rim width, great quality and are currently on sale for < 1,000 € on bike24.com (front and rear are sold separately). Zipp and other established brands offer crash replacements.
If you can make the ~1,000 €, the Zipp 303S’ would be a great deal IMHO.
HED Emporia GA Pros are a good option. On sale for $900, 25mm internal, 15x100 and 12x1200 available, weigh 1600 grams and have held up to some serious abuse in cyclocross for me.
Alloy options continue to appeal to me due mainly to price, but it seems like carbon is the way to go if I can. Hunt gravel race wheels are 1400g and with Black Friday sales are about $600. I also found a lightly used set of i9 GRCX wheels in my area for $325 - I would need to swap the freehub, but that seems like a bargain.
I can’t help but think even a cheaper aftermarket alloy wheelset would still be a huge improvement over the stock wheels. Then again, if another $200 or so would get me something carbon that’s likely to be far nicer and more durable, it might be worth stretching. I will wait and see what the other holiday sales look like.