Gravel Wheelsets - State of the Union

The important factor for comfort will be the actual tire width, which is influenced by rim width. While I know you wrote you’d like to stick to 700C, if you want something comfortable, you should go with 650b and something like a 47 mm tire. E. g. WTB covers everything from a essentially a slick to a slick with side tread to something quite knobby. That will give you roughly the same wheel + tire radius as a 700C wheel with 28 mm tires.

Otherwise, I second @BMAC615’s suggestion: have a look at 3T’s Discus C45s, which are truly multipurpose wheels similar to Enve’s 4.5 ARs — just 50 % cheaper.

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FYI, I wound up getting a new/old stock set of GRC 1400, and after putting 40mm Conti Terra Speed tires, I cannot believe how much better it felt. The gravel bike started with Maxxis Ravager tires (really aggressive but slow), then tried IRC Boken 40mm (liked them much better but still felt a little sluggish).

Is there any benefit going wide when using max. 42mm tyres? I’m currently riding WTB Riddler 37c.

I’m trying to decide between Lightbicycle’s WR45(32mm ext, 25mm int) and Farsports Kaze 45 (28mm ext, 21mm int), but I don’t quite understand how much rim int/ext width affects tyre shape.

Lightbicycle’s new AR45 ("Designed for all road use) rim even has similar profile to Farsports Kaze.

I was hoping for aero benefit with deep section wheels, but it seems pretty minimal with gravel tyres. I think looks, saved weight and overall feel is worth the upgrade anyway.

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All about keeping the stoke level high. They’re all probably good, and I agree that aero doesn’t seem to mean a ton with the big tires. Think I saw hunt say 4.5ar would save 7 watts at 20mph on gravel, but I believe dt Swiss said their 42 spline wheels would only save 5 watts at 28mph: who cares? They mostly look mo’ better.

I would just stay aluminum for rims on a gravel wheelset. It’s relatively cheap to replace a rim. I don’t believe those aeroweenie companies trying to sell expensive wheelsets for gravel. DT even says on their site that they see no aero benefit when tires are larger than 35mm.

There is no possibility of creating a relevant sailing effect using wide ( >35 mm) gravel tires.

One possibility would be cheaper aluminium wheelset for gravel and deep section carbon wheelset for fast road rides.

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