Purely anecdotal but I bought Winspace Hyper 23s. Within a couple of rides I was on a recently paved road, smooth as silk. I got lulled into not paying close attention and rode over/into an unfinished hole for a utility. It was violent and nasty. Hypers survived fine, not even a slight wobble. I still can’t believe the front wasn’t ruined. I’m a good-China-brand believer.
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Look for some kind of Chinese new years sale. The sales reps used to be on the weight weenie forum and you could email them with questions/specs or ask when the next sale was coming.
9Velo are also Farsports rims. You might check their current offerings.
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I completely agree - good enough is good enough for me. I’m not racing for money…
And even then there are so many variables - rider, position, bike frame, tire.
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had both chinese and fancy rims on the MTB (nextie and duke).
the dukes are a lot lighter, but the nextie rims was quite some time back … the duke set was build for my (more precious) Scott Spark, the nexties for a cannondale FSi hardtail. Both build myself, not a big (not really noticable) difference in performance, only weight on the scale and the duke rear hub has a very nice ratchet. (hope pro 4 on the other set).
For the road bike, I decided to go chinese again, distributed by a local wheel builder (ordered the parts with some discount 
and build myself again).
Rims are eiecarbon 23mm internal, 50mm deep, closed rim bed:
(erase hubs, 24 sapim cxray spokes, brass nipples, total weight: 1360 g)
very nice wheels, the internal width helps a lot with low pressure, tubeless, and comfort on 28mm tires, maybe I’ll try 30 mm next time, tubeless has also been flawless (with the correct sealant… the tires where to poreus for barkeeper sealant, but orange seal works very good).
For a custom set, I really like the amount of options you have:
- 3 weight/strenght versions
- 18-32 holes
- hole type, standard, internal, closed rimbed
- carbon weave outer layer
- finish (gloss/matte)
- with or without decals
you can really tune your custom set for you own needs with rims like this
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I bought some wheels from 9Velo almost a year ago and they’ve been great. 45mm deep and 1300g for the pair, less than $900 with a coupon code. I ran over a large pothole once with my rear wheel that threw my derailleur hanger out of alignment and screwed up my shifting, but the rim survived without any issues.
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I believe the most practical and meaningful way is to buy a new bike with the wheels of your choice, this way they are not just cheaper but also work way better in the specific setup the manufacturer tested.
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Most sub 6k bikes don’t come with good wheels…
Don’t agree with the tested/ works better part either.
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While this approach is appealing - i’m frankly not into it enough to want to build out my own set.
I just placed my order on the C5/C6 Combo from Farsports through Panda Podium. I’ll see how they do. Looking forward to the 24mm internal. Intending to put my current 28mm gp5k on and will move up to 30mm (or 32 if they will fit) when it comes time for new tires.
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Let us know how you like them. I’m looking at purchasing another set of ~60mm wheels, and I was considering these, Yoeleo, and Craft.
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I recently got the Yoeleo 60’s. I only have about 90 miles on them but so far no issues.
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I recently got a set of 9Velo 24 internal, 31.8 external 58mm deep that I mounted GP 5000 S TR’s in 28c. They plumped up to about 30.4mm. Have about 4 or 5 rides on them and maybe 250 ish miles. Firstly what I noticed was enhanced ride quality and then a noticeable sensation of speed. To put into context I’m coming off a set of Lightbike AR565’s which are 21 internal and I believe 28+ external and 56.5mm deep. Have a 26c Aero 111 front and GP 5000 S TR 28c rear. The new setup does seem to be better in every respect and even though there may be an aero penalty due to greater frontal area they are bloody fast but what is as remarkable is the smooth ride. The biggest difference is the internal width between the two wheelsets. I am pretty well sold on the wider internal wheels.
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Curious, how do you know they are fast(er?) relative to the AR565? I sold my AR465 and am waiting for LB’s new Turbo wheels in a 50/78 configuration so not exactly a fair comparison once I do get them.
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While I cannot provide hard data and acknowledge there are many variables to take into account, over same sections of road I’ve ridden many times I can sustain higher speeds for same effort. I am not putting down the AR’s, merely sharing a direct comparison of two similar wheels that mainly differ in widths both internal and external.
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What tire are you using and what does it measure width wise? I’m running 21mm internal / 32mm external now and my 30s measure 31.5mm. Thanks!
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Alright. You guys have me mostly convinced. A pair of Elite Drive G45 SS gravel wheels are sounding like a fine investment. Any reason I would be better off with Hunt carbon 40 gravel wheels over the Elite? Ceramic bearings aren’t a selling point for me so I’m purely interested in hub quality and reliability. Also haven’t been able to find whether the Elite are hooked or hookless. Anybody have experience with these?
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Happy to hear that! I’ll report back with anecdotal evidence once I have them on.
@fasterthanever Your question has me a bit interested. What would you speculate the best way to compare two sets of wheels for performance? I could do 5 runs on a local ~2 mile rather straight/flat road and attempt to keep power the same for the runs. Different days would help standardize for wind.
Then do the same route another 5 times on the new wheels at the power and hope for a difference?
I can share a few things that probably make this not matter at all:
- My weight can fluctuate 2-4lb day to day…
- I’m a 260ish FTP putting me at 3.3ish W/kg. Not exactly sure i’m strong enough to make a ton of this matter.
The difference would be the aero profile of the wheels, reduction (maybe) in wheel weight, and larger internal width of the new wheels vs old.
James, I agree that safety is a minimum, and cost can guide your wheelset options, but I’d put performance in the mix and well ahead of specs. And by performance, I’m talking about a wheelset’s responsiveness, comfort, stability, aero, stiffness, and versatility/specificity.
Wheelsets with the same or similar specs, features, and price can and usually do perform noticeably differently against those criteria in my experience riding and reviewing over 100 wheelsets in recent years.
The performance differences may or may not be noticeable or important and, therefore, valuable to you depending on how, where, what you ride, and what your riding goals and other priorities are.
You can find your way from this “it depends” sounding response to better bracketing wheels you should consider by answering the 12 questions I pose in the video below about how to choose the right bike wheels for your unique situation. Cheers, Steve
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I think realistically it’s not worth testing for normal people for the reasons you mention unless you’re doing big differences in wheel depth. I’ve seen others do similar tests on YouTube and it’s fun to watch. But your proposal is one away to try it.
The difference in wheel sets of big differences in wheel depth at lower speeds is, from what I understand, is fewer than 5 watts. So when I think of maintaining consistent power and position over a series of tests I think is the margin of error on these things going to be fewer than 5 watts?
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I’m using a Conti Aero 111 in 29mm up front. It measures just over 29mm. In back I have a GP5000 (clincher, not tubeless) in 30mm. It measures about 31mm.
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