I have a Canyon Ultimate, so maybe a bit more climby than aero, but it’s my “only” bike (other than the Ti bike that is now fastened to the trainer), so it serves all purposes, including all types of road races. I want to upgrade the stock DT Swiss P1800 (23mm) to something that fits the “jack of all trades” nature of the bike. I really like the idea of the Hunt aerodynamicist 32mm climbing wheels. They are deeper and lighter (1213g) than what I’m running. But the 44mm version (1352g) is on sale, and likely the extra depth/aero is worth the extra weight. Then again, I’m sub 58kg and not a fan of cross winds. I’m torn! I might flip a coin.
Are there other, similarly priced ($1k to 1.5k) wheels I should be considering? (FWIW, hookless is fine. I’m never going back to tubes.)
I’ve got their…~55 or 60 mm aerodynamicist wheels and love them. Cant imagine why one wouldnt got for deepest wheel possible within budget constraints. The weight difference is pretty negligible IMO…
Of course I’m 82kg…I’ve never experienced any effect of crosswinds at all…
I’m 61kg and use the 50mm versions - no issues in any conditions and I run a 90mm on the TT bike on the front unless there is an absolute gale…no problems - the deeper the better.
I got a set of Lightbicycle AR45’s in the fall for that exact bike and really like them. Haven’t put a ton of miles on them, but no issues from my end (there’s also a thread with a bunch of satisfied users on here). I had them built with Bitex hubs, since I use them as “sunshine” wheels, but you can get DT hubs as well. I’m a decent bit larger than you, but have had no issues in crosswinds with them.
20mph sustained crosswinds + gusts on my 23mm rims a few weeks ago was more then enough to scare me!
But y’all almost have me convinced. I know depth is the right answer, but I hate climbing so much (and love sprinting so much) that the psychological benefit of having quick-to-spin-up ridiculously light wheels is very appealing.
I dont think lighter wheels spin up any faster than heavier ones. Not enough that you would actually be able to notice anyway. You’re talking 150 grams vs 150 pounds that needs to be accelerated, and very small speed changes. Personally i think those whole rotating weight thing is a bunch of BS.
Im nearly 61 kg at the moment but been as light as 54kg recently during my chemo so I’ve had to build myself back up to that, and where I can be all over the place with my shallower wheels in the wind I am not really with the deep sections on my TT bike. It seems to me to be a factor of the profile type and probably others too which outweigh the depth on my wheels.
My $0.02 would also be to get the 44mm rims, though maybe for slightly different reasons that pure aerodynamics.
If I’m reading it right, the 44mm rims are 29mm wide (vs. 25mm for the shallower). 25mm is pretty narrow for modern rim standards. 29mm sounds like it would be nicely aerodynamic with a 28mm (I’m sure they’ve done wind-tunnel testing) and also better suited to larger tires, should you go in that direction.
44mm really isn’t very deep. Of course at ~82kg, I’m a lot heavier, but I suspect a well-designed 44mm rim should be just fine.
Even if the aerodynamics isn’t something you really care about either way, the sound of deeper rims is
Hunt have done such an amazing job on their wheels, propelling from a small brand lacing rims to Novatec hubs to doing their own wind-tunnel testing, etc. I think either option will be wonderful wheels, but consider the wider rims in the spirit of “all-roads” riding on your Canyon.
As mentioned above, Light Bicycle is also worth considering, though the prices are not very different – highly dependent on the hubs. The WR-series of rims, especially the Falcon Pro line, are a very nice product. My current road bike is running AR55 flyweight Flacon Pro rims, which I find to be a nice profile (56mm deep, 28/30mm wide).
This is probably a controversial stance, but from everything I’ve read, I would be very hesitant to spend money on ceramic bearings, maybe with the exception of Enduro XD-15 bearings. (Honestly, I’d even spent additional money to have stainless steel instead.) This is on account of the significantly increased maintenance requirements --and for minimal, if any, measurable rolling resistance gains. I’ve got 38k miles on my main bike’s Hope Pro 4 hubs and have only needed to replace a single freehub bearing.
I own the Hunt 32 UD wheels (previously owned the 55 aerodynamicist) and also currently own a set of Light Bicycle WR45 wheels. On my Aethos both feel fast. I feel like the Hunt 32 are stiffer riding, but that might be due to the carbon spokes. I’m a not exactly a lightweight climber so I’m not sure the weight savings on the wheels were worth it for me and so I tend to use the WR45 wheels most days out.
Valve extenders are great in theory. In practice they aren’t always so great. Some require removable cores in the inner tube (note my reasoning was to make it easier to find tubes, being forced to find tubes with removable cores…) and some leak when on the side of the road trying to fix a flat (yes, even with carrying a roll of teflon tape.
I’m not saying they don’t work at all, just sometimes you want it nice and easy and don’t want to deal with it
20mph sustained crosswinds + gusts on my 23mm rims a few weeks ago was more then enough to scare me!