Wheelset, which would you choose?

I wouldn’t price Zipp 303/Enve (lower level)/Bontragers/Campy/Fulcrum, etc against Hunts and Winspace. They are on a completely different resale level as the Winspace/Hunts.

Winspace Hyper - these are probably fine, but I’d say these aren’t proven. They provided wheels to a bunch of youtube guys and spamming web forums to generate buzz, which is why they are on the map. I’d let them simmer for a bit before ordering from them. Being disc brake, they are probably fine mechanically, but ability to deliver consistently might be something to watch. LightBicycle (and a few others) is similar, has more options, and a much more proven track record - strongly recommended instead of these.

Hunt- Generally these are pretty common parts put together with a reasonable markup and a shit-load of BS on their website. For example this Hunt 44 is a CN carbon rim, with Pillar Spokes , and Novatech hubs (all fine)… but you can probably get that exact same build for $500gbp (+Brexit??) vs $930GBP (AR46 Disc Carbon Road/CX/Gravel Wheelset - Light Bicycle )

Carbon Spokes… generally avoid. Performance vs compromise isn’t there. Spokes are flexy and resin isn’t. You can’t tread carbon fiber either. These are effectively bling. 1) As a system, they aren’t much lighter (the hunt wheelset is 120g lighter; ~40gr of that comes from eliminating excess steel spokes/nipples (4.6gr/sp+nipple), hub flange; 80gr from the spoke itself; and they should be saving 10-20gr rim with the fulfillment wound rim - so like for like, they don’t save much real weight) 2) They’re too stiff - the wheel should only be stiff enough. 3) They don’t take kindly to being overloaded after a few fail as they are very inelastic (unlike steel). When multiple fail, things go bad. 4) They don’t take kindly to non-tension load (rotation during install; sideways hits) 5) They’re only as strong as the end (looks like they install an end knob thing during production, which looks pretty slick). 6) Aero is a question. I doubt they are as thin (Sapim make 3x 1.9mm thick ones in 2015) or well profiled as a CX-Ray (2.2 x .9 elliptical) ( basically, they’ll leave 4x the wake, probably only a 1-2w at worst though) - this isn’t something to be an “early adopter” on (non-oem non-wheelset specific CF spokes - cf spokes you can put into most hubs/rims).

You’re listing weight there a few things 1) It doesn’t really matter as this level. You’ve got a 220gr spread on very different wheels. The Zipps /Fulcrums have stout hubs… thats’ not a lot to worry about unless you’re weighing your bike for fun. 2) If someone convinces you wheel is more important than general weight (and they’re wrong), rim weight would be more important than wheel-general weight due to their inertia argument (which is wrong). You want less moment of inertia for acceleration, so weight toward the hub is not as bad as it is closer to the tire. All those wheels would have about the same rim weight. The tall rim at the same weight-ish would have less moment of inertia, since a decent chunk of the weight (the spoke bed) is more inboard. Anyway, the weight difference between the Hunt 33 and 44 is all rim, but you’re getting a deeper rim which moves all that extra 55gr of weight ~15mm inboard (using ERD), probably offsetting all of it. Here- Great wheel test 2008 – Part 2 – Inertia | Roues Artisanales - a Shimano C24 only saves .2w (2 joules) on a hard/long acceleration over a C50 rim thats 250gr (measured) heavier - similar wheel aero or rolling resistance concerns would negate this.

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