Looking for recommendations on a road/gravel wheelset with following desires:
Zipp 303 Firecrest? Enve’s? What else?
What about the new Zipp 303s? Seems like a great set of wheels. Personally I didn’t want to spend that much money so I went with the DT Swiss GR 1600 for my new 650b wheel set. So far I’m pretty happy with them.
Stan’s Avions would be a good set to look at. I used to be on a team sponsored by Stans, but i have no attachment to them anymore. I have some carbon Easton wheels now, but wish i still had my Avions. I had expensive Black Inc wheels, but preferred the Stan’s. Stan’s makes really great tubeless products, and they’ve been in this space for years.
I like how easy it is to swap freehub bodies (like from standard 11spd to XD) and the hubs are easy to change from QR to 12mm to 15mm.
Zipp 303s pretty much nails that. Still kinda think that may be an unbeatable gravel wheelset, given my parameters for that are similar to yours. Thesis makes a similar, interesting looking wheelset I believe, as does scribe cycles if you want other options too
Stan’s Avions would be a good set to look at. I used to be on a team sponsored by Stans, but i have no attachment to them anymore. I have some carbon Easton wheels now, but wish i still had my Avions. I had expensive Black Inc wheels, but preferred the Stan’s. Stan’s makes really great tubeless products, and they’ve been in this space for years.
I like how easy it is to swap freehub bodies (like from standard 11spd to XD) and the hubs are easy to change from QR to 12mm to 15mm.
How are road tubeless tires with the Avion rims? It’s not really clear if their BST-R rims have the slightly oversized bead seat diameter as their BST rims. I have four sets of Crests that do most of our gravel/cx duties, but getting a 32c GP5000 TL on Crest MK3 rims is possibly the only tire combo I have never been able to mount before.
The ENVE Foundation 45 may be a little deeper than you want, but they are very nice for road/gravel… I got them a few weeks ago after waiting for a while, put the new GravelKing SS 35mm tires on, I’ve been riding them on the Venge as well as the 3T Exploro.
Bontrager Aeolus 3V
I just bought a pair of Scribe Cycling Gravel Wide+ wheels and have been very happy so far. 32mm depth, 30mm external/21mm internal width, 1485g advertised weight (I didn’t weigh them). $1,000 USD w/free shipping.
https://scribecycling.com/collections/gravel-carbon/products/gravel-wide-cd54-1-528g
Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel Disc X-Wide (23mm internal). I run these as a second wheel set to my ENVE G23’s. I run different tires on the wheels and switch depending on the daily route. The Hunts are great, and I like them equally to the ENVE’s. $999.00, plus import tax ($123.57).
I’ve never ridden them but Hed have been my wheels of choice for over a decade. If and when I need a new set of wheel fro my gravel bike these will be my choice…
https://www.slowtwitch.com/Gravel/A_Stout_Mid-Priced_650B_Gravel_Option_from_HED_7554.html
I am not sure they quite meet your depth requirement, but the HED Eroica is a really nice gravel wheel. I went from a more road oriented wheel with a 19mm internal width to he 25mm internal width of the Eroica and it really does make for a much nicer tire/rim profile. I asked Andy T at HED whether they had aero tested that rim yet or if it was a design consideration. His response was that they hadn’t hit the wind tunnel but they always think about aero during the design process.
I haven’t seen the Zipp 303s in person, so I would be interested to see how the rim profile matches a much wider gravel tire. My guess is not as well as you would like. The one rim I would really like to see is the new 3t offering that goes with the RaceMax. That is supposed to be designed to work with really wide gravel tires. 29 mm. Internal width and the external width is something crazy wide. It will be interesting to see some of the first real gravel wheel wind tunnel tests. I watched the Specialized YouTube test of a gravel tire on their 50mm road rim and I seem to remember that their conclusion was that you still get some aero benefit despite the poor tire/rim profile. So obviously they recognize that adapting a road rim to a gravel tire is probably Suboptimal. Given all the interest in gravel bikes, you have to figure that everyone is in the process of Making a real gravel aero rim.
I sent you a private message.
Bontrager Aeolus 3V
Are you saying 32 is the widest tire that can be used?
Looking for recommendations on a road/gravel wheelset with following desires:
Zipp 303 Firecrest? Enve’s? What else?
Based on these criteria, I don’t see any reason they need to be carbon or cost more than €450/$500.
You’ve set depth at 30-40mm, and something like Kinlin XR31T rims perform as well as anything else in the 30mm type range, and is tubeless compatible. Maybe you’d prefer more than the 19mm internal width? You could probably get a bit lighter if you spend more too, either on the rims, the hubs or both.
Other similar options would include Boyd Altamonts or A-Force AL33 based wheels, although I think I saw that the latter are disappearing…
Lots to choose from but no reason to spend anything near $2000 unless there are more critical requirements than those you provided.
I am not sure they quite meet your depth requirement, but the HED Eroica is a really nice gravel wheel. I went from a more road oriented wheel with a 19mm internal width to he 25mm internal width of the Eroica and it really does make for a much nicer tire/rim profile. I asked Andy T at HED whether they had aero tested that rim yet or if it was a design consideration. His response was that they hadn’t hit the wind tunnel but they always think about aero during the design process.
I haven’t seen the Zipp 303s in person, so I would be interested to see how the rim profile matches a much wider gravel tire. My guess is not as well as you would like. The one rim I would really like to see is the new 3t offering that goes with the RaceMax. That is supposed to be designed to work with really wide gravel tires. 29 mm. Internal width and the external width is something crazy wide. It will be interesting to see some of the first real gravel wheel wind tunnel tests. I watched the Specialized YouTube test of a gravel tire on their 50mm road rim and I seem to remember that their conclusion was that you still get some aero benefit despite the poor tire/rim profile. So obviously they recognize that adapting a road rim to a gravel tire is probably Suboptimal. Given all the interest in gravel bikes, you have to figure that everyone is in the process of Making a real gravel aero rim.
we here have used the HED vanquish and the Zipp 303s extensively in tough gravel conditions, and both do great. mind, the vanquish is a beaded rim and the 303s and 303 firecrest are straightwall. both were ridden tubeless. the eroica (to be renamed emporia) we have in 650b. i’ll use this wheel exclusively for wide tire gravel (53mm). the other wide tire gravel wheel i’ve used a lot is the ENVE G27. this wheel is phenomenal. i have a gravel bike with this wheel on it, fat tires, and it weighs - with pedals, with bottle cages, with the behind-saddle spares/tools kit - just at 18lb in a size for me (6’2"). the wheels are a large part of why this bike is so light, but i have beat the living hell out of these wheels in pure MTB conditions and they are as straight as they do i unboxed them.
Bontrager Aeolus 3V
Are you saying 32 is the widest tire that can be used?
No, the outer width is 32mm. Minimum recommended tire width is 32mm, though you could probably be fine with a 30mm on there. I don’t think there is a maximum per see, more likely than not your limit would be dictated by frame clearance (biggest I’ve had on them so far is 40mm tires). Right now I’m running a 32mm GP 5000 (non tubeless version) and they measure out ~33mm on this rim
I own gravel wheelsets from HED (650’s), ENVE, and Mavic. All three work very well, but within your budget and desired specs, I would definitely recommend the Mavic Allroad Pro Disc UST wheelset. Works great with or without tubes, is bombproof, and is reasonably light. I’m not sure about the depth of the wheel, but all the other specs line up perfectly with what you’re looking for. I’ve ridden them on some very rough, rocky terrain and they’ve never so much as popped a spoke. They won’t accept narrower than a 32mm tire. If they did, I wouldn’t own the ENVE’s.
Plus, the Mavics don’t rely on rim tape to go tubeless. The Mavic Allroad Pro doesn’t have holes in the rim, so you never have to worry about tape letting go. There is no tape.
the eroica (to be renamed emporia) we have in 650b. i’ll use this wheel exclusively for wide tire gravel (53mm).
As an aside I’m glad they are changing the name. Hed eroica is far to close likely to be autocorrected to head erotica when I’m typing it. The last thing I need to is be called into HR at work when all I was trying to do is look for a new set of wheels
Any idea why they are changing the name?
Any idea why they are changing the name?
My guess would be as an homage to Dirty Kanza.