Over this summer, in a quest to find the perfect wheelset, I’ve had the opportunity to ride several carbon wheelsets. I’ve decided to write up a review including all the basic stats and my experience on them.
This is a completely subjective review, so take from it what you like. I’ve tried to ignore all marketing hype as much as possible, but I’m sure it has influenced me to some degree. I’ll be the first to admit that I had bad days and good days on each of these wheelsets and my perceptions may have been altered as a result. However, I’ve had good days on each set and I’ve had bad days on each set, so hopefully they have averaged out.
The best way to describe me is as an avid rider, average in ability. I do everything: commuting, tri’s, TT’s, mountain and road racing, but I spend most of my time on my road bike. I began looking at wheels because my hand-built wheels with many miles were beginning to feel soggy. At the same time, my TT skills are progressing to the point where I could use something aero. Currently, I can complete a 40K at 24 +/- 0.3mph.
All of these wheels have been ridden on the same bike (titanium Bianchi), over the same roads, with extremely similar tires.
Bontrager XXX Lite Tubular 110gsm w/ Vittoria OCCX Tubulars
1154g (actual), Retail $1900, Miles ridden: 1650
I bought this wheelset because I found a good deal, they’re stupid light and stiff. These became my everyday wheelset and have proven to be very durable.
Zipp 808’s w/ White Industries H1 hubs, Sapim CX-ray spokes, Vittoria OCCX Tubulars
1541g (actual), Retail $2200, Miles ridden: 90
I bought this wheelset thinking of my Bontragers as my everyday wheels and these would be for race day. These turn your bike into a Frisbee. It’s good and bad - you’ll fly far and fast, but you’re totally riding the wind, no matter what the wind does.
Reynolds Stratus DV UL (2004) w/ Vittoria OCCX Tubulars
1170 (claimed), Retail $2000, Miles ridden: 330
I borrowed this wheelset to gauge whether or not I wanted to consider the Lew’s. Very good, solid feeling wheelset with a bit of aero-ness to it. Should ride very similar to their DV36 model for $1500.
Lew Pro VT-1 w/ White Industries H1 hubs and Hutchinson Tubulars
1056g (actual), Retail $2300, Miles ridden: 110
I bought this wheelset after being pleased with the Reynolds. I thought it would be a good balance of aero and weight. I think Hutchinson uses Vittoria’s tube and casing for their tires. Riding a wheelset so near that kilo mark is a lot of fun. I’m going to keep these.
Velocity Aeroheads, White Industries H1 hubs, Sapim CX-Rays, Vittoria OCCX Clinchers
1396g (claimed), retail $800, Miles ridden: 250
This was supposed to be my everyday wheelset, but I tended to use the Bontragers to avoid switching brake pads. Now that tubular tire flats have done their thing to my wallet, I will be riding these more.
FUN - When I sought out to buy a wheelset, I didn’t think this was going to be much a factor. I wanted the most performance per dollar possible. At the end of this, I’m listing it first because I now feel it’s the most important. This is a blanket measurement, considering all riding conditions.
-
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - Phenomenal climbing, light, stiff, and durable
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - Great climbing, light, and aero when you want it
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ REYNOLDS - Good climbing, light-ish, and aero
-
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Solid all around
-
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - Not much fun in less than ideal conditions. They are sluggish on hills and make you fear for your life in inconsistent wind
**HIGH SPEED CRUISE **- Get a lot of wheels over 40mph and some wicked things can happen. Throw in a corner or two and the little things get bigger
-
- BONTRAGER - erratic on descents, crosswinds have their way with you
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - Balanced, solid, stiff, no tubular bump near valve
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - very similar to Lew’s, but has the bump
-
-
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - takes a bit of work to get them to speed, solid feeling, slightly unbalanced
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - absolutely solid, unless the wind changed directions/speed
-
-
**HIGH SPEED CORNERING **- It takes a lot of confidence in your glue job to take a hard corner at speed, but you also have to trust your wheels and know what they are going to do as well.
-
- BONTRAGER - bad glue surface has me freaked out every time, plus the wheels are unpredictable.
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - Very predictable, but a little soggy when the G’s hit hard
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Predictable, solid, stiff
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ VELOCITY - Nice, but you can tell they’re clinchers
-
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - Considering how erratic I found this wheel in other situations, this was impressive
-
-
-
CLIMBING IN THE SADDLE - My race courses and riding grounds are rolling hills. This single category is why I sold my Zipp’s and plan to keep my Lew’s. I’m sure many of you have different priorities than I.
-
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - Phenomenal, like nothing I had ever ridden previously
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - These get extra points for maintaining speed into and over the hills
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Great, but felt just a bit heavier than the Lew’s and a bit less stiff than the Bontragers
-
-
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Surprisingly good, but others win on weight
-
-
-
- ZIPP - They just get bogged down so easily, even on a slight incline
CLIMBING OUT OF THE SADDLE - I took all these down to Stillwater and found some 18% and sustained 6-10% grades. I like having good acceleration on hand in case I need to blast someone off my rear wheel.
-
-
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - You want an extra gear? You got it. Take another one too.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- LEW - Slight after taste of lateral sogginess, not enough to spoil it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Stiffer than Lew’s - but just barely
-
-
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Solid again
-
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - I must have looked pathetic on Myrtle St.
**PERCEIVED AERO-NESS **- Obviously, I am not a wind tunnel, so this portion of the review may just as well be omitted, but I think it is worth something. This section is an average perception of the wheels in all winds, terrain, and speeds.
-
- BONTRAGER - These things just do not maintain speed.
-
-
-
- LEW - very stable in all winds, easy to push another gear, but they do not “fly” like the Zipp’s
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Same as Lew’s
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Great in a cross wind, average everywhere else
-
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - I think these wheels turn your bike into a Frisbee. This is bad in erratic wind, but in good conditions, they seem to convert the exponential speed/effort relationship into a more manageable linear one.
-
-
-
FALSE FLAT UPHILL - In a TT, this is where I like to gain ground. It’s where other riders have a lapse in concentration while I bite off another gear. This is a measurement of how easily I was able to do that.
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - Not good at high speeds, but this wheel is all about acceleration.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - Light enough to accelerate, aero enough to maintain speed
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Very good, but not as light as the Lew’s
-
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Not aero enough to maintain speed, not light enough to easily accelerate.
-
-
-
- ZIPP - Maintaining speed was easy, creating it was the difficulty
-
FALSE FLAT DOWNHILL - How good is a wheel at building speed upon speed… upon even more speed? How long can you hold 35mph after a downhill?
-
- BONTRAGER - These are erratic at speed and slow down quickly
-
-
-
-
- LEW - Easy to bit off another gear, aero enough to maintain it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Same as the Lew’s
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ VELOCITY - Very stable at speed, average acceleration
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - This is the most fun I’ve had on two wheels in a long while.
-
-
-
-
**CROSSWIND HANDLING - **This is a gauge of how well a wheel avoids tearing your handlebars out of your hands.
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - They pull hard, but are easily corrected
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - They pull gently and are easily corrected
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - They pull hard, but are easily corrected
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ VELOCITY - The bladed spokes and shallow V combined with a little extra weight make for an exceptionally stable ride.
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - I suppose a disc could be worse, but his was hell.
CROSS WIND PERFORMANCE - This is another perceived aero-ness category and is very subjective.
-
-
- BONTRAGER - You are able to ride a straight line, but missing is the sensation of slicing through the wind
-
-
-
-
- ½ LEW - You can ride straight and can still ramp up speed
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - These get blown around a tiny bit more than the Lew’s, but you can still ramp up speed
-
-
-
-
- ½ VELOCITY - Very stable, but nothing special over 23mph
-
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - Despite being blown around horribly, forward progress does not seem to be affected.
-
-
-
HEADWIND - How well does the wheel do head on against the wind? Again, very subjective.
-
-
- BONTRAGER - These rely on your power to get through a stiff wind
-
-
-
-
- LEW - These and the Reynolds’ aero effectiveness seem to diminish at very high wind speeds - say 22mph into 20mph winds
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS
-
-
-
-
- VELOCITY - Very average feeling
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - This was exceptional, especially at 30mph+ (relative wind speed)
-
-
-
BRAKING SURFACE - A lot of carbon rims struggle with braking performance. I was running Bontrager cork pads on all the carbon wheels and also tried stock campy pads with the Reynolds and Lew’s.
-
-
-
-
- BONTRAGER - These probably performed so well because the pads and wheels were likely designed together, combined with a very light rim
-
-
-
-
-
- LEW with cork - Adequate, but not as good as I would like if I were road racing
-
-
-
-
- LEW with Campy - Much better - good enough for road racing
-
-
-
-
- ½ REYNOLDS with cork - Adequate power, but inconsistent.
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS with Campy - More consistent and adequate power.
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - The Bontrager pads were just not doing the job on these. I would advise trying Koolstop(Zipp) or Swiss Stop
BUILDING EASE - I built the Lew’s, Velocity’s, and Zipp’s by hand and learned a few thing about the rims’ construction quality and ease of repair. I’ve also de-tensioned and re-tensioned a rear Reynolds, so I believe I can speak accurately about that as well.
N/A BONTRAGER - Durability is good and spoke/nipples are straight forward for replacing.
-
- LEW - The spoke holes were slightly undersized, making it near impossible to thread a spoke. Kudos to Pillar nipples for making a nice, compact, intelligent nipple for this use. The rim was very round and spoke tension was nice and even. Very tight quarters to work in - I even had to grind down my specialty nipple driver to make it fit.
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Same design as the Lew’s, but there are washers under the nipples.
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ VELOCITY - Much easier in comparison to any carbon rim
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ZIPP - Went together very well and with exposed nipples, you can touch up your wheel without peeling off your tubie. However, Zipp leaves the bladder for compressing the carbon IN the rim. This unfortunately interferes greatly when trying to thread a nipple onto a spoke AND any nipple that is dropped in the rim is near impossible to get out (I think I spent 45 min getting one out). One other minor complaint - the spoke holes are not drilled cleanly, which can be deceptive regarding how much tension is actually on the spoke vs. how tight the nipple feels.
-
-
GLUING SURFACE - I was amazed at the different shapes and textures of the gluing surfaces of each of these wheels. Here’s what worked and what didn’t
-
- BONTRAGER - The profile of this rim is a simple “U” shape. The surface is clear coated, so the glue doesn’t stick well, the U shape does not allow for the tire to sit in well, AND the rim is wide (they brag about this). The wideness of the rim prevents the tire from making good contact with the rim near the edge… right where it will start to peel off. You need a good glue job on these.
-
-
-
-
- LEW - “U” shaped with an extra trough for the center of the tire to sit in. Near the valve, there is a large hole cut out to allow the extra material near the valve to recess into the rim (this completely eliminated a bump in the tire near the valve). The texture is good enough to hold, but slippery enough to peel the tire off. A bad glue job may not hold
-
-
-
-
-
-
- REYNOLDS - Same texture and shape as the Lew’s, but no cut out near the valve.
-
-
-
-
-
- ½ ZIPP - Very rough glue surface. Even a bad glue job will stick. Has a center trough for the tire to sit in.
-
-