There is a lot of good knowledge on the forum, and people often are aware of the more boutique brands, that do some stellar products.
So, is there a consensus on what the best wheels are for racing. Not going full disc/tri spoke, but looking at the usual 80/60, or similar.
Edit - should add that most of my races involve a decent amount of climbing, and some technical roads. So agility is a factor, and where I live/train/race suffers from winds a lot.
Not sure that there is a best wheelset.
If you are a road racer with substantial climbing look for moderate profile and light weight. Tires/tubes can be influential too.
Again, many brands produce wheels that fit this description.
Also, consider price and availability.
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First rule about aero wheel club, there is very little performance difference in the aero wheel club.
What country? If U.S., then FLO has amazing value and high performance. HED generally consistently rank near the top at pretty good prices, and they are global. If you are in Europe, then Aerocoach Aeox are fast and high value. If boutique, then Princeton Carbonworks.
There is a lot of good knowledge on the forum, and people often are aware of the more boutique brands, that do some stellar products.
Wheels are NOT something I would mess around with on the quality front. You want to feel good when descending at 70km/h that the wheels are solid and reliable.
That being said - I would suggest two wheel sets. A training wheel-set, something like a HED Ardennes - durable, bomb-proof, reliable and the rolls and rides really nicely - and then something more to a-lot more aero for racing or for when you want to do really faster paced training rides. Here I would stick to the known reliable quality brands in the space - the usual suspects - ZIPP, HED, ENVE and if going to a smaller brand, I would suggest FLO. I know the owners personally and these guys are legit. They will not produce anything other than the best and most reliable product.
Ha - I’d def agree that the established known quality brands have great products!
That said, I’ve been horrified with how good two pairs of Superteam wheels I bought on Amazon have been. I expected them to be super sketchy, or have manufacturers defects, etc, but they’ve been rock solid, and they look really, really good. I bought one 50mm carbon pair last year since my Premier tactical bike wheels were in production for months, and then I bought a second 50mm wheelset with alloy brake rim for my beater/commuter road bike in case I want to go fast with it but still use it as climbing bike. Both have been 100% legit for me!
Of course, zero data on them about aerodynamic testing, and no US company support, so if they fail, you’re on your own.
I wouldn’t go as far to recommend them for these reasons, but just talking about my personal experience with them, they’ve been totally solid. And they are definitely a lot faster than regular non-deep wheels. In fact, I’m almost the same speed with the Superteam 50s compared to my Premier tactical brand 88front/disc rear, so they can’t be that bad aerodynamically.
Honestly, I wish Superteam made a pair of 88mm with alloy rims - I would buy those in a second to use for rainy races due to the better braking on alloy rims. HED blacks are the best for this use, but are $1700! (I can afford those readily too, but it doesn’t rain enough in Caifornia for me to spend that much when I prefer riding the premiertactical 88/disc combo.)
The next set of wheels I’ll buy are the aluminum brake surface 60mm wheels from Carbon Speed Cycle.
I have a set of 650C wheels from them as well as two sets of track wheels. All have exceeded my expectations in quality and performance.
There is a lot of good knowledge on the forum, and people often are aware of the more boutique brands, that do some stellar products.
So, is there a consensus on what the best wheels are for racing. Not going full disc/tri spoke, but looking at the usual 80/60, or similar.
Edit - should add that most of my races involve a decent amount of climbing, and some technical roads. So agility is a factor, and where I live/train/race suffers from winds a lot.
I would add that it makes a difference if you’re talking rom brake vs. disc brake too. With rim brakes the choices are narrowed IMO - either aluminum brake track such as HED or specialized carbon brake tracks from one of the bigger players such as Zipp Showstopper. No more technical descents for me with straight up carbon clinchers!
Taking rim brake out of the equation opens up a lot more options. Next decision would be what kind of tire system you want to roll. Clincher and tubes? Or tubeless. With the advent of hookless tubeless systems the prices drop substantially, but we’re still waiting on hookless compatible tires that are as fast as the very fastest clincher tires. This last part is of course splitting hairs though a consideration for some.
I’m based in Europe, wheels are disc brake.
I will keep the existing wheels (Quintana Roo badged Reynolds AR) for training and look to purchase some newer, lighter wheels for racing. The Reynolds aren’t the best, and have had some abuse on the poor roads in the UK and other places. Time for some love to be lavished on the bike.
They will predominately be used on the tri bike for racing, but I may use them on the road bike too for some races.
The lights of Princeton and Lightweight look fantastic, but I don’t think I want to spend that much. I’ve been impressed with the Hunt wheels I bought for the gravel bike, so have been considering them. There are a lot of smaller, high quality brands that are not too expensive, which it is difficult to find reviews on, but I know people are using, this was the kind of info I was looking for.
I’ll have a look at aero coach, have never seen any reviews from a non-pro riding them.
Not sure whether you’re also contemplating “Chinese” wheels but I have been riding a set from Farsports this year and really can’t think of any negatives; great build-quality, bomb-proof, look nice, great price. Lot’s of options available wrt hubs/spokes/rims/finish.
You could also have a look at another mfg, Light-bicycle; same quality from what I hear … just the shipping cost was more so chose the Farsports wheels in the end.
As others have mentioned, I’m not too sure on the real-life aero differences wrt the boutique brands…and on robustness, well I’m fairly sure most rims are made in similar factories/to similar specs in Asia anyway.
I have looked at light bicycle several times, but the likes of Hunt are comparable in price, so I am a little bit reluctant to pull the trigger on them.
There is a lot of good knowledge on the forum, and people often are aware of the more boutique brands, that do some stellar products.
Wheels are NOT something I would mess around with on the quality front. You want to feel good when descending at 70km/h that the wheels are solid and reliable.
That being said - I would suggest two wheel sets. A training wheel-set, something like a HED Ardennes - durable, bomb-proof, reliable and the rolls and rides really nicely - and then something more to a-lot more aero for racing or for when you want to do really faster paced training rides. Here I would stick to the known reliable quality brands in the space - the usual suspects - ZIPP, HED, ENVE and if going to a smaller brand, I would suggest FLO. I know the owners personally and these guys are legit. They will not produce anything other than the best and most reliable product.
Why on earth would one buy HED Ardennes as “training” wheels. If the point of training wheels is to save the more expensive ones for racing, then I don’t get the logic of going with something as expensive as Ardennes. Much more sensible to halve the cost with little or no performance impact by choosing something like a set built on Kinlin XR31t rims. In fact they’re probably a little faster as they’re 31mm deep versus what 24 or 25mm for Ardennes?
I also think it’s very hard to justify the cost of ENVE or ZIPP wheels. I really doubt the premium in price buys you much more than the name. I’d go with HED, Flo, Aerocoach, Swiss Side in no particular order from the brands I’m familiar with.