Wheels

These lightweight C-Max wheels from Sonic offer very good value for money. Okay, £700 is hardly cheap, but you get a lot of performance for your cash here.

Holy moly, Reynolds’ new super-light RZR wheels – they’re claiming the world’s lightest – are fast! Really fast. Like, so fast it’s mental! And for the kind of money that would get you a pro-level complete bike, so they should be we'd have to say.

Here’s a nice-looking set of aero wheels. You can tell that’s what they are because it says ‘aero wheels’ in big letters on the rim. In much smaller letters it says ‘xtreme’ - the in-house brand of the large European on-line retailer Rose.

Easton's EA70 wheelset is a staple for mid-range bikes off the shelf and a popular upgrade from heavier hoops. They're resonably light and nice and smooth, though we have our doubts about how long the Aluminium freehub body will last if you're not careful.

We’ve always got on really well with Mavic’s entry-level Aksium road wheels in the past but the front one of this set went way out of true on our fourth or fifth ride, leaving us scrabbling about on the roadside with a spoke key.

Oh what difference a wheel makes. DT Swiss has a reputation for making really top quality wheels. What has always attracted me to DT is their ability to produce a very competitive wheel whilst still being very traditional in appearance.

With an asking price around the £200 mark, Miche’s Xpress are a very worthy wheelset for mid to upper end road fixer builds. They might lack the outright rigidity of a deep section aero rim but machined sidewalls and super smooth CNC machined hubs complete with sealed cartridge bearings mean they’ll laugh at the grottier months- they’re good enough to double as track hoops too.