carbon wheels

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.

HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0Carbon-Rim

HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0CarbonRearHub

HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0Carbon-HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0CarbonFrontHub

HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0Carbon-Pair

HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0Carbon-HopeHoops-Pro3RS-SP5.0Carbon-RearClose

These Fast Forward F9R wheels are a very deep, superfast, efficient offering designed to challenge the mantle of the Zipp 808 as the benchmark for deep aero wheelsets.

The Dutch manufacturer has recently signed a deal with Quickstep to supply wheels for the coming season with the ProTour team likely to use a combination of F9R and F6R models for stage racing and time trials. It will be interesting to see how they perform in the hands of top class riders against the best in the world.

1,020g for the pair – that’s how much these high-end carbon wheels weigh in at. The manufacturers’ claimed weight is actually 999g +/-5%  for the carbon coloured versions. The white versions here have a claimed weight of 1040g, and ours fall comfortably under that although admittedly that’s excluding skewers. To give that figure some context, a set of Shimano Ultegra wheels – good, reliable if not spectacular hoops – hit the scales at about the 1,750g mark. 1,020g is freakin’ light.