Nothing says speed like deep section aero wheels.
They can make a big difference to your ride performance but there are plenty of options out there, so to help you make the right choice we've picked six of the best deep section aero wheels for you to consider from the road.cc review archive - these are wheels we've tested and can happily recommend.
Not only do aero wheels look the business, they are also proven to be fast. Dave recently took to the wind tunnel to find out just what a difference they can make.
But do you really need carbon fibre wheels on your bicycle? We explore the pros and cons in this feature.
Our pick of the best aero wheels
| |
Weight | Market price | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Side Hadron 625 Classic |
1,748g |
£1,331.33 | Read
our review |
| Knight Composites 65 DT 240 |
1,610g |
£2,000.00 |
Read our review |
| Vision Team 35 |
1,820g |
£193.30 |
Read our review |
| Reynolds Aero 58 |
1,601g |
£2,099.99 |
Read our review |
| Lightweight Meilenstein tubular |
£1,120 |
£3,549.00 | Read our review |
| DT Swiss RRC 65 Dicut |
1,630g |
£1,320.10 |
Read our review |
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.
11 comments
The performance difference between an aero 30 mm aluminum rim and a 60 mm carbon fiber rim is *ridiculously small*, approximately 2 seconds over the course of a 40 km time trial.
You are better off saving money on wheels and spending it on form-fitting kit (including an aero helmet.)
Boyd Cycling's aluminum Altamont rims are really nice. 30 mm depth with a very nice rounded profile, 19.4 mm internal width, an ample width brake track, and tubeless compatibility. I had a complete wheelset built up with Bitex hubs and Sapim CX-Ray spokes for under 350 pounds.
Does anyone have some links to genuine studies of the effect of rim depth on time saved at real world speeds (30km/hr)? And ideally not something sponsored by Zipp
I was under the impression aero gains on the person riding (e.g. more aggressive position, non-baggy clothing, aero helmet) are more worthwhile than on the bike , but I was also under the impression aero gains are worthwhile over weight reductions (provided the incline was less than 6%) and that aero wheels would save you more than 2 seconds over 40km (see above post claims)?
No hed or flo wheels tested? Shame as they seemed to lead the aero wheel charge.
Wouldn't call the Lightweight wheels particulary aero....
Should be included rather than the un-aero Mielenstein and Vision 35
The Flo Cycling website has a lot of data for their products. I think it's buried in old blog posts there. The times savings for the deep section wheels are miniscule. They also do sophisticated analysis of the weight vs. aero tradeoff. Although aero gains are minimal, they are more worthwhile than focusing on weight savings unless the grade is very steep.
The November Bicycles website has wind tunnel test data in their blog. Again it confirms how small the power savings are.
The German magazine Tour has a huge test of aero bikes vs. regular bikes. The time savings of an aero frame are miniscule... like a few seconds over the course of 5 hours. You can find the results table online if you look around.
The German magazine, Tour, has done a load of empirical wheel tests.
http://www.tour-magazin.de/komponenten/laufraeder/test-2016-aerodynamisc...
In 2016 they covered:
• Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra Two
• Campa/Fulcrum Racing Quattro
• Campagnolo Bora One 50
• DT Swiss RC 28 Spline C Mon Chasseral
• DT Swiss RC 38 Spline C
• DT Swiss RRC 65 Dicut C
• Mavic Ksyrium Pro Exalith SL
• Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon SL C
• Mavic CXR Ultimate 60 C
• Shimano Dura-Ace C24 CL
• Shimano Dura-Ace C35
• Shimano Dura-Ace C50
• Zipp 202 Firecrest
• Zipp 303 Firecrest
• Zipp 404 Firecrest
• Reynolds 58 Aero
• Selbstbau: Kinlin XC 279/Bitex
• Lambda Racing CC 50/60
• Slowbuild Wheels CC 38
You can buy the report for two euros
They measure stiffness, durability and braking as well as aerodynamics.
The Campagnolo Bora One 50 was their best overall wheel. The difference between a good 40mm and a good 60mm wheel was just a couple of watts.
I ended up buying a pair of Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon SL Cs after reading the report.
I would have gone for the Boras but getting replacement rims and spokes for Campag wheels in the UK has proven to be a nightmare over the last few years, and I swore I'd never buy another pair of their wheels.
As the owner of a pair of the Bora One in 50mm I'm very pleased to read my wheels are the best of the bunch tested, especially as they only cost £750 new!
I have a Mavic Cosmic SLS on my triathlon bike and I am thinking about upgrade...
The two adepts are:
Shimano WH-RS81-C50-CL (Alu braking profile, clincher) for 890EUR, or
Shimano Dura Ace WH-R9100-C60-CL for 1500 EUR.
Questions:
1. Is it worth the additional 600EUR for the Dura Ace?
2. Any suggestions for clincher, Alu braking profiled carbon wheels under 900EUR?
3. Any suggestions for clincher, Alu braking profiled carbon wheels under 1500EUR?
The weakest point of the Mavic is the hub/freehub and the bearings. Seriously. My 29" MTB wheel with SunRingle hub and heavy 2.25 wide Nobby Nic tires rolls better then the Mavic...
Thanks
Edit: in that 24 best of 2017 article only the Hadron has Alu braking surface, so not a big help in terms of my criteria...
I suggest FLO or Swiss Side.
I think HED and/or Zipp so aluminium brake-rimmed, carbon-fared wheels.
SwissSide still have their sale on, so a Hadron 485F/625R set would be about € 1100 at the moment.