Reynolds AR 41 DB wheelset

The new Reynolds AR 41 DB Wheelset provides very good aero performance for everyday riding or racing and hilly sportives, with easy tubeless installation, and all at a competitive price that stands up well in a saturated carbon wheel market.

• Pros: Fast, stable, reliable, look good
• Cons: There are cheaper wheels, not the lightest

Reynolds has long been a popular choice in the wheel brand market, its Assault and Attack wheels both favoured wheelsets in the last decade at a time before carbon wheels really started to become a common sight on road bikes.

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This new wheelset is the spiritual successor to the Assaults, with a similar rim depth, but they have been completely updated with a wider profile designed to suit the trend for wide tyres. They're available for rim or disc brakes and are tubeless-ready.

As the name suggests, the rim measures 41mm deep, but there are also 29 and 58mm options. The rims are also wide, being 30mm at their widest point, with a 21mm internal width – whopping compared to traditional 15mm internal width rims.

Reynolds also designs its own hubs to complement the rims and they're good looking items. They use straight pull spokes locked into stubby flanges along with the Centerlock interface for easily and quickly attaching disc rotors.

The rear hub has a 10-degree engagement freehub, compatible with Shimano and SRAM. It offers an instant pickup when you start turning the pedals and isn't insanely noisy when freewheeling.

The rims and hubs are laced together with 24 Sapim Sprint spokes in each wheel with a two-cross pattern, and use external brass nipples so any maintenance you might have to do is going to be easy. I didn't have to touch them during the test period.

As most disc road bikes are now using 12mm thru-axles with 100/142 front and rear spacing, the Reynolds were supplied with the appropriate spacers, but you can get a 15mm front hub thru-axle adapter if needed.

The wheels are supplied with tubeless tape installed and 55mm tubeless valves are provided. The black decals are understated so the wheels look good on any bike they're fitted to.

Tubeless is a maturing technology and thankfully fitting tyres to the Reynolds wheels was an easy task. I used Continental's new GP 5000 tubeless tyres and they inflated with a regular track pump and held pressure extremely well, posing no problems during the review period.

Performance of the wheels is highly impressive. The shape and depth of the rims produce very good handling in changeable and windy conditions, with no instability issues in strong crosswinds.

They're also fast, maintaining speed nicely. They don't have the outright savage speed of a much deeper design, but as an all-round set for everyday use and long distance rides over hilly terrain, they're a preferred choice.

The 1,630g is a good weight for the aero performance. If you want lighter, Just Riding Along's (JRA) Gecko Carbon Wheelset knocks spots off them in the weight battle, coming in at 1,400g, but you're not getting the aero performance of the Reynolds wheels. Unless you're regularly climbing mountains, the aero advantage will probably be more appealing.

> Lightweight vs aero: which is best?

The quality is very good, comparable to wheels costing a lot more, and lives up to my previous experience with the wheel brand. I had no issues or complaints during my time with these, they just went about their business without fuss. And I've hammered them too, in the fierce pace of my local chain gang and on longer rides over the rolling Cotswolds and all of its potholes and rubbish road surfaces.

I'd be happy to just keep on riding them, too, and not have to take them off and box them up for return to Reynolds…

You get a lifetime warranty with the wheels, which adds a good bit of peace of mind, and just knowing that Reynolds has been producing wheels for a long time also makes them a reassuring choice in what is a pretty saturated wheel market.

Rivals

Compared to 20 years ago, you are spoilt for choice for carbon wheels, and you don't even need to spend silly money as you did back in the day.

Although £1,100 isn't small change, the Reynolds are a lot cheaper than some, including a couple of my favourites tested in recent years: the Roval CLX 50 Disc wheels are nearly 200g lighter despite having a taller rim, but they're £1,850, and the excellent DT Swiss ERC 1000 Dicut wheels, while lighter, are also nearly twice the price.

> Buyer's Guide: 34 of the best road bike wheelsets

The Token Prime Ventous are more comparably priced rivals, as are the Hunt 4050 Carbon Aero Disc wheels, though we haven't tested those yet.

Overall, the Reynolds AR 41 DBs are very good wheels that provide near-faultless performance at a decent price that makes them a good choice in the saturated wheel market.

Verdict

A wide, aero, tubeless-ready carbon wheelset that just works well, at a good price