Claiming to draw from the brands experience in road and off-road racing, Reserve’s new 48/53 GR wheelset isn’t only its first pair of wheels built for aerodynamic gains on gravel, but the brand reckons its the fastest off-road wheels its ever made. There’s a bunch of tech behind them too, and you bet they’re crafted for fast gravel wheels. We’ve got all of the details.
If it’s not the inevitable coming of 32″ wheels, aerodynamic gains are all of the rage in gravel right now, thanks to modern gravel racing. With that, we’re seeing a slew of deep-section wheels gracing gravel bikes everywhere, all in the hunt for speed. The 48/53 GR is Reserve’s attempt at making gravel faster.
To do so, these wheels benefit from a 44mm external width, which is said to help air move across the tyre and around the rim in a bid to reduce drag. But that wide external profile is combined with a rather ‘normal’ internal width of 30mm. Reserve says that this results in a fatter tyre contact patch on the ground, which boosts grip, while avoiding ‘lightbulbing’, where the sidewalls meet the rim at a narrower point that the widest part of the tyre, thus reducing the size of the contact patch.
Where things get extra fancy is towards the rim’s hooks. These wheels use Reserve’s Hollow Hook construction, which promises to shed weight from the outermost section of the rim, but without compromising its strength. This design is also what has helped the brand’s designers achieve that super-wide internal and external profile.
As for the specifications, the 48/53 GR wheelset is a 700c wheelset that’s laced to the hub via a bunch of Sapim CX-Ray Aero Bladed Spokes. The DT Swiss 350 hub that comes with the full build can accept centerlock brake rotors, and the wheelset is available with XDr or HG freehubs.
If you’re after some Reserve-flavoured aero gains, the new 48/53 GR wheelset will set you back £1,599 for the full build, or £649 per rim.
