looking to once again gather our collective knowledge on options here.
I want to upgrade the wheels on my gravel bike (Ibis Hakka MX), to something nicer to match the rest of the bike. Currently, I am using the Hunt 4 Season Gravel Wheelset, which is fine, but nothing fancy.
I have already checked some of the other threads on this in the forum, which already gave me some additional ideas. I will also check thewheelatlas.com (which I just found in the other thread), but let’s see if any other input can be found here.
What I am looking for:
Carbon wheels
Disk Brake
XDR Option
Tubeless
approx. 25mm internal width (currently very happy with that), for my 40mm tires. I will not go wider on these wheels (I have a 650b wheelset for that).
What would be nice:
Maybe a bit deeper (around 40mm). I admit this is mainly for optical reasons and I wonder if going too deep would impact comfort too much. I will run inserts however, which might work against some harshness coming from that. Also, since my Ibis is a bit more “classic” looking (not a n aero bike), I wonder if going too deep would also look weird.
Ideally DT Swiss hub (as I have lots of spares for that) or something that is known to be reliable and for which spares are readily available. I would probably strike out Zipp due to their hub reliability issues I have seen from others.
Good crash-replacement policy and service. I don’t want to worry about riding a carbon wheel on rough terrain. This probably excludes most of the rebranded or DTC chinese wheel brands.
While I will only ride hooked on road, I think I can accept hookless for 40mm and gravel pressures (especially since I will also run an insert).
Have a considered a custom wheelset built with LightBicycle rim’s or summat? They also do builds with the most popular hubs. They might be worth looking at since you want something deeper than 40mm.
For me, the problem with custom builds is crash replacement. Most of these builders will not offer a “no-questions-asked” crash replacement policy (and I understand why - just too big a risk if you’re not a large company).
For example, I’ve got a bikepacking wheelset from Carl-Z/Slowbuild (German wheelbuilder who even offers crash replacement with material costs only), which is great. But, when I had an actual warranty claim I was without my rear wheel for half a year and only got it back after threatening legal action. I know this might just be a single bad example, however that is why I would appreciate a “bigger” brand with responsive customer service.
I have the Hunt 35’s and love them but note the rear hub is VERY loud and not cool loud like Chris King hubs that I have on my road bike. Still, they are on sale right now so
I was always happy with Scribe but they became a more premium option.
My next wheelset (next week I hope) for gravel with max 45mm tires will be a house brand from Mantel but that budget is way lower (€550).
But I’ve been looking at Superteam Wheels for a while now for when I want a new roadwheelset, the reviews are mostly great and they should ship for free to Belgium.
First time hearing about scribe - their pricing still seems ok to me (approx. 1k€ for a 40mm gravel carbon wheelset). Do you know if their hubs are just rebranded from another brand or cross-compatible? As mentioned, I would rather not have any proprietary hubs that I can’t find spares for.
And I hoping for you that you did not have to use their crash-replacement, but if you did, what is your experience? They describe it as
Free Lifetime Crash Replacement Support; no bolt-on at the purchase stage with a 50% discount on all required replacement parts. Labour & shipping is excluded from the discount.
Depending on how they calculate their prices, this could still be a considerable cost.
Think they are like Dt-swiss, you should ask them, they answer very fast. Price should be everything included or at least it was the last time I ordered something from them. The inception 5, €750 seems new to me because last time all their wheels (that were not discontinued) were above €1000.
And no I didn’t have to use their crash replacement support yet, and the wheels are also still true.
I mulled over buying an upper-end carbon race wheelset but in the end bought a set of EliteWheels via a large online retailer. Why? Foremost, my LBS suggested it, pointing out that spending 1000-1500+ on a wheelset if fine if thats your thing. But if your riding can get chunky you will bottom out and risk damage.
The downsides have been two. One, the stock spokes lasted about two years. When they started breaking I just re-laced the wheelset with higher qual spokes. The other downside is no cool, name brand stickers. Thats an easy fix if it matters.
I have a couple of sets of Hunt 35 Gravel wheels (I think a previous edition I had was called something slightly different). Have not had any other carbon gravel wheel sets to be able to compare, but have been pleased with their customer service when needed in the past. If after sales care is an important factor for you, I would recommend them.
I have Newmen wheels on my MTB and I’m very happy with them, they are light for the price, modern and at least for the wheels on my MTB it was very easy to setup, just took the innertube out, put valves in and pumped them up, didn’t even need my Aircanister.
Scribe uses its own hub. It’s similar in design to a DT Swiss EXP Ratchet, but not cross-compatible. Not sure where they’re at with the design, but the old one was awfully noisy.
It’s probably worth noting that your wish-list is somewhat at odds with your budget. The mix of modern-width carbon, light, DT Swiss hubs, and crash-replacement likely puts you into a higher price range. I think you can get most of that by giving up the DT Swiss compatibility.
isn’t ones wish-list always at odds with what we want to spend? In Germany we have the term “eierlegende Wollmilchsau”, which literally translates to egg-laying wool-milk-pig - something that excels at everything (a jack of all trades), and of course does not really exist.
But yes, I have come to the same conclusion regarding DT hubs - just wanted to know if I am missing something obvious.
I think DT Swiss Hubs/compatibility is not a must-have, as long as spares are readily available. For that, bigger brands or OEM hubs such as Campag/Fulcrum, Hunt, Formula, Novatec, Mavic, etc. seem the safer bet to me. I’ve had some trouble in the past with Syncros wheels that - depending on the model year - used either formula or dt swiss hubs and even their product service had trouble telling me which freehub body was needed.
Currently I am swaying between the Hunt 35s and Campag Levante. Both are on sale for approx. 850€ here in Germany, which is well within my budget. Just trying to decide if I should go with the Hunts (due to their crash replacement policy and them being a tiny bit deeper) or the Campags, which according to James’ review at the old place seem to be fantastic wheels and absolutely beautiful, but have no (official) crash replacement policy.
Also I would probably need new tools for the cup-and-cone bearings maintenance of Campag, but since I have become influenced by you, I am counting that as a positive
Are there any good deals on Reserve wheels at the moment? I think they tick most of your boxes except for price, but over the last couple of years I have seen various Reserve wheels fairly heavily discounted (I’ve got their 34|37 wheels on my road bike, which I bought for about half price). They do a 32|GR or a 40|44 GR which look like they could suit you well.
That said, I have had a quick google and can’t see any great deals at the moment, either in the UK or the main retailers I’m aware of in Europe.
As an aside, I appreciate you did say it’s mostly for optical reasons, but I would stick with fairly shallow wheels for gravel. With 40mm tyres, I don’t think you’re getting any aero benefit by going deeper, unless you go really deep and/or really wide, but you are adding to the weight and adding to the cost. As you said, a shallower rim should be a bit more comfortable too.
Yeah the last one I bought (2,5 years ago now) were still noisy, but I actually like it, don’t have to use my bell as much (and people don’t even know what a bell means anymore). So yeah you have to like a noisy wheelset, but the quality is great and after 2,5 years they are still true.
But I do think that Scribe is great if you want spares, almost everything you would need is on their website and their customer service is great! But again, they have gone up in price (mostly) and the new cheaper wheels are also with paws now instead of the star ratches I have on my wheels.
9Velo should be on your list to consider… good choices for rim width and depth, good quality carbon construction, hole-less rim, and very favorable pricing. I have built up several gravel bikes with 9Velo and found the wheels to be comparable if not better than Reserve, Hunt, and FFWD.
I have been running Hunt Limitless 42s for 2 1/2 or 3 years now on my gravel bike. They have been great! I have beat them up and they keep going! No trouble at all. When I had to replace my road rim brake wheels I went with Hunt as well. Those wheels have been good.
Another option would be to to go 2nd hand but new. 2 friends of mine bought road wheels from ppl that upgraded right after the purchase. Don’t know about the crash replacement policy though.
I’ve had a set of Elite SLR Gravel wheels for 2 years now and they fill all your requirements…almost.
38mm deep - 25mm internal - hooked - DT Swiss clone hub. I paid $630 Canadian on AliExpress for them, so under 400€. I have no idea what their crash replacement policy is but if I wreck mine I’ll buy a new set.
Having tested some of these and a dozen or so others in the alloy, value-priced carbon, and performance carbon ranges, I’d suggest against the Hunt (below average stiffness and handling, very loud freehub) and Levante (very comfortable for long rides, not a race wheelset, discontinued, parts?). Not a lot of carbon wheels in your price range unless you go to Asian mfgs (Light Bicycle Falcon Pro line - configure it with the hubs and spokes you want/can afford). Mavic Allroad SL was surprisingly good at that price, though alloy.
In Germany we have the term “eierlegende Wollmilchsau”, which literally translates to egg-laying wool-milk-pig - something that excels at everything (a jack of all trades), and of course does not really exist.