Expensive VS Cheap Carbon Road Bike Wheels | Carbon Wheel Group Test 2022

Would be great to see a control shallow alloy rim added to this comparison

What I'd like to know is the difference in build quality, bearings (including serviceability), durability (spokes, bearing, rim), lateral stiffness vs vertical compliance, and warranty. Not easy to do in a quick comparison, but that's what I would LIKE to base my decision on when buying wheels. Speed differences are going to be minimal and variable on riding conditions.

Adding a alu wheel set for reference would be nice. Otherwise very helpful information. Winspace would be another name that comes to my mind.

I recently picked up Hunt Limitless 60 and can confirm that they’re fast and stable but sound like million bees chasing you on descents. Best value of the group imo.

Jamie had a good point when describing the wheels he'd choose. It may not be the fastest on paper but it feels faster. The phycological effect can't be underestimated when you're pushing yourself in a hard effort during a race or something.

One of the main things I observe from the results is the difference in rim depth probably makes more difference than the value of the wheel. The 3 shallowest wheels at 50mm were the 3 slowest, the faster wheels were all circa 60mm.

Really useful video. Well done for dong such comprehensive testing. Shows that unless you are seriously racing, it's not really worth the massive price difference to your average rider

Love this video. My big takeaways here are: 1. if you're not racing, the more modestly priced carbon wheels are probably good enough. 2. The hubs may be as important as the wheels themselves; a lot of these wheels, regardless of price, seem to have DT hubs. What tyres (tires) did you use? I'd love to see a similar comparison of higher-quality alloy wheels vs. carbon ones. My guess is that the higher-end alloy wheels are about as good, in terms of weight and performance, as the mid-range carbon models, and possibly a lot less expensive. (Kind of like higher-end aluminium bike frames vs. lower-end carbon layups.)

Pity you didn't include a good quality aluminium wheel set just to see what the extra cash for carbon wheels is getting you. To my mind, the small differences between the wheels tested (assuming those differences are statistically significant) are of interest only to the die-hard racer.

I think I'll forever run 28mm tires only moving forward. With disc brake bikes having so much more clearance they're such a smarter tire to run. Cornering, ride feel, speed, it's all there.

Excellent no BS straight to the point for me the Hunt 50 wide aero thank you guys.

I had the Bora WTO 45 and loved that wheel Set, stunning looks, incredible build quality, nice machined hubs and a good performace (unscientific, by my feelings) made it my favorite wheels set. Maybe the wheels are a bit on the heavy side but you save 20-30g at each wheel for needing no rimtape.

This matches my anecdotal experiences. I have a set of 2019 ENVE 4.5SES wheels and they feel no faster than the 2022 Farsports Revo wheels I have on two other bikes. The Farsports are literally half the price of the ENVEs, have a slightly wider profile (~30mm external) and have exactly the same hubs as my particular ENVEs (240EXPs). The Revos also look better and have a solid rim bed which eliminates the need for tubeless tape, I run everything tubeless so that's important for me. IMO, the sweet spot for performance carbon wheels is ~$1,250. Any more than that doesn't get any faster, any less than that and you start getting lower quality OEM hubs and questionable build quality.

Good video guys - appreciate the effort it must have taken.

I use Ican wheels - three sets, total. One set of base 38s on my wife's bike, one set of 38s on my '99 Trek 5200 and one set of F&L 50s on my Specialized Venge. We've got thousands and thousands of miles on those wheels and I love them (between $450 and $750 US). No idea how fast they are comparatively, but we average 22-24-mph over 30 miles and I feel comfortable on either wheelset (though the Fast & Light 50s are a little better at the faster speeds).

Value for money & performance, the Lun Winspace Hypers seem to be a great buy. Would be great to see them tested next 👍

Things such as reliability, and quality control are something that are hard to be measured on. I consider these to be equally important to speed when come down to selecting a Wheelset.

I keep looking at carbon wheels and keep making the decision to stick with the alloys that came with my bike. It doesn’t matter whether I do it a little faster. I’m out there for the exercise.

Wow, thanks for putting in that amount of effort. I'd love to see a similar video about alloy wheels, which are a more realistiv choice for a lot of us.

Zipp nsw is a pair of monster wheel, the stability it’s just so good in cross wind or during downhill and noticeably more free speed. Totally worth it