Gravel wheels

[trailgumby]

Member Nobody has told me to learn to build my own wheels.
Perhaps I could, but that is no certainty
I haven't in any case.

I can see it would be a good skill to have though.
Nice work

'
It's fun in a Zen kind of way. I'm very slow, though. The pros do a full build in under an hour per wheel. Might be something to set up as a garage business when I retire, whenever that is

[warthog1]

If you enjoy it, sounds good

[warthog1]

Got my hookless WR50 Light Bicycle wheels yesty.
First ride today.
Yep nice!
Very happy with 'em thus far.
Feels like a new bike, even though It's quite new anyway.
Snappier to accelerate and rolls along at high speed better too.
Still, some of that could be down to the Conti terra speeds too.



Auspost tracking tells me my DT Swiss GR1600 have arrived in Aus from Lordgun too.
I could be in the poo.
Told my wife the WR50s were my tax return money.
Still not happy.
Another set arriving so soon after is going to be a problem

[trailgumby]

Another set arriving so soon after is going to be a problem

'
Oops!

[warthog1]

Another set arriving so soon after is going to be a problem

'
Oops!

Hasn't worked well. Hopefully she's at work but don't like my chances

[warthog1]

They arrived and I survived intact
Seem pretty good.
I'm happy with em so far.

[warthog1]

Those DT Swiss GR1600 have done quite a few ks now.
They were a great choice.
I like aluminium rims on the gravel. Trust them more smashing over gravel.
I have struck the rim a couple of times when I've missed or misjudged stuff in the way. Not hard, but still.... happier to do that to aluminium rather than carbon.
Saw this review the other day.
https://cyclingtips.com/2020/11/dt-swis ... weet-spot/
Sounds about right to me.

Despite the somewhat modest underpinnings, the GR 1600 Spline 25 wheels are quick to accelerate under power, and agile and nimble when ripping through fast-and-tight singletrack. Ride quality is curiously excellent as well: not too stiff, not too soft. There’s just enough radial give to gently cushion the harshness of rough dirt and gravel roads, yet they’re still reassuringly stout in hard cornering and impressively sturdy when I rode them somewhere they had no business being.

I haven’t had to true them once in all this time, nor has the rim suffered even the slightest of dings despite being repeatedly bashed hard enough into sharp-edge rocks and poorly installed up-and-over cattle guards to kill a couple of gravel tires.

[lone rider]

i just ordered a new set, I was gonna have a pair set up for CX and a pair with fatter tyres for gravel. Now wondering whether a carbon wheelset is a good choice after having an old bit of barbed wire wrap around my back tyre and do some serious paint damage to the chain and seat stays. Pretty awful, watch out on those old farm roads.

[warthog1]

i just ordered a new set, I was gonna have a pair set up for CX and a pair with fatter tyres for gravel. Now wondering whether a carbon wheelset is a good choice after having an old bit of barbed wire wrap around my back tyre and do some serious paint damage to the chain and seat stays. Pretty awful, watch out on those old farm roads.

We have a bit of a gravel bunch going here. Everyone, bar me, is running carbon wheels.
Should be fine.

[Mr Purple]

So I’ve caught this gravel racing bug now and need some faster wheels than my 2kg odd Bontrager ones.

Was thinking the GR1600 originally but 1.7kg and hard to find.

Would it be dumb to expect Light Bicycle AR25 with DT350 hubs to do everything? 1100g, 24mm Tim depth and their hybrid hook system. Look pretty good!

[warthog1]

So I’ve caught this gravel racing bug now and need some faster wheels than my 2kg odd Bontrager ones.

Was thinking the GR1600 originally but 1.7kg and hard to find.

Would it be dumb to expect Light Bicycle AR25 with DT350 hubs to do everything? 1100g, 24mm Tim depth and their hybrid hook system. Look pretty good!

Just had a quick look. They spec it as a gravel wheelset and you are not heavy.
My WR50s with cx ray spokes, brass nipples and cx ray spokes are a touch over 1500g.
I don't find them noticeably faster than the GR1600s.
Aero doesn't really work with 40c tyres on imo.

Those AR25s should make a good wheelset for the gravel it seems to me.

[warthog1]

These may be worth a look. They can be hooked or hookless

https://www.nextie.com/gravel-AGX-700C

Some more info here

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/foru ... ilit=nxt45

[warthog1]

Found these from light bicycle on that ww thread too.
https://www.lightbicycle.com/newsletter ... heels.html

[Mr Purple]

Thanks for that, the Nextie look interesting too.

I suppose the big question is what is the best rim width for gravel wheels? There seem to be about 32 ways to achieve that - and people are saying anywhere from 24mm to 44mm internal width for 40mm wheels which sounds like a crazy range!

Add to that the whole hookless/hooked debate (I think I'd prefer hookless) and the whole thing starts getting confusing.

Also the rim depth decision is interesting. I run 45mm on the road but am under no illusions that running that depth with 40mm knobbly gravel tyres will add much.

[warthog1]

Thanks for that, the Nextie look interesting too.

I suppose the big question is what is the best rim width for gravel wheels? There seem to be about 32 ways to achieve that - and people are saying anywhere from 24mm to 44mm internal width for 40mm wheels which sounds like a crazy range!

Add to that the whole hookless/hooked debate (I think I'd prefer hookless) and the whole thing starts getting confusing.

Also the rim depth decision is interesting. I run 45mm on the road but am under no illusions that running that depth with 40mm knobbly gravel tyres will add much.

The light bicycle are 44 deep and the Nextie 45 I think.
I'd go hooked being such a wide int width. If you ever want to run narrower tyres it will be safer.
The etrto keeps changing. 28 tyres were OK on a hookless 25mm rim (my WR50s) but now they are not.
I am still happy enough to run them, as zipp and others disagree or dispute that, but safer being that wide imo.
If I was up for new ones those Nextie or LB goers look good, but I won't get them past the keeper after the last 2 sets.

Yeah the aero will be less pronounced than on narrower road combos

Those AR25s are so light and will feel nice and zippy. Probably cheaper too.

[Mr Purple]

Man, I've gone down a rabbit hole on this decision. Not helped by the fact the AUD is so much lower than the last time I did this - the days of a DT Swiss 350 wheelset for around $1k are over.

Got it down to a few options:

Light Bicycle: Now on the extreme pricing end. Set of AR25s ends up at $1500AUD delivered, and pretty much everything else in the range is almost there. Seems to much to spend on a set of wheels which may get beaten up a bit.

DT Swiss GR1600: cheapest I can find is $800 delivered. A lot to spend on a heavy-ish set of alloy wheels, and not sure how much I trust Ciclo Mattio to deliver 'sometime in August, maybe'.

Prime Carbon Orra: looks like a reasonable option at $859 and 1570g for carbon. Wiggle can deliver next week (for free), and I only have hesitation about the hubs which are a star ratchet knock-off. May well be fine though and good for the price.

Elite ENT Gravel: looked tempting for a while at about $680 delivered for carbon, but hubs seem a bit suspect and they're remarkably heavy (1700g). I think I'll skip that one.

Fulcrum Rapid Red: alloy, decent hubs, $569 delivered locally tomorrow. 1760g though, so I'm not sure that actually represents a significant upgrade over the Bontrager Paradigm rims I have currently.

At this stage I'm leaning towards the Prime. As much as I'd love to have an ultralight DT Swiss wheelset it's hard to justify at getting close to twice the price (and over half the price as my actual bike).

[warthog1]

my gr1600 were about 700-750 over 12 months ago from lord gun.
Slow postage and no tracking but they did get here.
Tbh I don't notice them as slower than the lighter and deeper WR50 wheelset.
Those cost over 1900 at the same time with dt350 hubs.
Yeah LB isn't cheap, that's for sure
I just customised a nextie wheelset with NXT45AGX rims (no holes rim bed), dt350 hubs, sapim cx ray spokes and brass nipples.
1148 usd

https://www.nextie.com/customize-your-o ... l-wheelset

[biker jk]

my gr1600 were about 700-750 over 12 months ago from lord gun.
Slow postage and no tracking but they did get here.
Tbh I don't notice them as slower than the lighter and deeper WR50 wheelset.
Those cost over 1900 at the same time with dt350 hubs.
Yeah LB isn't cheap, that's for sure
I just customised a nextie wheelset with NXT45AGX rims (no holes rim bed), dt350 hubs, sapim cx ray spokes and brass nipples.
1148 usd

https://www.nextie.com/customize-your-o ... l-wheelset

Farsports is over USD200 cheaper for a similar wheelset.

[warthog1]

my gr1600 were about 700-750 over 12 months ago from lord gun.
Slow postage and no tracking but they did get here.
Tbh I don't notice them as slower than the lighter and deeper WR50 wheelset.
Those cost over 1900 at the same time with dt350 hubs.
Yeah LB isn't cheap, that's for sure
I just customised a nextie wheelset with NXT45AGX rims (no holes rim bed), dt350 hubs, sapim cx ray spokes and brass nipples.
1148 usd

https://www.nextie.com/customize-your-o ... l-wheelset

Farsports is over USD200 cheaper for a similar wheelset.

Got a link?
These look good but are nowhere near as wide as the Nexties.
https://www.wheelsfar.com/gravel-wheels ... p0060.html
Similar to my WR50 wheelset and considerably cheaper though.
A good buy it seems

[biker jk]

my gr1600 were about 700-750 over 12 months ago from lord gun.
Slow postage and no tracking but they did get here.
Tbh I don't notice them as slower than the lighter and deeper WR50 wheelset.
Those cost over 1900 at the same time with dt350 hubs.
Yeah LB isn't cheap, that's for sure
I just customised a nextie wheelset with NXT45AGX rims (no holes rim bed), dt350 hubs, sapim cx ray spokes and brass nipples.
1148 usd

https://www.nextie.com/customize-your-o ... l-wheelset

Farsports is over USD200 cheaper for a similar wheelset.

Got a link?
These look good but are nowhere near as wide as the Nexties.
https://www.wheelsfar.com/gravel-wheels ... p0060.html
Similar to my WR50 wheelset and considerably cheaper though.
A good buy it seems

I priced a 45mm deep, 32mm external width gravel rim. Your 40mm rim is for 35-70mm tyres. Are you planning to run tyres that wide?

[Mr Purple]

Got a link?
These look good but are nowhere near as wide as the Nexties.
https://www.wheelsfar.com/gravel-wheels ... p0060.html
Similar to my WR50 wheelset and considerably cheaper though.
A good buy it seems

Ooh, $1228 delivered with DT Swiss 350 hubs and 1370g. Not too bad.

[warthog1]

Farsports is over USD200 cheaper for a similar wheelset.

Got a link?
These look good but are nowhere near as wide as the Nexties.
https://www.wheelsfar.com/gravel-wheels ... p0060.html
Similar to my WR50 wheelset and considerably cheaper though.
A good buy it seems

I priced a 45mm deep, 32mm external width gravel rim. Your 40mm rim is for 35-70mm tyres. Are you planning to run tyres that wide?

Were I buying new gravel wheels now, I'd get those wide hooked goers


for use with 35-45mm tyres, hence hooked.
I have WR50 that I put wide road tyres on generally.
When we travel I plan to take the Revolt with 2 sets of wheels. The WR are fine with road tyres as would be the ones you linked (a great buy!). The Nexties would not be. Gravel only.

[warthog1]

Got a link?
These look good but are nowhere near as wide as the Nexties.
https://www.wheelsfar.com/gravel-wheels ... p0060.html
Similar to my WR50 wheelset and considerably cheaper though.
A good buy it seems

Ooh, $1228 delivered with DT Swiss 350 hubs and 1370g. Not too bad.

Pretty hard to beat. Biker comes through with the goods!
Some no rim bed spoke hole goers headed your way yet?

Prob part of the reason I've got no money.

[Mr Purple]

Pretty hard to beat. Biker comes through with the goods!
Some no rim bed spoke hole goers headed your way yet?

Prob part of the reason I've got no money.

And it is done! Thanks @biker jk.

Ordered the Farsports 30mm depth, 25mm internal diameter hookless gravel wheels with DT350 hubs in matte black.

An old Hambini review also yielded a discount code of 'HAMBINI50' which was another $74 odd off. So $1170 delivered. Pretty hard to argue with 1370g for that.

Managed to work out the weight of my Bontragers on my ALR5 today - apparently it's over 2.1kg with the rim strips. They're also only 21mm internal diameter and the hubs aren't serviceable so definitely the entry level choice by Trek there.

Should make a bit of a difference. Also fitted the Hope carbon seatpost off my Bowman and a Selle Italia SL-R Kit carbonio today. Wasn't really looking for weight savings (more comfort) but it still dropped the seat/post combo from 520g to 260g. So the bike should be about 1.1kg lighter when the wheels arrive. Nice.

[warthog1]

Pretty hard to beat. Biker comes through with the goods!
Some no rim bed spoke hole goers headed your way yet?

Prob part of the reason I've got no money.

And it is done! Thanks @biker jk.

Ordered the Farsports 30mm depth, 25mm internal diameter hookless gravel wheels with DT350 hubs in matte black.

An old Hambini review also yielded a discount code of 'HAMBINI50' which was another $74 odd off. So $1170 delivered. Pretty hard to argue with 1370g for that.

Managed to work out the weight of my Bontragers on my ALR5 today - apparently it's over 2.1kg with the rim strips. They're also only 21mm internal diameter and the hubs aren't serviceable so definitely the entry level choice by Trek there.

Should make a bit of a difference. Also fitted the Hope carbon seatpost off my Bowman and a Selle Italia SL-R Kit carbonio today. Wasn't really looking for weight savings (more comfort) but it still dropped the seat/post combo from 520g to 260g. So the bike should be about 1.1kg lighter when the wheels arrive. Nice.

Well done. You should feel the difference and hard to beat the price.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on how they ride.