Better than HYPER 2020 in all aspects. I believe they provide better value for money than HYPER 23. Putting them on was so easy that I didn’t need tire levers. This could be influenced by the fact that I already used the tires for a few hundred miles (kilometers). The wheels have a high build quality. They are accurately machined and the bearings are well sealed but easily serviceable. Handbuilt wheels take a more classical approach, where the hubs, spokes, nipples and rims can be bought separately and chosen to best suit a rider’s individual needs. Despite the climbing ability, the Speed 25 would still be a great choice as an all-round wheelset, with the overall design and ceramic bearings providing a smooth ride. Just watch out for the 120kg rider weight limit.

The piece that's a lot more visually striking is the spokes. The Cadex 65 wheels were the first product in the brand lineup and they also used a carbon spoke. At the time it was a polarising feature as the carbon spokes paired with the Cadex "Custom-tuned Dynamic Balanced Lacing technology" makes for a very stiff wheel if you don't also make use of the 22.4mm internal width to run lower tyre pressure. That strength and stiffness continues to be a feature but the new "Super Aero carbon spokes" have seen their profile flattened all the way out to 5.2mm wide for better aero performance. If you've never thought spokes could be flashy, you haven't seen these.Pulling the wheels out of the box, it was great to see they were running true and the spoke tension felt taut throughout. Tubeless rim tape comes fitted (double wrapped) as standard, and the valves are supplied too, so provided you have tyres and sealant you are ready to get them set up and head straight out of the door. These VeloElite wheels are a good entry point to the world of deep-section hoops. Steve Sayers / Our Media The Hunt 54 Aerodynamicist Carbon Disc wheelset offers looks with performance to match at a competitive price and weight.

In theory, spoke tension should be relatively consistent, given the radial and lateral trueness results. Affordable and easy-to-service wheels suitable for flats and steady efforts but with too loud hubs.

For road and gravel, we’re generally talking about 700c wheelsets and to make things easier, we’ve split them up into disc brake and rim brake options. However, take a look at our round-up of the best gravel wheels for some 650b options. The wheelset uses the same two-way fit rim design as Fulcrum’s pricier wheels, making it compatible with tubeless tyres. The rims could be wider to future-proof the wheelset as road bike tyres get wider and wider. Generally speaking, race wheels are mostly sold as factory options. The big wheel brands dominate this space due to their research, development and marketing through sponsored teams. Rim: The outward hoop of the wheel that holds the tyre and acts as a braking surface for rim brakes It’s perfectly possible to use an 11-speed Campagnolo cassette with a Shimano or SRAM 11-speed drivetrain (and vice versa) though, so you might not need to switch the freehub at all in that instance.

Asymmetric rim: As the rear cassette sits on the right side of the hub, the point at which the spokes attach from the rear hub is offset to the left. With this, an asymmetric rim is designed to give a more direct path from these offset spokes to the rim, with the desired result being a sturdier and stiffer wheel, and more even left–right spoke tensions But with hundreds of bike wheel brands offering thousands of options, buying new wheels can be a confusing task. Fortunately, our expert testers put dozens of wheels through their paces every year so you don’t have to. Two-cross: This refers to the lacing pattern of the spokes where each spoke crosses past another twice. It’s most common on wheels with 20-28 spoke counts The increasing popularity of 1× and the advent of 12-speed drivetrains (and the subsequent desire for cogs smaller than 11t) has thrown a spanner in the cross-compatibility charts. Putting the tech stuff to one side for just a moment, I wanted to mention that the wheels look spectacular; they’re a perfect match for the dark blue of my Condor frame. The combination gets many compliments on club runs. I’ve no doubt there are plenty of people adding these to their wish list, especially as I’m always singing their praises. VerdictI guess this is because the Wave wheels series are not as ‘premium’ as the Farsports Ventoux S, for example. Just as road bikes are now increasingly being designated according to their use (race, endurance, aero, gravel and so on), wheels also fit into similar categories. I couldn’t wait to try these wheels outside. Although it was winter, I rode them for about 500 km in harsh cold weather. Here are a few pictures of the Farsports Wave 45/50mm wheels from my bike rides Many road bike wheels are still designed for use with rim brakes, which means the rim must offer a consistent braking surface. That said, it looks like the industry has finally settled on one unifying standard for disc brake road bikes: 12mm thru-axles with 100mm spacing in the front dropouts and 142mm spacing at the rear.