Budget vs Premium Wheels

Cycling Weekly

What's is the difference between budget and premium wheels except the price?

Transcript

00:00Buying a new set of wheels is a guaranteed way to give your bike a new lick of speed,

00:17but the big question remains, how much does it cost to get a tangible benefit from a new

00:23set of hoops? Well, in this video, I am going to demonstrate exactly what a bit of extra

00:29spend gets you. So, I am going to take DT Swiss's performance wheel set range and compare

00:33a high-end set of wheels to a low-end set of wheels. So, on the one hand, I have these,

00:38DT Swiss's PR1600 Spline wheels. These are brilliant wheels at an entry-level price point

00:46costing £495. They are typically found on bikes between £1,000 and £1,500. And on

00:53the other hand, I have a set of these, DT Swiss's PRC1400 wheels. Now, these are a

01:03much higher-end set of wheels, typically more performance-orientated. These cost £1,675,

01:10so there's just over £1,000 in it, and I'm going to show you what that gets you. Now,

01:16all the products in this video are available to buy on freewheel.co.uk, a place where you

01:21can buy online while still supporting local bike shops. These are great examples of both

01:26high-end and low-end wheel sets, and if you would like to find out more about them, then

01:30check out the links in the description below. So, the difference in price points is immediately

01:40obvious in the rim depths and the rim design. Now, on a value set of wheels, you'll typically

01:45have a shallow rim, usually anywhere between 21 and 32mm, so that's how deep it extends here.

01:53It'll also be made out of aluminium, and you'll often hear value wheel sets described as bomb-proof

01:59or training wheels, and that's because they're wheels that you can ride whatever the weather,

02:04whatever the conditions, and you know that they will be fine. Now, the difference is,

02:09when you start spending more money, the materials become more sophisticated. So,

02:14the more money you spend, you'll start getting carbon fibre rims, which have loads of benefits.

02:21You know they're stiffer and they're lighter than aluminium wheels, and you'll also be able

02:26to get more sophisticated shaping. So, this is a 65mm deep rim, which gives you loads of benefits,

02:33so when you're riding along on the flat, more of your power is transferred into going forward,

02:39it rolls better and it rolls for longer, so it's far more efficient. Also, the more money you spend,

02:45the greater the focus on aerodynamics. So, if I turn this rim side on, and you look down here,

02:51you can see that it tapers in towards the centre. That is to reduce this wheel's drag through the

02:58air, and that is something that more expensive wheels will have a much greater focus on. It's

03:02making them faster and more efficient. Now, there are two different braking systems in the cycling

03:13world, disc brakes and rim brakes. So, getting the right one for you is really important. So,

03:20disc brakes, it's kind of irrelevant at a lower budget point or a higher budget point, because

03:26the braking is consistent, because it all comes through a rotor or through the caliper. Now,

03:33the real difference you'll find is in rim braking. So, imagine, if you will, that this is a rim

03:39braking wheel set, and I know it's disc, but it is available in rim brake. You would find an

03:44aluminium braking track around the rim. Aluminium braking is great in all conditions. It offers

03:51consistent stopping, but it lacks the immediacy of carbon braking. So, this is a carbon brake

03:57track on here. Now, carbon braking is quite sophisticated in that it's able to withstand

04:04really high heats, and it is able to stop you very quickly, but it does not perform as well

04:11in the wet. And this harks back to the age-old saying that you would ride your bomb-proof

04:16aluminium wheels in the winter when it's really bad, and you would ride your deep-section carbon

04:20wheels in the summer when the weather is better. Now, if you ride disc brakes, you don't have that

04:26problem, and you can ride whichever wheel you want all year round, because it doesn't matter,

04:31rain or shine, the performance is always going to be the same. So, when we talk about hubs and free

04:40hubs, we're talking about the system in the wheel, which transfers the power from your legs to the

04:45rear wheel, which drives the bike along. So, I've got the hub here, and I can turn it, and it clicks.

04:51Now, that is what we call an angle of engagement. So, on these hubs, I can turn it, it clicks,

04:59but I can also turn it back a little bit. That's because it has a 20-degree angle of

05:04engagement. Whereas if I get the more expensive wheel, it still does that clicking, but it's

05:11much harder, there is no real room to turn it back, and that's because it has a smaller

05:16angle of engagement, only 10 degrees. So, what you're getting when you spend more money

05:21is you're getting more teeth in the free hub body, which gives it a faster engagement time,

05:26which makes the wheel more responsive, which is why racers and people that are performance-orientated

05:33like a hub, which engages quickly, because it's more responsive and it drives their bike

05:38faster, the one with a larger angle of engagement. It's worth noting that when a hub has a larger

05:44angle of engagement, it's not just cost-saving, it is actually more durable. So, it fits in

05:51with this wheel's remit of being a bomb-proof, durable wheel, because that hub is going to

05:57last a long time.

05:58Now, finally, the more money you spend, the more sophisticated the spokes on a wheel.

06:08So, as your price increases, you're more likely to get flatter spokes that are lighter or

06:14bladed, so they're more aerodynamic, and it's more likely that the nipples on the end of

06:19the spokes will be inside the rim. Again, that's more aerodynamic because it just keeps

06:24them out of the wind and reduces drag. So, to summarize, the more money you spend on

06:30a wheel, the more performance-orientated it becomes, and that's reflected in the rim design,

06:36the material that the wheel is made out of, and the sophistication of the hub. But that's

06:41not to say that a budget set of wheels aren't as good. They have a much greater focus on

06:46reliability and durability, so really it just depends on the type of rider you are and what

06:52you want from your set of wheels. But having said that, I think it's time to have a good

06:57old-fashioned wheel debate in the comments section below, so please let us know your

07:02thoughts on what we've discussed today. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the Cycling

07:06Weekly YouTube channel, and we'll see you next time.

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