In The Know Cycling

If you’re looking for a carbon wheelset at a budget price, the Zipp 303 S and Elitewheels Drive 50D II are the best value carbon wheelsets among the over a dozen we’ve tested in recent years.

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TL;DR (click for more)

• The best value carbon wheelset or budget bike wheels sell for US$1000/£850/€1000 to US$1500/£1200/€1500.
• The Zipp 303 S is the best value carbon wheelset for cyclists committed to the benefits of riding tubeless, hookless tires. It is available here, here, here, here, and here from stores I recommend for their competitive prices and high customer satisfaction ratings.
• The Elitewheels Drive 50D II wheelset is the best climber in this category and a very capable all-around wheelset with hooked rims. It’s available here, and you’ll get 15% off with the code ITKCycling.
• One chart and a complete set of reviews show how these wheelsets compare to other value carbon wheelsets from Light Bicycle, Shimano, and Roval on price, performance, and specs.
• While these wheelsets cost less, their performance doesn’t equal that of higher-priced carbon wheelsets in the most important riding characteristics.

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Related Reviews:

THE BEST CARBON ROAD BIKE WHEELS

THE BEST ALL ROAD WHEELS

THE BEST TUBELESS TIRES

 

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REVIEWS OF VALUE CARBON WHEELSETS 

The performance criteria my fellow testers and I use to evaluate wheelsets in the value carbon wheelset category, and others to a greater or lesser degree, are versatility, specificity, aero drag (hold momentum), sidewind stability, lateral stiffness, vertical compliance (aka comfort), and responsiveness. 

You can read more about what I mean by each of these on my Wheelset Selection Criteria page.

In the search for the best value carbon wheelset, I primarily look for a versatile, all-around option that performs well on various road surfaces and terrain. While some budget bike wheels are designed for specialists who ride in the mountains, on flat, high-speed courses, or on gravel, specialization is less important in our evaluation of the group of wheelsets in this comparative review.

As I detail after the reviews that you see immediately below, even the best budget bike wheels and those in the value carbon category as a whole don’t perform as well as what I call performance carbon wheels, which typically cost twice as much.

While durability is important, we can’t fairly judge it in our testing because we only ride one wheelset of each model. We also don’t ride any wheelset for the year or two we’d need to before writing up the review to see how well it holds up. We will point out any obvious component or construction flaws that appear during our several-month ride testing.

Instead, I look at each wheelset’s return, warranty, and crash replacement policies. These service policies are especially important since the companies selling value bike wheels use more varied business approaches and have a wider range of policies than companies selling performance carbon wheels.

Because most road bikes sold over the last several years have disc brakes, the development and, in many cases, the sale of rim bike wheels have stopped at many companies. For that reason, I cover only disc brake wheels in this review.

Here are the comparative ratings of carbon wheelsets we’ve tested in the value price range I noted above and that are currently available (right-click to open in a new tab). We’ve tested wheels from Bontrager, ENVE, Fulcrum, and others that are no longer made or whose prices have since increased beyond the value range.

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Zipp 303 S – Best for tubeless, hookless tire road disc riders

If the Zipp 303 S Tubeless Disc-Brake wheelset I rode for this review didn’t have the Zipp logo on the sides of its rims, I wouldn’t have guessed it was from Zipp.

Regardless, it’s clearly a best value carbon wheelset winner.

It has better-than-average lateral stiffness and average vertical compliance (i.e., comfort). That’s the opposite of almost every Zipp wheelset I’ve ever ridden, and I’ve ridden quite a few in the 202, 303, and 404 series, as well as the recent NSW and SW models.

The high lateral stiffness is certainly welcome. Over the years, I’ve suggested to many larger or heavier-than-average readers that they opt for a stiffer wheelset than those from Zipp. Lateral stiffness also translates into good handling in these wheels and effective climbing for a wheelset of its weight.

Less than Zipp-like comfort in the 303 S isn’t a knock, and it’s certainly not an issue. These are more like the comfort of the average mid-depth carbon wheelset. I did many 50-mile rides on them without any compliance-induced fatigue. It’s just that I had just gotten used to Zipp wheels being supremely comfortable.

Despite their 45mm depth, I felt only a small amount of “free speed” with 28mm tires mounted on the 303 S. The pedaling effort (aka “watts”) I put into creating forward momentum didn’t feel any easier to maintain as it does with more aerodynamic wheel-tire combinations when my speed gets above 20mph or 32kph.

Knowing this, you can certainly make these wheels ride more comfortably by using wider tires. They may even give you a rolling-resistance benefit that outweighs an aero penalty below 20mph/32kph.

The 3-pawl Zipp 76/176 hubset is one of the few design elements or components that carry over from earlier-generation Zipp wheels. It’s pretty basic and pleasantly quiet; there’s nothing objectionable about it. But don’t expect the same performance and smooth rolling as the hubs Zipp uses on its higher-priced wheels just because they share the same logo.

The 303 S wheels did take notice of crosswinds, but they didn’t trouble me much. That was a very good thing, as it climbed very well for a wheelset of its depth and weight.

Also new for Zipp, the 303 S wheelset is one the company claims performs well on cobbles and gravel. What qualifies as a gravel, road, cyclocross, or all-road wheelset these days is debatable.

From my testing, however, the 303 S rides on gravel more like most 21mm road disc wheels, which are only slightly narrower than this one’s actual 22.5 mm internal width (per my measurement), and not nearly as well as the best all-road wheels I’ve reviewed.

You can certainly ride these Zipps as I did for miles on various dirt and gravel terrain. However, these and other 21C wheels lack the comfort and handling of the best gravel and all-road wheels.

Because it’s a Zipp wheelset, I’ve reviewed it as critically as I would any wheelset selling at historically Zipp-like prices. But this Zipp wheelset sells for much less and should be compared to other brands’ models in the same price range.

Given its combination of stiffness, handling, climbing, and acceleration performance that is better than most others in this category, along with Zipp’s broad dealer service network and lifetime warranty, this Zipp 303 S is a value bike wheelset “best” pick for those committed to the lower rolling resistance of tubeless tires and who know they don’t gain anything from hooked rims.

Design: As mentioned, the Zipp 303 S tubeless disc brake wheels have hookless rims and require tubeless tires. Most high-quality tubeless tires are compatible with hookless rims. Even 200 lb/90 kg riders needn’t inflate 28 mm tires above the recommended maximum inflation pressure of 72.5 psi/5 bar. 

While most tubeless wheels these days have hooked rims that lock in the flexible beads of tube-type clincher tires, giving you the option to go tubeless or tubed, you can only use tubeless tires on these wheels. If you prefer to use clinchers, these wheels aren’t for you.

The wheels weighed 1556 on my scale with pre-installed rim tape but no tubeless valves. They measured 45.2mm deep, with an inside rim width of 22.5mm and an outside rim width of 27.5mm. The rim profile starts V-shaped at the spoke bed and quickly transitions to a more parallel U shape.

Zipp uses its 3-pawl 76/176 hubset on the 303 S, the same hubset used previously on the first 302 and earlier 303 Firecrest disc brake wheels. The front and rear wheels have 24 J-bend spokes with external nipples.

The rims are manufactured, and the wheels are assembled in SRAM’s Taiwan factory.

Quality: Like many lower-priced wheelsets, this one uses push-in end caps. That’s usually not a problem. But if you frequently remove the 303 S wheels from your bike and switch between road and gravel tires, the end cap on the freehub can pull away under the weight of the cassette. It happened to me on a couple of changeovers, and I had to scramble to put a pawl or two back in place. I was more careful after that.

Most notably, Zipp now offers the original owner of their wheels a lifetime warranty against defects in materials or workmanship. If a wheelset fails while riding or racing as intended, they will repair or replace it at no cost to you for the lifetime of your ownership. That’s about as good as it gets.

Zipp doesn’t offer a trial-riding period like some other brands do. They leave it to their individual dealers to decide whether to credit or refund you if you want to return one of their wheelsets after riding it.

Like other major wheelset brands, Zipp has an extensive dealer network of bike shops where you can bring your wheels for any repair or warranty issues, regardless of where you purchased them.

Price: Priced at US$1400, £1090, or €1200, you can order it from stores I trust using these links to BTD (BikeTiresDirect) with 10% off using code ITK10, Competitive Cyclist, Performance Bicycle, Bike-Components (EU), and Sigma Sports (UK).

Elitewheels Drive 50D II – Climbing and All Around Value

The Elitewheels Drive 50D II renews my enthusiasm for what Elitewheels achieved with the first-generation Drive 50D. It ranks among my best-value carbon wheelset choices, though for different reasons than others I recommend.

Like its predecessor, the Drive 50D II is an all-around wheelset that climbs notably better than others in this sub-$1500 carbon wheelset category and uses hooked rims compatible with clincher or tubeless tires.

The 50D II is now wider both internally and externally, at least as deep as, and lighter than most of the other value carbon wheels we have reviewed.

It’s also one of the best-looking wheels in this category, or in any wheelset category, for that matter. The glossy overcoat on its marbled carbon-finish rims is stunning. You can go all-in with the gold decals or, like me, opt for black logos to let the rim finish do the talking.

Oh, and it’s also less expensive than others in this category.

Here’s a look at the wheels at rest.

I’ll get into those details in a minute. First, let me tell you about how the Elitewheels Drive 50D II performs, since that depends on how the wheels ride, not their looks, specs, or price.

Performance: These are laterally stiff wheels that react quickly when you put more effort into the pedals. They maintain that stiffness, handling confidently when cornering at high speeds.

No, the Drive 50D II doesn’t respond as quickly as the best US$2000+ carbon wheels. However, compared to the wheelsets in this category I haven’t recommended, this wheelset accelerates faster, usually by the time you finish your first or second pedal stroke, assuming your bike isn’t too relaxed. Less stiff, budget-friendly carbon wheels might take a couple of strokes or more to respond.

As I wrote earlier, the Drive 50D II climbs well. While it isn’t a speed demon on flat terrain, it doesn’t sacrifice aerodynamic performance for climbing. This combination of strong climbing and solid aerodynamic performance is unique among the value carbon wheelsets we’ve tested.

It’s also a fairly stable wheelset in sidewinds. You don’t need to worry about being pushed across the road if you’re riding in windy coastal or open areas.

I wish the Drive 50D II were a more comfortable wheelset. Having tested a wide range of road and gravel wheels and tires across various price points, I’ve come to appreciate the differences in compliance among wheelsets.

While it isn’t harsh, and only a few others in this category are noticeably more comfortable, I couldn’t find more than average comfort on these, even after testing them at lower pressures with 32mm tires.

On rough surfaces, cracks and shallow potholes, you’ll feel more like a racer bouncing around than an endurance rider absorbing every imperfection without a care.

The Drive 50D II’s freehub is quite loud, though at a low pitch. It wasn’t hard for others to find me on the group ride or while coasting down the street when riding these wheels, whether they could see me or not.

For some, a loud hub is desirable. However, from a performance standpoint, it can be difficult to pull off a surprise attack if you’re loudly freewheeling in a rider’s draft before launching it.

See how it looks and hear how it sounds in action.

Design: The Elitewheels Drive 50D II spec sheet reads like a thoroughly on-trend 2025 all-around wheelset. 50mm-deep front and rear wheels (49.8mm per my measurements). 23.3mm internal width and 32.2mm external width at its widest point. Weighs 1339 grams with HG (Shimano Hyperglide) hubs, including valves and pre-taped rims.

For traditionalists, the rims are hooked, allowing for tubes and clinchers. You can also mount tubeless tires and use sealant. I rode the wheels with 28mm Pirelli P-Zero TLR RS tubeless tires and sealant on my Parlee Altum, and with the 32mm size of the same tire model on an Enve Fray test bike.

The bladed carbon spokes are 4.5mm wide, with 21 on the front wheel and 24 on the rear. Four extra spokes were included in the box.

Elitewheels replaced the 4-pawl freehubs on the first-generation Drive wheels with a ratchet system for its Drive II wheelsets. You can order the wheels with either Shimano HG or SRAM XDR freehubs.

Thru-axle and Centerlock rotor connections are standard. You can order quick-release or six-bolt rotor connections if your bike still uses them. However, these wheels are only suitable for bikes with disc brakes.

They are rated for riders weighing up to 285lb or 130kg.

Quality: As with most of the wheels we review, no quality issues were found with the Drive 50D II during our test period.

While not matching the standards of Western brand-value carbon wheels, Elitewheels’ warranty and crash replacement policies are reasonable.

The standard 3-year warranty for materials and manufacturing defects can be extended to 5 years for an additional US$100. Their crash replacement policy also covers the first 3 years for the original owner and offers 38% off replacement rims, wheels, and wheelsets that are structurally damaged during a ride.

Like most other wheelsets in this category, you can return unused wheels within 30 days for a refund; however, you’ll be responsible for the return shipping costs.

Prices: The Drive 50D II is available directly from Elitewheels for US$1299. Use the code ITKCycling for a 15% discount, lowering the price to US$1104.

While I haven’t tested them, Elitewheels also offers 36mm- and 65mm-deep Drive II wheels with similar specifications, along with the option to pair different front and rear wheel depths. The same discount code applies to those wheels.

Shimano Ultegra C50 – An Endurance Rider’s Wheelset

The latest Shimano Ultegra C50 wheelset is totally consistent with my experience of Shimano products – well-made, well-balanced, better supported, and at the higher end for the price range of products in its category.

In the years before Shimano introduced the Ultegra C50 as part of its 36, 50, and 60mm-deep line of Ultegra and Dura-Ace wheels – its first tubeless-only road disc-brake models – several generations and a crapton of tubeless road disc-brake wheel models from other brands and manufacturers have come and gone.

Like many of its other Ultegra products, the Shimano Ultegra C50 wheelset (aka the WH-R8170-C50-TL) lands squarely in the middle of the performance pack. There are better and worse-performing options in the value carbon wheelset category, where I place the Ultegra C50. And these hoops’ attributes, along with the experience of owning a Shimano product, may make them right for you.

My fellow tester, Miles, and I came away from our independent testing of the Ultegra C50 believing it can be a good wheelset for more conservative enthusiasts and recreational riders, or a training wheelset for racers who want to spend the money to keep the miles off their high-performance wheels.

In short, it’s an endurance rider’s wheelset.

If you inflate your tires to the correct pressure for your tire width and weight, the Ultegra C50 is one of the more comfortable, value-oriented carbon wheelsets we’ve tested. We rode it with 28mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 S tubeless tires and sealant, though you could use tubes inside tubeless tires, or a clincher setup if you prefer.

It also handles crosswinds better than most wheels with 50mm-deep rims. On the windiest days and in strong gusts, these Ultegras will be pushed a bit, but in a steady way rather than one full of unpredictable jitters. You can easily manage the wind’s effect on the front wheel with some counter-resistance on your bars.

The Ultegra C50 hubs roll and coast smoothly and silently. Some of the less expensive value carbon wheelsets are on the opposite end of the sonic spectrum – so loud when coasting that you can’t have a conversation with a fellow rider or find the peace you may seek on a solo ride.

We found the Ultegra C50’s performance on other criteria – specifically, its stiffness, responsiveness, and ability to hold speed – to be very middle-of-the-road. You don’t feel any snap when you put the power down; it doesn’t get you up to speed as fast as several other value carbon wheelsets; and you don’t get any help from the wheels in maintaining your momentum once you get above 20mph/32kph or so.

To be fair, there are only a few wheelsets in this category that do some of those things better than the others, and none that do all of them. But the Ultegra C50 isn’t one of them.

However, if you combine this Shimano’s comfort and stability with its quiet hubset, it’s sympatico with those who do a lot of endurance or Zone 2 training, where quick acceleration, hard cornering, or fast riding isn’t on the menu. And if you never ride that way or have a higher-performance wheelset you want to keep free of logging all those long-slow-distance training miles, the Ultegra C50 is an option to consider.

Design: Shimano continues to use a cup-and-cone bearing design in its hubs, making these wheels roll smoothly and quietly.

Recognize, however, that you’ll want to grease the hubs every year when riding in good weather and more frequently if you ride on wet roads to prevent the bearings and races from wearing out and requiring the entire hub to be replaced. Most hubs nowadays use cartridge bearings that you can simply and inexpensively replace when their time has passed without affecting the hub’s longevity.

The Ultegra freehub has only 36 points of engagement, a design that creates a lag between when you put your pedals down and when power kicks in, which matters when racers like Miles want to sprint out of a corner and kick off (or follow) a breakaway.

Shimano makes a micro-spline freehub for its Dura-Ace wheelsets. Together with its 12-speed cassette, it increases the POE to 50 for faster engagement. The Ultegra C50 freehub we tested did not have a micro-spline freehub, so we couldn’t tell whether the difference was notable.

Also, this wheelset isn’t for you if you use SRAM or Campagnolo 12-speed gruppos. Shimano doesn’t make XDR or N3W freehubs for its Ultegra or Dura-Ace wheels that work with competitors’ groupsets.

The Ultegra C50 weighs 1603 grams on my scale, including the preinstalled rim tape and valves. The hooked VU-profile carbon rims measure 50.6mm deep, 28.2mm wide outside, and 21.6mm inside. The front and rear wheels have 24 bladed, straight-pull spokes.

Consistent with Ultegra’s second-tier status in Shimanoworld, the C50 model’s labels are muted and hard to see on the rim’s matte black finish. By contrast, the far smaller yet bright yellow labels at the edge of the rim near the inflation valve warn that the wheels are disc brake only and not to be inflated above 109 psi. They stand out and don’t come off easily.

Quality: As with every Shimano product we’ve tested before, the Ultegra C50 wheelset and its components look very well made. During our testing, no issues arose. The Conti GP 5000 S tubeless tires we use on all the wheels we test also held their inflation pressure well, perhaps indicating the quality of the preinstalled rim tape.

Of course, Shimano dealers and parts distributors far outnumber those of any other cycling brand. That’s good news when you need service or repairs. The better news is that Shimano makes some of the most durable cycling products. If you are willing to service the cup-and-cone bearings yourself, you’ll likely never need to take these wheels in for service.

Price: The Shimano Ultegra C50 wheelset sells for US$1570, £1200, €1600. It and the shallower Ultegra C36 and deeper Ultegra C60 siblings can be found at these links to BTD (BikeTiresDirect) 10% off w/code ITK10, Competitive Cyclist, Performance Bicycle, Bike-Components, and Sigma Sports, all stores I recommend for their competitive prices, customer satisfaction, and enthusiast product selection.

Elitewheels Drive Helix 57D SS – Bling on a Budget

The saying “light, strong, cheap, pick 2,” attributed to cycling gear innovator Keith Bontrager, became a product design truism and a shorthand way to tell bike consumers that you can’t have it all.

Elitewheels gets pretty close to being the exception with its Drive 50D II wheelset, which we’ve rated as one of the best-value carbon wheels that doubles as a light climber and stiff all-arounder for about US$1000.

With its latest Drive Helix SS line, Elitewheels appears to be going after a trendy, blingy, budget combination with its wheelsets in climbing, all-around, and time-trial depths.

Each one has a shallower average front-wheel depth than its rear, a design ENVE pioneered, and many wheelset manufacturers have now copied.

The Drive Helix SS wheels also have a wavy spoke edge with varying depths across each rim that mimics the Zipp sawtooth design, another trend seen in wheels from other brands.

Add to these design aspects Elitewheels’ unique marbled carbon fiber rim finish, appealing graphic and logo, and glossy top coat, and you’ve got a wheelset that’s hard to look away from.

At least, that’s what I saw from others after pulling up to group rides and at café stops with the Elitewheels Drive Helix 57D SS on my bike. The wheels look like the most expensive models from other brands and appear to bump your bike up a price tier or two without upstaging it.

And all this comes at about the same price as the Drive 50D II.

I call this bling on a budget. If that’s what you’re looking for, this wheelset is for you.

Just don’t expect the same level of performance from the Drive Helix SS wheelset that you get riding the leading models from others, whose front and rear and wavy rim depth variations it emulates.

Instead, these Elitewheels hoops ride more like the average value carbon wheelset in the sub-US$1500/£1250/€1500 price range.

While they don’t have any obvious flaws, something I can’t say about all the wheels in this category, the Drive Helix 57D SS also doesn’t stand out on any of the performance characteristics we use to evaluate and rate wheelsets.

It rides more like an all-arounder than a climber or aero wheelset. Per my measurements, it has an average front rim depth of 50mm (47.5 to 52.5mm), a rear rim depth of 55.5mm (52.1 to 57.1mm), and weighs 1451 grams (vs 1420g claimed) with an HG freehub, specs that align with other all-arounders.

It doesn’t hold its momentum at aero speeds, my surrogate measure of its aero performance, any better than the average 45-50mm deep value carbon wheelset. And despite its wavy rim edge, the front wheel gets buffeted by crosswinds more than its Drive 50D II sibling, one of the more stable performers in the winds in this category.

I rode these Drive Helix 57D SS wheels with our benchmark 28mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless tires. At the right inflation pressure (around 60psi front, 63psi rear for my 150lb/68kg weight), the wheels were comfortably compliant on their stainless Sapim CX-Ray bladed straight-pull spokes, though again, at a similar level to the average wheelset in this price range.

The wheels are not overly stiff or responsive, but not noodly, either.

While they look trendy and blingy, the wheelsets’ design is more mainstream and broadly acceptable.

I measured their rims at 21.5mm internal, 28.2mm at the rim-tire junction, and a maximum external width of 31.6 mm for the front wheel and 30.5 mm for the rear. It combines a blunt spoke edge and a classic toroidal profile.

And, the tubeless-ready rims are hooked for those who still prefer to ride clincher tires.

The freehub is clearly audible, a bit louder than a well-greased DT Swiss EXP, but not annoyingly so.

It’s hard not to expect or want more performance from the Drive Helix 57D SS. It looks similar to some of the best-performing carbon road bike wheels we’ve reviewed that climb exceptionally well, aren’t bothered by strong winds, roll almost effortlessly at aero speeds, or respond like a cat when I put the power down.

But you have to separate the expensive looks of these wheels from the budget price you pay for them and the performance you should expect from wheels in this value carbon range.

If you can live with this looks-performance dichotomy and your budget can’t afford better performance, or your riding doesn’t need it, the Drive Helix 57D SS is a good alternative to some of the more commonplace, stealth aesthetic wheels in this category that don’t perform any better.

The Drive Helix 46D SS cuts about 85 grams (1350g) of weight and 9 mm (41.5mm average) of front wheel depth from the 57D version. Its deeper counterpart, the Drive Helix 68D SS, claims to add 70 grams overall (1520g) and 7mm (58.5mm average) to its front wheel depth.

Each of these models retails for US$1189, sold directly on the Elitewheels website. With the code ITKCycling, you can get a 15% discount, reducing the price to US$1011.

For the ultimate in trendy blingy wheels, Elite also makes the Drive Helix wheels in the same depths with carbon spokes and ceramic hub bearings.

While I haven’t tested these CS versions (CS for carbon spokes vs. SS for steel ones), my experience with the Elitewheels Drive 50D and other wheels with carbon spokes is that they are typically more responsive than those with steel spokes.

On the other hand, carbon-spoke wheels are usually less compliant or comfortable, though not in our testing of the Drive 50D II.

There’s also very little claimed weight difference between the steel and carbon spoke versions of the Drive Helix wheels, 10 grams or less, sometimes in favor of the steel-equipped ones.

However, there’s a big price difference of about US$300 more for the carbon-spoke, ceramic-bearing CS wheels.

For the record, the Elitewheels Drive Helix 46D CS, 57D CS, and 68D CS sell for US$1499 on the Elitewheels website. With the code ITKCycling, you can get a 15% discount, reducing the price to US$1274.

The original owner of these and any Elitewheels gets a 3-year warranty against manufacturing defects. If you need to replace the front or rear wheel within that same timeframe after a crash, Elitewheels will give you a 38% discount on the original price of the damaged wheel. Elitewheels has service centers in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Shipping on new products and valid warranty claims is free. You can return an unused wheelset within 30 days, but you’ll be responsible for the shipping cost. It took about a month for the wheels I ordered to arrive in the United States.

Light Bicycle AR46 – Average Performance Across the Board

(Note: Light Bicycle now calls the WR46C02 wheelset I tested for this review the AR46. Per their representative, nothing other than the name and decals has changed. I have updated the name in this review.)  

While the performance of these all-around disc brake wheels is a long way from US$2000, £2000, €2000, and up models, the Light Bicycle AR46 wheelset with DT Swiss 240 hubs offers the most average performance of any in the carbon budget bike wheels category.

That’s a qualified and perhaps confusing statement, so let me break this wheelset’s performance down to its components and comparisons.

First, it’s not on par with stiffness, comfort, responsiveness, handling, or any of the other key performance criteria of the best-performing, more expensive carbon all-around carbon disc brake wheelsets I’ve reviewed. But none of the wheelsets in this category are.

Yet, while some of the wheels in this category offer performance strengths (e.g., stiffness) relative to other value carbon wheelsets, only to be offset by comparable weaknesses (e.g., comfort), these Light Bicycle wheels impressed fellow tester Miles and me for doing most everything on our performance lists decently, or at least no better or worse than the average.

While not as stiff as the Zipp 303 S, these AR46 wheels are both adequately stiff and help hold your momentum somewhat. Though not climbing wheels, they also go uphill reasonably well and are certainly better than some of the heavyset hoops in this review.

While I have found a few of these value carbon bike wheels to be in the same comfort ballpark as the performance carbon ones, the AR46 wheels were comfortable enough to run tubeless at the low end of my air pressure range and did not wear me out on a 4-hour ride.

The handling was decent; the DT Swiss 240 hubs I speced the wheels with are relatively quiet and roll smoothly, and the rims handled crosswinds predictably despite their older V-shaped profile. Set up with 25mm Zipp Tangente Speed tires, they measured about 1 mm narrower than the outside rim width. That’s good for aero performance.

In a flat-out sprint, while not floppy, they did not feel super fast in a straight line. Instead, they seemed rather average among similarly priced wheels.

It’s also worth noting that their subtle finish is attractive. The tires went on easily, sealed with only a track pump, and held air and sealant well.

Design: The wheelset I tested weighed 1504 grams without rim strips or valve stems. Light Bicycle claims the rims weigh 435 grams, though I could not verify that. They measured 21.3mm wide between the bead hooks and 28.3mm outside.

The rims have a classic V-shape profile and use 28 CX-Ray J-bend spokes in the rear wheel and 24 in the front, both connected to external alloy nipples and the DT Swiss 240 hubs. You can have the wheels built with a list of more or less expensive hubs and spokes, and choose either thru-axles end caps or quick-release skewers to fit your bike.

Quality: The wheels looked well-built and stayed true during our testing. While Light Bicycle offers a 5-year warranty, it only covers the rims. Furthermore, the company covers only the shipping costs to return the wheels to the office in Canada or China for the first 30 days of the warranty.

If you have issues with the hubs or spokes, you need to contact the manufacturers of those parts. Hub warranty terms are usually a year. There are no warranties on spokes. You’d also have to pay for the wheels to be rebuilt at a local bike shop.

Light Bicycle doesn’t warrant the workmanship surrounding the assembly of the wheels’ components. When I asked about that, they offered to include a one-year warranty on the invoice but said they had never needed to provide this type of warranty.

If you crash the wheels while riding, you’ll only be offered a 10% discount on replacement. Don’t like the wheel build or something else about the wheels? You’ve got 30 days to return them unused and will pay a 5% restocking fee before you get your refund.

Frankly, these policies alone make me uncomfortable buying wheels from Light Bicycle, no matter how they perform.

Price: With the DT240 hubs and Sapim CX-Ray spokes I spec’d on the wheels I tested, the AR46 wheelset costs US$1158 in North America, not including shipping. They are assembled in Canada, and duties and taxes are already built into the price.

If you live outside North America, the wheels are shipped from China. While they are priced a couple of percent less than the North American price, shipping, duties, and taxes to your location will likely make them more expensive and take longer to be delivered.

You can purchase them directly on the Light Bicycle website.

Roval Rapide C 38 Disc – Stiff, uncomfortable, and twitchy

The Roval Rapide C 38 disc is designed only for disc-brake bikes but is marketed for use on both paved and gravel surfaces. I only rode these wheels on paved roads, though some were similar to a well-maintained dirt road.

For Roval’s sake, I hope the C 38 does better on gravel surfaces than what I experienced on paved roads.

Despite its 21mm internal rim width, I couldn’t find a tire pressure at which it rode comfortably. On smooth paved roads at 60 psi, where I normally ride 25mm tubeless tires on rims the width of these (26.9mm outside width), my 150lb body found the C 38’s comfort no more than acceptable.

On chip-seal roads, where I test-rode the wheels with tire pressures from 55 psi to 75 psi, it was harsh enough that I had to back off my speed to reduce the vibration.

Why not use 28mm or wider tires to improve comfort? If you prioritize comfort, you should.

But I was trying to test Roval’s claim that the C 38 “outperforms many deeper, aero-specific rims that cost twice as much.” Setting up the C 38 wheels with 28mm tires would make the tires wider than the rims, going against a basic guideline of wheelset aerodynamics.

Even with the 25mm tires on these Rovals that made the rims marginally wider than the inflated tires, I had to work harder to maintain my speed than with deeper value carbon wheelsets (and performance carbon ones “that cost twice as much”) while doing intervals in the 20 and 25mph range.

And while I shouldn’t expect a 38mm deep wheelset to be more aero than a 50mm deep one, this confirmed that Specialized’s C 38 version of a 38mm deep wheelset isn’t an exception.

The C 38 also got pushed around by steady 10 mph crosswinds. While it was disappointing that a relatively shallow budget bike wheelset would be so easily affected in these modest breezes, I was even more surprised at how twitchy and hard to control the wheelset was going downhill at 30mph in these crosswinds.

I did find the C 38 quite stiff and handled very well on good paved surfaces. While there was no snap when I accelerated, they responded on par with the deeper 45mm and 50mm value carbon wheels I’ve been testing, most of which are also not rubber burners.

There’s no denying the C 38 comes at a good price from a company whose parent, Specialized, offers a great dealer network and strong service and support. Despite all that goodness, its better-than-most stiffness, and confident handling performance, these wheels weren’t fun to ride and held me back from going as hard as I normally would.

At the end of the day, that’s what matters most to me.

Design: I measured the wheelset I tested at 1608 grams, including the rim strips but not the valves. The rims measured 38.0 mm deep, 21.3mm inside, and 26.9 mm outside on the U-shaped rim.

DT Swiss has been known to make complete stock wheels under the Roval brand name for parent Specialized’s bikes and may also be making the C 38. The wheels come with round DT Competition Race spokes, 24 on both front and back, attached by brass nipples, and use a DT 370, 18-tooth hubset.

Quality: Roval provides the original owner with a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship. If you buy the wheels from the original owner, Roval will still stand by them for two years from the original purchase. This is unique. I’ve not seen many “second owner” warranties that other wheelset sellers offer.

The 2-yr free repair or replacement crash replacement policy covers the original owner if the wheel is damaged while riding.

Price: The Roval Rapide C 38 sell for US$1200, £1000, €1245 at these links to recommended stores Competitive Cyclist, Performance Bike, and Sigma Sports.

PERFORMANCE DIFFERS BY WHEELSET TYPE

I’ve heard some riders and marketers say that a set of US$1000-1500 carbon wheels, what I call a value carbon wheelset, gets you 80%-90% of the performance of the best or performance carbon wheels at 1/2 to 1/3 of the price.

While it’s a memorable line, it lacks the context to make it useful and accurate.

It’s really hard to make any overarching statement like that without knowing, for example:

• Which value carbon wheels and which performance carbon wheels are you comparing?
• Which performance characteristics are you considering?
• Which characteristics are most important to you in making a wheelset decision?

As you likely know and can see on the home page, my fellow In The Know Cycling testers and I write reviews that compare half a dozen or more wheelsets intended for a similar purpose and combine them into a single post for you.

For example, which are the best climbing or all-around or aero wheelsets? Which are the best all-road or gravel bike wheels? And how do you choose between those categories to find the best for you?

While performance characteristics are unique to each category, or are more important when comparing wheels in some categories versus others, there are a handful of characteristics that are important across all categories.

Most of the value carbon wheels I am reviewing in this review, in my search for budget bike wheels or value bike wheels, are all-around category wheels. This category includes mid-depth (40-50mm) wheelsets intended for training and road racing, on the flats and in the climbs, mostly on the road.

That said, I’m always searching for value-priced all-road, climbing, and aero wheels.

As the “all-around” description suggests, these wheels should be good in most situations if not ideally suited for one specific terrain (e.g., climbing), event (e.g., time trials), or surface (e.g., smooth, paved roads).

The performance criteria my fellow testers and I use in search of the best value bike wheels and the best in most other categories, to a greater or lesser degree, are versatility, specificity, aero drag, sidewind stability, lateral stiffness, vertical compliance (aka comfort), and responsiveness.

You can read more about what I mean by each of these on my wheelset selection criteria page.

In this section, I’ve compared some of the better and average value-carbon wheels against some of the better and average performance-carbon wheels that cost much more, and alloy upgrade wheels that usually cost less.

This is a fool’s errand, but I’m a fool and am trying to provide you a general reference point of what to expect for a specific performance characteristic between the wheelsets we’ve tested representative of these three different groups. This will hopefully be better than the horribly inexact and simplistic “x% of the performance at y% of the price” that some people lean on.

I’ve no doubt that some of you will comment that your $500 alloy wheelset is good enough to perform just as well, or better, than the $3000 carbon wheelsets used by those you ride with or race against. I won’t try to confirm or explain why your experience or evaluation differs from mine, other than to say there might be some other things to consider beyond just the wheels in such a comparison.

My fellow testers and I have ridden, compared, and reviewed many, many wheelsets. You can read and compare my take on whatever wheelsets you are interested in by entering the wheelset name in the “Find a review…” box at the top of the page.

Rather, what follows is a distillation of our experience.

Versatility

(Comparative Performance Key: + Better, 0 Average, – Worse)

The most desirable all-around wheels will give you the versatility to ride, without making major performance compromises, on different types of terrain (hills, flats, false flats, straights, corners, sprints, mountains, fast downhills, windy roads, paved and unpaved) that you’ll experience and a range of training and events (club races, centuries, club, charity, group rides) you’ll want to do.

Performance carbon wheelsets clearly have an advantage here. Better and many average wheelsets are more aero, more responsive, and more comfortable, and they climb better than value carbon or alloy upgrade wheels we’ve ridden. That makes them more versatile for the range of terrain you might ride, events you might do, and surfaces you might traverse, especially if you are comparing the more modern disc brake wheelsets.

The better and average carbon budget bike wheels I’ve tested are somewhat more versatile than the better and average alloy upgrade wheels. Being deeper and with good hubs, they are better at holding aero speeds above 20mph/32kph. In quite a few cases, however, that comes with crosswind management issues you don’t experience with the shallow alloy upgrade wheels (or the more advanced rim-profile designs of the performance carbon all-around depth wheels).

While most of the value carbon wheels are wider than most of the alloy upgrade wheels, I haven’t found the former group to be any more comfortable. This limits your desire to ride them off-road (and in some cases on them).

To fill out the versatility consideration, I think about how much I’d like to climb with these wheels. The value-carbon wheels are generally a bit heavier than the performance-carbon ones. Others are not as stiff. I haven’t found any that are as light and stiff as the better-performing and average-performance carbon wheelsets.

Alloy upgrade wheelsets, though shallower than value carbon ones, aren’t noticeably lighter and often not as stiff. This limits their versatility.

Specificity

(Comparative Performance Key: + Better, 0 Average, – Worse)

With less engineering put into value carbon wheels than performance carbon ones and almost none going toward alloy-upgrade ones anymore, it’s unlikely that you’ll find terrain, surface, or discipline-specific wheelsets that perform at the same level as performance carbon ones outside of those from that category.

Value carbon wheels often feature older rim profiles, lower-spec carbon layups, or less advanced hubs. From a performance standpoint, this makes them less aero for flats and speed disciplines, and heavier for climbing and many road-racing disciplines, than performance carbon wheels. They’ll also usually not have as wide a rim to enhance comfort or round out the profile to make them more stable in sidewinds.

Modern alloy wheels, for the most part, aren’t designed for specific terrain, surfaces, or events. The limitations of shaping their rims and the added weight of wider or deeper rims remove them from the ability to compete on specificity.

Aerodynamic Drag and Sidewind Stability

(Comparative Performance Key: + Better, 0 Average, – Worse)

With few exceptions, this is quite clear-cut for understandable reasons. The better and even average performance-carbon wheelsets tend to invest more engineering in developing more aero and stable rims in the normal 0 to 10-degree yaw angles, and 10mph+ sidewinds than value-carbon ones.

Depending on the company’s strategy and business activities (see the next section for more about this below), value carbon wheels often come with rim designs used in earlier generation performance carbon wheels made by the same company, or are copies of those designs from companies that choose to underinvest in product development as part of their strategy to be able to sell less expensive wheels.

Alloy upgrade wheels are typically 25mm +/- in rim depth. This makes them about 20-25mm shallower than value carbon and performance carbon wheelsets. At aero speeds, you will notice that depth difference. On the flip side, many of the value bike wheels, with their older designs, aren’t as stable in sidewinds as lower-profile alloy upgrade wheels.

No, I don’t test wheels at the In The Know Cycling wind tunnel. (Sadly, there isn’t such a thing.) Instead, these observations are anecdotal and based on how well I and my fellow testers find that each wheelset maintains its momentum in the 20mph/32kph to 25mph/40kph range and in varying wind conditions.

Lateral Stiffness

(Comparative Performance Key: + Average, 0 Par, – Worse)

Stiffness is a performance characteristic that is specific to a wheelset. Some are stiffer than others, regardless of the category of wheels they might fall into. There are plenty of stiff wheels that transfer your power efficiently within each category and at each price point, and plenty that don’t.

You can see which wheelsets are stiffer in the charts that summarize and compare performance within each category review.

Vertical Compliance (aka Comfort)

(Comparative Performance Key: + Better, 0 Par, – Worse)

Comfort is relative and very much in the eye of the beholder, or should I say, in the hands and rear end of the biker. We used to ride around on 15C-wide alloy wheels pumped up to 120 psi, with nary a complaint about comfort.

Now, the focus on comfort seems to be a sub-industry unto itself, with some tires and wheels sold on the premise that their width will provide you with all the comfort you need.

A few things to point out first. Comfort is a result of a wheelset’s vertical compliance, the tires you use, and how much you inflate them. You can make a wheel more or less comfortable by running it tubeless, using better tires, and lowering the pressure.

But you can only do so much to make a ride comfortable, given your wheelset’s compliance. The wheel’s rim determines vertical compliance, spoke, and hub design and materials, and how they are aligned and assembled or work together toward the compliance goal.

All the marketing about a wider rim, which is supposed to make for a more comfortable ride, is misleading. If everything I’ve written above is the same between two wheels, a wider rim on a wheelset will be more comfortable. But, all else is never the same between wheels from two different companies, and there’s often enough difference that width isn’t the dominant factor in determining comfort.

Indeed, I’ve found some of the old 17mm wide (internal) value carbon wheelsets with 23mm tubed tires inflated at 75 psi were more comfortable than some of today’s 21mm wide (internal) budget bike wheels with 25mm tubeless tires inflated at 60 psi, ridden on the same roads.

While that situation is unusual, it illustrates that wheelset width alone does not predict comfort. Vertical compliance, tire choice, and inflation pressure do, and there’s no way to predict compliance from specs.

Some wheelsets with essentially the same rim widths and tires, say 21mm inside and 27mm outside, with a 28mm tire inflated to the same pressure, will be notably more or less comfortable than others. So it’s just not about the rim width.

For those of you focused on tire width, also know that aero performance, handling, and comfort are interdependent. You just can’t put on a set of 28mm tires to improve comfort without potentially affecting your aero performance and handling. I wrote this post about that subject. And, one brand’s 25mm or 28mm tire can be a millimeter wider than a 25mm or 28mm tire from another brand, and both are almost never going to be as narrow as the labeled tire width once mounted and inflated on your wheels.

So what about the vertical compliance of the three different groups of wheelsets?

Like stiffness, vertical compliance is a lateral measure that depends on the wheel’s rim, spokes, and hub materials, and on how they are aligned and assembled. It is unique to a wheelset.

That said, I’ve found the better and average performance-carbon wheels, as a group of individual wheelsets, to be more comfortable than either the better and average value-carbon or alloy-upgrade wheels.

I’m not sure why this is, but I guess it simply comes down to money. More engineering goes into performance carbon wheels than into any other type. Companies are hip to the reality that cyclists want comfort today, so those making performance-carbon wheels spend the money to engineer them to be more compliant. The others either can’t afford to or don’t choose to.

Responsiveness

(Comparative Performance Key: + Better, 0 Average, – Worse)

Responsiveness is a measure of how quickly a wheelset accelerates from a stop or when you attempt to accelerate while underway from one speed to a much faster one. You accelerate most often after slowing at a stoplight or sign or coming out of a turn. If you race or group ride, you might accelerate to start a breakaway, move past someone slowing in front of you, kick it in on a hill, or when doing a sprint for the town line or finish line.

I’ve found that performance-carbon wheels are among the most responsive. This certainly isn’t the case with all performance carbon wheels, but I’ve seldom found value carbon or alloy upgrade wheels to be as responsive.

You might wonder, if stiffness is wheelset-specific, why wouldn’t responsiveness be as well? It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, for a given wheelset, but a combination of stiffness, aerodynamics, weight, carbon layup, hub engagement, spoke lacing, and perhaps other factors determines how responsive a wheel is when you accelerate. Performance carbon wheels are typically some combination of a more aero rim profile and a lighter wheelset, and use higher-grade carbon in their rims or better hubs than either value carbon or alloy upgrade wheels.

Value carbon wheels are usually more aero but heavier than alloy upgrade ones. This might explain why I’ve found little difference in their responsiveness.

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Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think of anything I’ve written, or ask any questions you might have in the comment section below.

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Thanks, and enjoy your rides safely! Cheers, Steve.

Steve is the founder of In The Know Cycling, where he tests and directly compares road and gravel cycling products. He has reviewed dozens of wheelsets, designed with both similar and varied performance and cost goals, across a wide range of riding conditions.

An engineer by training with a background in business consulting, he evaluates gear against the criteria that matter most to cycling enthusiasts, using months of real-world testing rather than relying on spec-sheet comparisons or several-day demo rides. His independent reviews and YouTube videos help cycling enthusiasts choose better gear, improve performance, and enjoy riding more.