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 £1000 and £1500. And on the

00:54other hand, I have a set of these DT Swiss's PRC1400 wheels. Now, these are a much higher-end

01:03set of wheels, typically more performance orientated. These cost £1675. So, there's

01:10just over £1000 in it and I am going to show you what that gets you. Now, all the products

01:17in this video are available to buy on freewheel.co.uk, a place where you can buy online while still

01:22supporting local bike shops. These are great examples of both high-end and low-end wheel

01:28sets. And if you would like to find out more about them, then check out the links in the

01:32description below. So, the difference in price points is immediately obvious in the rim depths

01:42and the rim design. Now, on a value set of wheels, you would typically have a shallow

01:46rim, usually anywhere between 21mm and 32mm. So, that's how deep it extends here. It'll

01:54also 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, the more money

02:16you spend, you'll start getting carbon fibre rims, which have loads of benefits. You know

02:21they're stiffer and they're lighter than aluminium wheels and you'll also be able to get more

02:27sophisticated 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

02:38forward. It rolls better and it rolls for longer, so it's far more efficient. Also,

02:44the more money you spend, the greater the focus on aerodynamics. So, if I turn this

02:48rim side-on and you look down here, you can see that it tapers in towards the centre.

02:55That is to reduce this wheel's drag through the air and that is something that more expensive

03:00wheels will have a much greater focus on. It's making them faster and more efficient.

03:05Now, there are two different braking systems in the cycling world, disc brakes and rim brakes. So,

03:16getting the right one for you is really important. So, disc brakes, it's kind of irrelevant at a

03:22lower budget point or a higher budget point because the braking is consistent because it

03:28all comes through a rotor or through the caliper. Now, the real difference you'll find is in rim

03:34braking. So, imagine, if you will, that this is a rim braking wheel set and I know it's disc but

03:41it is available in rim brake. You would find an aluminium braking track around the rim. Aluminium

03:48braking is great in all conditions. It offers consistent stopping but it lacks the immediacy

03:54of carbon braking. So, this is a carbon brake track on here. Now, carbon braking is quite

04:01sophisticated in that it's able to withstand really high heats and it is able to stop you

04:08very quickly but it does not perform as well in the wet. And this harks back to the age-old saying

04:15that you would ride your bomb-proof aluminium wheels in the winter when it's really bad and

04:19you would ride your deep section carbon wheels in the summer when the weather is better. Now,

04:23if you ride disc brakes, you don't have that problem and you can ride whichever wheel you

04:28want all year round because it doesn't matter rain or shine, the performance is always going

04:33to be the same. So, when we talk about hubs and free hubs, we're talking about the system in the

04:42wheel which transfers the power from your legs to the rear wheel which drives the bike along. So,

04:48I've got the hub here and I can turn it and it clicks. Now, that is what we call an angle of

04:56engagement. So, on these hubs, I can turn it, it clicks but I can also turn it back a little bit.

05:02That's because it has a 20-degree angle of engagement. Whereas if I get the more expensive

05:07wheel, it still does that clicking but it's much harder. There is no real room to turn it back and

05:15that's because it has a smaller angle of engagement, only 10 degrees. So, what you're getting when you

05:19spend more money is you're getting more teeth in the freehub body which gives it a faster

05:25engagement time which makes the wheel more responsive which is why racers and people that

05:32are performance-orientated like a hub which engages quickly because it's more responsive

05:37and it drives their bike faster than one with a larger angle of engagement. It's worth noting

05:42that when a hub has a larger angle of engagement, it's not just cost-saving, it is actually more

05:48durable. So, it fits in with this wheel's remit of being a bomb-proof durable wheel because that

05:56hub is going to last a long time. Now, finally, the more money you spend, the more sophisticated

06:06the spokes on a wheel. So, as your price increases, you're more likely to get flatter spokes that are

06:13lighter or bladed so they're more aerodynamic and it's more likely that the nipples on the end of

06:20the spokes will be inside the rim. Again, that's more aerodynamic because it just keeps them out

06:24of the wind and reduces drag. So, to summarise, the more money you spend on a wheel, the more

06:31performance-orientated it becomes and that's reflected in the rim design, the material that

06:37the wheel is made out of, and the sophistication of the hub. But that's not to say that a budget

06:43set of wheels aren't as good. They have a much greater focus on reliability and durability so

06:48really it just depends on the type of rider you are and what you want from your set of wheels.

06:53But having said that, I think it's time to have a good old-fashioned wheel debate in the comment

06:59section below. So, please let us know your thoughts on what we've discussed today. Don't forget to like

07:05and subscribe to the Cycling Weekly YouTube channel and we'll see you next time.

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