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

00:16lick of speed but the big question remains how much does it cost to get a

00:21tangible benefit from a new set of hoops well in this video I am going to

00:26demonstrate exactly what a bit of extra spend gets you so I'm going to take DT

00:30Swiss's performance wheel set range and compare a high-end set of wheels to a

00:35low-end set of wheels so on the one hand I have these DT Swiss's PR 1600 spline

00:41wheels these are brilliant wheels at an entry-level price point costing £495

00:47they're typically found on bikes between £1,000 and £1,500 and on the

00:54other hand I have a set of these DT Swiss's PRC 1400 wheels and now these are

01:03a much higher end set of wheels typically more performance orientated these cost

01:07£1,675 so there's just over £1,000 in it and I'm going to show you what that gets

01:14you now all the products in this video are available to buy on freewheel.co.uk a

01:20place where you can buy online while still supporting local bike shops these

01:25are great examples of both high-end and low-end wheel sets and if you would like

01:29to find out more about them then check out the links in the description below

01:33so the difference in price points is immediately obvious in the rim depths and

01:42the rim design now on a value set of wheels you will typically have a shallow

01:46rim usually anywhere between 21 and 32 mil 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

01:58bomb-proof or training wheels and that's because they're wheels that you can ride

02:02whatever the weather whatever the conditions and you know that they will be

02:07fine now the difference is when you start spending more money the materials

02:12become more sophisticated so the more money you spend you'll start getting

02:18carbon fibre rims which have loads of benefits you know they're stiffer and

02:22they're lighter than aluminium wheels and you'll also be able to get more

02:27sophisticated shaping so this is a 65 millimetre deep rim which gives you loads

02:32of benefits so when you're riding along on the flat more of your power is

02:37transferred into going forward it rolls better and it rolls for longer so it's

02:41far more efficient also the more money you spend the greater the focus on

02:47aerodynamics so if I turn this rim side on and you look down here you can see that

02:52it tapers in towards the center that is to reduce this wheels drag through the

02:57air and that is something that more expensive wheels will have a much greater

03:01focus on it's making them faster and more efficient

03:08now there are two different braking systems in the cycling world disc brakes

03:13and rim brakes so getting the right one for you is really important so disc brakes

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

03:25because the braking is consistent because it all comes through a rotor or

03:29through 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

03:41disc but it is available in rim brake you would find an aluminium braking track

03:45around 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

03:57carbon brake track on here now carbon braking is quite sophisticated in that

04:03it's able to withstand really high heats and it is able to stop you very quickly

04:09but it does not perform as well in the wet and this harks back to the age-old

04:14saying that you would ride your bomb-proof aluminium wheels in the winter when

04:18it's really bad and you would ride your deep section carbon wheels in the summer

04:21when 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

04:30doesn't matter rain or shine the performance is always going to be the

04:34same

04:37so 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

04:46the bike along so I've got the hub here and I can turn it and it clicks now that is

04:54what we call an angle of engagement so on these hubs I can turn it it clicks but I

05:00can 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

05:09clicking but it's much harder there is no real room to turn it back and that's

05:15because it has a smaller angle of engagement only 10 degrees so what you're

05:19getting when you spend more money is you're getting more teeth in the free

05:23hub body which gives it a faster engagement time which makes a wheel more

05:27responsive which is why racers and people that are performance orientated like a

05:34hub which engages quickly because it's more responsive and it drives their bike

05:38faster than one with a larger angle of engagement it's worth noting that when a

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

05:48so it fits in with this wheels remit of being a bomb-proof durable wheel because

05:56that hub is going to last a long time

06:03now finally the more money you spend the more sophisticated the spokes on a wheel so

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

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

06:19end of the spokes will be inside the rim again that's more aerodynamic because it

06:23just keeps them out of the wind and reduces drag so to summarize the more money you spend on a

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

06:35design the 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

06:51you want from your set of wheels but having said that i think it's time to have a good old

06:57fashioned wheel debate in the comment section below so please let us know your thoughts on

07:02what we've discussed today don't forget to like and subscribe to the cycling weekly youtube channel

07:07and we'll see you next time

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