00:12buying 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
00:42wheels 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
01:03are a much higher end set of wheels typically more performance orientated
01:06these cost £1,675 so there's just over £1,000 in it and I'm going to show you
01:14what that gets you now all the products in this video are available to buy on
01:18freewheel.co.uk a place where you can buy online while still supporting local
01:23bike shops these are great examples of both high-end and low-end wheel sets and
01:28if you would like to find out more about them then check out the links in the
01:32description below
01:37so 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
01:53it'll also be made out of aluminium and you'll often hear value wheel sets
01:58described as bombproof or training wheels and that's because they're wheels that
02:02you can ride whatever the weather whatever the conditions and you know that
02:06they will be fine now the difference is when you start spending more money the
02:12materials become more sophisticated so the more money you spend you'll start
02:17getting carbon fiber rims which have loads of benefits you know they're stiffer
02:22and they're lighter than aluminium wheels and you'll also be able to get more
02:27sophisticated shaping so this is a 65 millimeter 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
02:42far 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 air
02:58and that is something that more expensive wheels will have a much greater
03:01to focus on it's making them faster and more efficient
03:09now there are two different braking systems in the cycling world disc brakes
03:14and 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
04:17when it's really bad and you would ride your deep section carbon wheels in the
04:21summer 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
04:30doesn't matter rain or shine the performance is always going to be the
04:34same
04:38so 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 hub body
05:24which gives it a faster engagement time which makes a wheel more responsive
05:28which is why racers and people that are performance orientated like a hub which
05:34engages 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
05:43hub has a larger angle of engagement it's not just cost saving it is actually
05:47more durable so it fits in with this wheels remit of being a bomb proof durable
05:55wheel because that 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 or
06:14bladed 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 that
06:23just keeps them out of the wind and reduces drag so to summarize the more
06:29money you spend on a wheel the more performance orientated it becomes and
06:33that's reflected in the rim design the material that the wheel is made out of
06:38and the sophistication of the hub but that's not to say that a budget set of
06:43wheels aren't as good they have a much greater focus on reliability and
06:47durability so really it just depends on the type of rider you are and what you
06:52want from your set of wheels but having said that I think it's time to have a
06:56good old-fashioned wheel debate in the comment section below so please let us
07:01know your thoughts on what we've discussed today don't forget to like and
07:05subscribe to the cycling weekly YouTube channel and we'll see you next time
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