As far as the quality of the wheels themselves, bottom line - there's no real difference between the Wabi and the State. Both come with solid quality, if generic, aluminum alloy 700c wheels with sealed bearing hubs and laced with good quality spokes. The wheels on both bikes came true right out of the box and didn't have to be adjusted or modified at all. Both have flip flop hubs. You could change the wheels from one bike to the other and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They are basically the same dependable but forgettable generic 700c alloy wheels that come on pretty much all quality fixies that you can buy now, which is probably a really good thing. Now, the 28mm tires on the Wabi vs. the 25mm tires on the State are definitely something that you can tell a difference on during the ride and when looking at the bike. I personally like the 25mm ride on the State better because it's a more agile and light feeling then the Wabi's ride, but I'm sure you could change the tires from the State out and put them on the Wabi's wheels and get the same feeling on the Wabi. Both come with good quality front and rear rim brakes that have good stopping power. So there's basically no difference between the State 4031 and the Wabi Classic wheels that I could tell. The big difference between the bikes is the fancy boutique Reynolds 725 double butted CroMoly steel frame on the Wabi vs. the generic 4031 double butted CroMoly steel frame on the State. The Wabi frame has thinner walls which I think accounts for the 2 lbs lighter weight which is probably why the Wabi costs twice as much as the State. I think both are made in Taiwan and probably at the same factory like all the Treks and Specialized and every other bike is today. Most of the components between the bikes are pretty much the same forgettable but good quality components that these companies get from Taiwan - that includes the wheels. Hope this helps.