Carbon wheel upgrade decisions
 

I have a Trek Domane SL4 that I would like to upgrade to carbon wheels soon for this riding season. I was thinking the Aeolus elite 50mm will give me the best performance at a reasonable price. I found today that there is a 25% off sale at my LBS Summit Bicycles for the Aeolus 35mm versions only. I pretty much only ride flat for right now and I'm at a beginner level trying to train for my first century ride this summer. I would like to climb more in the future though once my legs get there. I'm located in the SF Bay Area so there are many nice places flat and hilly to ride here.


Is this sale worth going for the 35mm version instead of what I had planed? Or would the aero benefits for flat riding be worth paying normal price. I have a budget carbon bike so I feel its only fitting to get a budget carbon wheelset that's on sale.


Thanks in advance for any insight and help in my decision making!!


$998 less 25% =

$749 for the elite 35

$1091 for the elite 50

You could split the difference and put the 35 up front, and the 50 in the back. It's a popular approach. I run 45s front and back, but wouldn't run just any 45 up front due to crosswinds.

In that case thinking about wind that gives me one reason to go with the 35. As for splitting them up, it might trigger my OCD if the wheels don't match. I would be thinking about it too much LOL.

If you ride mostly flat and fast, go deep! (assuming it's not ridiculously windy* all the time where you live)


* It gets pretty windy here in Tasmania. I usually run 60's front/back on my Canyon but when I know it'll be hectic crosswinds, I'll pop a 35 on the front.

^This^ I did that for years, actually still do it on one bike. 30/35 in the front, 50/60 in the back is a great way to go.

Yeah, if you look at some of the higher end race bikes, such as in the Specialized line, or the ENVE wheel combo line, you'll see shallower front aero wheels are pretty common.

I do ride mostly flat and am leaning towards the 50's.. This sale is tempting, but I think ill try and go deep this purchase. Thanks!

You're going to pay for them and you're going to ride them, so you're the only one that needs to be happy with this.

This arrangement is pretty common for several reasons. The front wheel is now affected by cross winds and benefits (in gusty conditions) from a shallower rim for better control. Enve sells $3,000 wheel sets that are "asymmetric" and $1,500 ones that match. :) Again, do what makes you happy, I'm just telling you why this is a thing.

The Elite 35 came stock on my bike. You will have to run 25s to get the aero advantage, they are also a bit heavy.
I would consider getting some wider and lighter wheels that can accommodate 28s without messing with the airflow.

The aero benefits are worth next to nothing unless you are in a competitive TT where a couple of seconds might make a difference to your placing. Given your situation I would get the cheaper wheels. But that's just a rational decision.

If you can bump the budget just a bit, I have the Aeolus Pro 37 TLR on my SL5, and they are really nice with that bike. I run 28 tires on them.

The Pro 3V is on sale as well, I’ll have to compare those two. I’m still running the stock 32 tires which have served me well. I might stick with that size and get some gp5000s to go with the new wheels

The more expensive sets of wheels have larger internal diameters so will probably be increasing my budget to get some nicer wheels. I'm running 32c and I'm realizing I might not get any aero advantage in any wheel in my price range. I probably won't notice it any way to be honest. Thanks!

Have you considered Light Bicycle?
The Flacon Pro AR465 could be a good option. 46.5mm depth would put you in between the 35mm-50mm options you are looking at.
Falcon Pro AR465

I’m pretty happy with my recently purchased BTLOS wheelset. It’s lighter than my high dollar DT Swiss wheelset that came with the bike, stiff, and so far I have a few hundred problem free miles on them.

BTLOS wheelset

I presume you meant wider internal width? This is the current trend and it does make sense with the trend toward wider tyres. I think the wheels you were originally looking at are 19 mm internal width, which is a bit narrow for 32C, but not a disaster. Ideally you want a rim with around 22-25 mm internal width for those tyres. The extra tyre volume it creates allows you to run lower pressures too.

The aero is a red herring in this discussion. You really won't notice any meaningful difference.

Yes I think if you go out and spend money on carbon wheels, you should get both an aero and weight advantage. Even 28mm tyres bulge out enough over the 35's to easily detach the airflow, and given the overall weight, I don't really see any advantage over good alu wheels if one does not fit narrow enough tyres to make use of the geometry. 25mm measure around 26.5 and 28mm measure around 29 on those wheels, so given their 27mm outer width, the choice is clearly limited. Your 32s are of course way out from that.

If you know your tyre, I'd specifically email the makers to see if they can tell you how wide that tyre would measure on their rims and then judge it based on the outer diameter, 'rule of 105%' or close enough. Since airflow is rarely ever straight on, the more angles of attack result in attached airflow the more ROI you'll get on those carbon wheels - if there's such a thing for recreational riders :lol: Now if you can save another 400-500g over those Elite on top of that, happy days!

105% is pretty meaningless. Either a week and tire system is aero and you know because it's been tested, or who knows but probably not.

It's not just wind, but also the turbulence created by cars, and especially larger trucks passing you. I wish I didn't a deep rim in the front because of this. I was really surprised on how much affect it has.

This seems to be remarked all the time when this comes up, but I don't really get why.

The exact percentage and variations in mounted tyre shape and frontal area aside, it makes perfect sense that a system where the tyre either sits flush, ideally with grooves filled in, or at least recessed, will result in an airflow that stays attached to the foil shape you are paying for.

Put a 28mm on those Elite 35s and the air will just bypass the foil of the wheel. Put 25mm on and the edge of the foil is the widest point and the airflow will flow along. If OP wants to run 32mm tryes, the foil shape of that wheel is useless, so the 'rule' (or should we say 'principle') is not meaningless.

The approach that makes most sense for recreational riders buying wheels is:
1. Start with the desired tyre
2. Find a wheel it can sit on without messing with the foil design

If that is not possible for whatever reason:
1. Find a wheel that meets whatever criteria, cost, weight, aero, looks
2. Run a tyre that gives that tyre the best chance of contributing marginal gains

I settled on the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51's and made the purchase today. Summit Bicycles added it to their sale list I paid about $1100 overall and saved a few hundred dollars. I plan on running 25-28c gp5000's eventually.. Now I just got to put the miles in to justify the purchase. Thanks!

​​​​​​For starters I want to clarify I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm sharing ideas.

It's because aerodynamics is really weird and can be counterintuitive. The shape of the rim including the presence or absence of a brake track, the tread pattern of the tire, number and maybe type of spokes, the fork the wheel is turning in, what direction the wind is blowing from, and probably dozens of other factors have more impact than the tire vs rim size. That's why wind tunnels (and the Chung speed/power method) exist. It's also why wheel companies do wind tunnel testing with several different bikes.

Do it if it makes sense to you. 🙂 I'm not telling anybody what to do, only trying to answer why people make these kinds of remarks.

Let us know what you think after a few rides! 🙂

Nice pick and post what you think of them after getting some rides in.

I just set up some clincher 28mm GP5000s with latex tubes on my 28mm wide LightBicycle carbon wheels today and went out for a good hard 40 ish mile ride on them. It's a great setup and feels fast and comfortable...I'm super pleased.

My Bianchi Infinito CV Endurance bike weighed around 8kg with the Shimano Ultegra groupset and other stock components. with a few upgrades - some Dura-Ace groupset parts, extra-light cockpit parts, carbon compact stem-bar, light carbon ergo saddle, and titanium bolts, the weight was reduced to 7.4kg.
The next goal was a lighter wheelset. The stock wheelset was an aluminum Fulcrum Racing 518 which weighed about 1750 grams. It was too heavy to accelerate and the ride quality was not good as it was not tubeless.
it was very heavy to accelerate,so the ride quality is not good,
After researching on google,I find the lightest option i can find it is the carbon spoke wheelset is both budget-friendly and faster acceleration which i am also looking for,
For traditional spoke wheelset. the price is substantially increase with the weight saving,after comparing Winspace,Elitewheels Hunt and Cadex,I choose Elitewheels Drive 40D 1260g actual weight,because of its lighter weight weight and 21mm internal profile to fit the tires of 700x28 or 700x30.
After several rides of my new Elitewheels wheelset, I find my bike easy to accelerate, spin and climb on the mountains. over 6k riding on this new bike,it is complete different riding pleasure and great upgrade experience for me.Like my upgrade.