Elitewheels offers you top wheel tech at a bargain price
Aero carbon rims, carbon spokes and ceramic bearings are all featured in the lightweight Elitewheels Drive series wheelsets
Modern performance carbon wheels can spoil us with high-tech features. Deeper rim profiles improve your bike’s aerodynamics, while tubeless tech and wider rims improve comfort, rolling resistance and grip. All the while top-spec wheels are getting lighter and lighter, with the most technically advanced wheels boasting features like carbon spokes.
As ever, the downside of these performance features is a high price tag for many wheelsets. Elitewheels is a growing brand that bucks that trend. It has been making carbon wheels since 2013 and gives you all this tech at a much more affordable price.
Elitewheels’ latest Drive series road bike wheels are used by five UCI Continental teams and are available in depths of 40mm, 50mm, and 65mm in both rim brake and disc options.
Focusing on the Drive 40D, the 40mm deep option, let’s take a close look at the tech that goes into the flagship wheels.
World-class wheel tech
Elitewheels claims a weight of just 1,260 grams a pair – a very competitive weight for this rim depth. Naturally, the wheels are tubeless-ready and so are comfortably in step with modern trends. The rim profiles themselves, with a 21mm/28mm internal/external width, are ideally suited to modern tyre considerations. The wheels also employ a U/V-shaped rim profile to benefit both aerodynamics and stability in windy conditions.
To create the low weight Elitewheels uses 21 spokes up front, and 24 at the rear. All of the spokes are carbon, with a bladed profile to further improve the aerodynamic package. In its disc wheels, each spoke weighs only 3g – a significant saving over steel options. The spokes are laced through Elitewheels’ own alloy hubs and tensioned using alloy nipples, shaving further grams off the final weight.
The wheels are available with a Shimano, SRAM XDR, or Campagnolo freehub, and include high precision hubs to lower the rolling resistance as well as prolong the service life of the S&S ceramic bearings. The wheels come with a three-year warranty, and Elitewheels even offers a discounted crash replacement programme should the worst happen. If you are keen on racing, the wheels are UCI approved, and all for only $1,189, including the delivery cost. Each wheel has a rider weight limit of 125kg.
If you want to go shallower for a more responsive ride, or deeper for an even greater aerodynamic benefit the price remains the same, with only the weight changing. The Drive 40D, 50D, and 65D weigh in at 1,260g, 1300g, and 1,460g respectively, with 40mm, 50mm, and 65mm deep profiles.
Other wheelset options
If you’re looking for rim brake wheels, Elitewheels offers the same range of depths, priced at an even cheaper $1,169. Despite being cheaper, the rim brake versions still weigh effectively the same as their disc counterparts, weighing in at 1,255g for the 40mm deep Drive 40V, 1,315g for the 50mm deep Drive 50V, and 1,500g for the 65mm deep Drive 65V.
In addition, Elitewheels sells the Drive G45 gravel wheelset with a 24mm internal/31mm external width and 45mm depth, priced at $1,269, as well as MTB wheelsets and some time trial specific options if you’re regularly going against the clock.
In-house manufacture
Elitewheels makes all of its components in its own factory in China. This allows total control of the materials and the manufacturing process, right down to its unique UNI carbon fibre prepreg. This in-house specialty has properties that fall between those of Toray T800 and T1000 fibre, for a higher strength-to-weight ratio.
The brand manufactures its own hubs as well, using advanced 5-axis CNC machines with precise tolerances of 0.02mm, which leads to lower rolling resistance and longer bearing life.
Elitewheels ships its wheels direct to you, ready-fitted with rim tape and tubeless valves, along with four spare carbon spokes. Shipping is included in the wheelset price, as well as all customs duties for UK and EU deliveries.
The brand’s wheels are backed up by a growing worldwide network of dealers and service centres, plus its own China-based support centre, with email, phone, and live chat contact options.
If you’re looking for cutting-edge features and lightweight wheels, you should take a closer look at the Elitewheels range.
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