Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheelset review: Light or fast? Pick both

How light can you get with a 50mm aero wheel?

Cadex 50 Ultra Disc
(Image: © Josh Ross)

Cyclingnews Verdict

The CADEX 50 Ultra Disc is faster than a 65mm wheelset and one of the lightest wheelsets available today. They cost more than the competition but it makes sense in context. These aren’t in everyone’s budget but there’s no question they follow through on the promises made.

Pros

  • +

    Freehub pulls free and is simple to service or swap

  • +

    Lighter than most climbing wheels

  • +

    Stiff and responsive

  • +

    Beautiful carbon layup

  • +

    No risk of damaging the branding when mounting tyres

  • +

    22.4mm wide internally

Cons

  • -

    Expensive

  • -

    Loud freehub

You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

If you are looking for one of the best road bike wheels available there is always going to be a push-pull with weight vs aero. Making a wheel deeper means making it heavier and you have to decide if you are going to buy into the idea that an aero wheel is faster at the end of a ride even if it’s not faster up a steep climb. For some people the calculation is that they’d rather choose one of the best lightweight wheels even if it’s a little slower. Cadex has a different calculation though. 

What if you didn’t have to choose between aero and lightweight? The latest Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheelset is lighter than anything on our lightweight wheels list but it’s still 50mm deep and aerodynamically fast. Is it too good to be true? Keep reading to find out. We put the wheels to the test riding hundreds of miles over all kinds of routes and we are ready to talk about what we enjoyed and what they are like to ride. If you are looking for a wheel that breaks boundaries and does it all, these are worth checking out. 

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Testing scorecard and notes
Ride qualityUse the right tyre pressure and these are a joy. 9/10
StiffnessStiff wheels aren’t always the best and these lose just a little in ride quality because of it. What you won’t find here is any kind of unwanted flex.10/10
AestheticsBeautiful wheels that are a pleasure to look at.10/10
Tubeless CompatibilityEasy to mount tyres and there’s no risk of damaging a sticker struggling to get a tyre on. 10/10
HubsI’ve taken Cadex hubs apart a lot of times and never once damaged anything. They are easy to work on and haven’t failed me yet. They lose just a bit of score because while I love the sound, not everyone else will. 9/10
ValuePrice for performance is right where it should be. You could even compare them to Lightweight and call them a value but these are expensive wheels and you can get most of the performance for less money. 6/10
OverallRow 6 - Cell 1 90%

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