Category: Wheels

So, with many wheels in this price range what sets these Eroica GP’s apart? That wider internal width, decent weight, and the unique feature of the bead interface all are great features here, and do make your tires a bit more versatile.

Without a doubt, one of the hottest stories of 2019 in the gravel world is the introduction of Shimano GRX. Today, we’ll share Guitar Ted’s impressions of the 1x GRX group he’s running on his Noble GX5, and I’ll give my thoughts on the 2x mechanical and Di2 versions of the group.

Another surprising thing- the free hub seems to be very quiet when coasting. I guess the over-all theme here so far is “quiet strength”. We’ll check in on reliability and ride feel in our next post.

There are few upgrades you can make that have as much effect on your ride as a great set of wheels. And while there’s no shortage of great wheels on the market today, it’s an exciting development when Roval, a longtime leader in the space, introduces not just one, but two new high-end gravel wheelsets.

Rolf Prima just introduced the Sojourn wheel set for Adventure/Gravel. It fits right into our needs with an internal width of 25mm and an outer of 28.5mm. It is cost effective as well, priced at $699.00, not cheap, but you are still under a grand. Weight is quite good at a claimed 1695g and I weighed them ready to go, seems, tape, etc, at 1741g.

Lately it got me thinking that there are quite likely a metric ton of old 29″er wheels out there that have great possibilities for modern gravel bike use.

My initial impressions were of a laterally stiff wheel with high spoke tension and so the forward drive under prodding was exceptional. They really scoot. I also felt that they were a firm riding wheel and I think that is accurate, but they are not harsh.

While the PBO spokes may cause you to raise an eyebrow, keep in mind that these spokes have been around for two decades and have a good reputation for durability. The rest of the Spinergy wheel from the hubs to the rims seem to be top notch stuff now. I see no reason to fear the technology and I would gladly ride these wheels off into the Sunset if Spinergy would let me.

Many bikes are coming out as “dual wheel size” compatible rigs, and if you wanted the 650B wheels, (or the other way around if the new bike was set up with 650B), this option would be high on my list. It provides a solid performing package at a good value. Besides going around and holding up your tires, what more do we really need?

Okay, so PBO spokes, aluminum rims… how does that work? It actually works out really well. I think the common thought most folks might have is that if the spokes are not steel, then they must be flexy. Well, that just isn’t the case here.