Buying new wheels is like buying a new bike. A new set will change the way your bike handles. It can change the speed your bike will roll along. It can take a lot of weight off your bike. It is a much cheaper way to achieve the n+1 formula of bike ownership.

The best way to go about buying a new set of wheels is to think about how you ride. Then think of how you want to progress as a rider. Do you have any goals that you want to achieve that a good set of new wheels will help you achieve?

What do I need to know?

One of the most important aspects of the wheel design you pick is the style of rim you want. The rim will determine how heavy or light the wheel is, if it can provide a speed boost, or if it’ll flex. At Triaero, we only used carbon fiber rims. That all but eliminates the chance of flex, so you’ll always have the top performing product.

What you then need to do is to concentrate on rim depth.

Shallow rims

Shallow rims tend to be made of box section alloy. We don’t do this style of rim as there is no aero benefit to them and they are only shallow as that is the only way to make alloy wheels seem lighter.

Mid-depth rims

We do 35mm mid-depth rims as they keep the weight down for climbing and give you a small aero boost. They are also a great choice for those days when the wind has gotten up.

Deep section rims

Deep section wheels are all about aero advantage. They are designed to help you cut through the air with the minimum of disturbance. If you want to go fast, then deep section wheels are the only way to go.

Carbon fiber

Our wheels are with constructed using Toray T700 carbon fiber or a T700/T800 carbon mix. Using Toray allows us to construct the stiffest and lightest set of wheels that we can. It is high-end construction that we bring you at a highly affordable price.

Braking surface

The braking surface is only now an issue for those of us that haven’t moved over to disc brakes. For rim brakes, many people preferred alloy over carbon fiber as they felt carbon could not offer the braking they needed for Alpine descents.

We listened to this, and when many manufacturers have stopped work on their brake tracks, we haven’t. Our Aero rims are tolerant of heat up to 300°, that is a pretty high temperature, and it outstrips what most other manufacturers are doing. It is also 60° higher than our Fast, and Light wheels can take.

Clincher or tubeless

You might have read a lot in the media about tubeless tires. The good news is that our rims can take both standard tires and tubeless tires. So, you don’t need to ditch the tubes just yet. If you fancy going tubeless, then our tubeless ready rims will make that a little easier.

If you haven’t thought about going tubeless, you should. There are many benefits. Your tires will feel more supple without a tube, especially if you run lower pressures. You’ll also find if you use a sealant that most punctures will seal before you even realized you had a puncture. It should also work out lighter than if you used a tube, marginal gains are the secret to success seemingly.

Wider rim technology

Going tubeless, naturally feeds onto talking about wider rims. We use wider rims for our wheels; they are only a few millimeters wider because again they bring practical benefits to when you’re out riding along the road.

You’ll find with a wider tire and rim that you have a bigger contact patch with the road. The bigger patch will provide you with more grip in the rain, and if you’re running disc brakes, it gives your brakes more to work against (in a good way). When railing around corners you’ll also find that your tire tends not to deform as much, so again you’ll have more grip and feel in a lot more control when you’re cornering.

Hubs

All of our wheelsets come with sealed bearing hubs. On the Fast and Light series, you’ll find Novatec FS522SB/AS511SB hubs. These hubs are featured on more affordable wheelsets than probably any other hub in the world. They just work and will keep your wheels spinning for a long time.

On our Aero wheels, you find either ICAN R01 or D01. The R01 is a standard road bike hub, and the D01 is a disc brake hub. The disc brake hub comes in a thru axle offering, 100 x 12mm at the front and 142 x 12mm at the rear.

Finally, on the Aero DT Swiss range, you get your choice of DT Swiss hubs. You can pick from with the 240S or the 350S. Both hubs are available in both rim brake and disc brake versions. With the disc brake versions again coming thru axle versions. They have one extra option here over the ICAN D01 hubs; they are also available in a 100 x 15mm front wheel version.

Spokes

Spokes are one part of many wheels builds that people just don’t talk about to each other. They are just not as glamorous as hubs or rims. They are though pretty integral to the quality of your wheels. If your wheels are laced with low-end spokes, they will quickly stop being true.