Enve SES 5.6 Disc wheels

£2,700, saddleback.co.uk

or a company that claims to lead the way in wheel technology, Enve is quite late to the party with its disc-specific road wheelset. So why the delay? ‘Our competitors have basically just taken the same rim from their rim brake wheels, increased the hole count, slapped in disc-specific hubs and called it a day,’ claims Enve’s Jake Pantone. ‘We’re experts in making disc-specific rims for our MTB wheels, so we knew we could save weight, improve tubeless performance and investigate what is achievable aerodynamically when there is no requirement for a brake track.’

The result, according to Enve, is a wheelset that is ‘virtually identical’ in aerodynamic performance to its rim brake 4.5 wheelset, but with rims that are much lighter. ‘The laminate schedule and even the moulds we use are completely different and are designed specifically for disc rims,’ says Pantone. ‘The 5.6 is really an iteration of the 4.5, but in taking our time to develop it we were able to make it wider and deeper but still reduce the weight by around 30-70g, depending on the wheel type.’

With a 19mm internal diameter and tubeless compatibility, these 5.6s should be fairly futureproof, leading Pantone to say, ‘There’s no real reason why your next bike shouldn’t be discspecific. It’s the future.’