Veloelite Carbon Wide 180-38mm Disc wheels
£1,450, carbonbikewheels.co.uk
We once met a man in a Taiwanese factory who could build a set of wheels from scratch in 45 minutes. Incredible stuff, but at the same time they weren’t handbuilt wheels in the traditional sense, and that’s because factory wheels, no matter how good, are built to generic specifications. Veloelite’s wheels, on the other hand, are handbuilt to suit each specific customer.
‘For example a 60kg gravel rider requires a different wheel to a 90kg sprinter in terms of strength and stiffness,’ says Veloelite’s master wheelbuilder Tom Scott-collins. ‘The 90kg rider would find the 60kg rider’s wheels too flexy, while the 60kg rider would find the 90kg rider’s wheels too harsh. With different builds and spoke tensions we can build wheels to suit individual riders and styles.’
Here those wheels are built around a 38mm deep, 21mm internal width tubeless rim, which is then laced with Sapim CX Ray spokes to DT Swiss’s lightest stock hubs, the 180s, creating a set of Veloelites that weighs a scant 1,368g. Better yet, they cost less than £1,500.
£450 cockpit, £195 seatpost, specialized.com
Earlier this year Roval – Specialized’s in-house component brand – split its product offering into two distinct categories: Rapide and Alpinist. No prizes for guessing that Rapide includes all its most aero-focussed kit, and Alpinist is the gear aimed squarely at the weight weenies. The latter currently includes an impressively feathery 1,248g wheelset, plus the one-piece carbon cockpit and seatpost pictured here.
At 255g for a cockpit comprising 420mm bar width and a 110mm stem length, Roval has aimed to make it as light as possible while adhering to all the necessary safety standards. The brand has kept to round tube shapes and well-established bar dimensions
(125mm drop and 75mm reach) and there are 10 available sizes to make sure every rider can achieve the perfect fit. The out-front computer mount
(not shown) is neat too.
The weight of the seatpost is equally jaw-dropping at just
136g (27.2mm x 300mm) with a two-bolt micro-adjust cradle that offers 0-20mm offset and is compatible with all sizes of saddle rails. In short, if having the lightest bike possible is your thing, you’ll be hard pushed to find lighter than these latest Roval gems.