The Best All Road Wheels | As Good as Dedicated Road Bike Wheels and Gravel Wheels?

What if you could ride one set of "all road wheels” that performed as well as the best road and gravel wheels at half the cost? You can. I’ll tell you which ones do in this review.
You can order these wheels using links to stores I’ve vetted and recommend. When you do, In The Know Cycling may earn a commission that helps cover our review and technology costs.
ENVE SES 4.5
►BTD (BikeTiresDirect) - tinyurl.com/2s3ca6jp
►Performance Bike - snp.link/e9c9c6fe
►Merlin Cycles - prf.hn/l/8MPvDpN
►Sigma Sports - tinyurl.com/3u64f83m
ROVAL TERRA CLX II
►Performance Bike - snp.link/9dba88e4
Read the complete written reviews on the In The Know Cycling website:
►All Road Wheels - intheknowcycling.com/all-road...
►All Around Wheels - intheknowcycling.com/carbon-d...
►Aero Wheels - intheknowcycling.com/aero-bik...
►Climbing Wheels - intheknowcycling.com/best-cli...
►Gravel Wheels - intheknowcycling.com/best-gra...
►Road Tires - intheknowcycling.com/best-tub...
►Gravel Tires - intheknowcycling.com/best-gra...
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► • The Best All Road Whee...
Video chapters:
00:00 Best all road wheels
00:38 Best road bike wheels and gravel wheels
01:41 All road wheels vs. road and gravel wheels
04:10 What all road wheels have in common
05:03 What matters most when evaluating bike wheels
05:54 Comparative ratings of all road wheels
07:04 ENVE SES 4.5 top line review
08:48 Roval Terra CLX II top line review
10:47 All road wheels prices and options
11:59 Pros and cons of dedicated and all road wheels
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Disclosure:
In The Know Cycling is ad-free, subscription-free, and reader-supported. If you want to keep it rolling without any added cost to you, buy your gear and kit after clicking the store links in the description box and on the site. When you do, we may earn an affiliate commission that will help me cover the expenses to create and publish our independent, comprehensive, and comparative reviews. Thank you, Steve.

[@intheknowcycling]

You can order these wheels using links to stores I’ve vetted and recommend. When you do, In The Know Cycling may earn a commission that helps cover our review and technology costs. ENVE SES 4.5 ►BTD (BikeTiresDirect) - tinyurl.com/2s3ca6jp ►Performance Bike - snp.link/e9c9c6fe ►Merlin Cycles - prf.hn/l/8MPvDpN ►Sigma Sports - tinyurl.com/3u64f83m ROVAL TERRA CLX II ►Performance Bike - snp.link/9dba88e4

[@cheronoliver6508]

I love my Terra ❤❤❤ on Mondos

[@michaelz7190]

I ride campy neutron wheels for about 10 years at about 3000 mi/year. Ultra for the front, regular for the back for this 190lb rider. Works for climbing, rolling, sprinting. Have a second set as spare. Never looked at other wheels again.

[@rudyelizondo1935]

Great vid, appreciate all the info and I do have a great pair of Rovals

[@ivanyhtang]

Fantastic video, Steve! Really useful and pertinent premise to explore for everyday riders. It would be nice to see some photos of what you consider the four different types of gravel. Also, have you considered adding direct to consumer Chinese wheels to the comparison? Those with western hubs anyway... Keep up the great work

[@intheknowcycling]

See here for gravel classes intheknowcycling.com/best-gravel-tires/#Classes. Will check into your DTC all road wheels. Thanks.

[@rhozjan]

Review of Farsport wheels would be great

[@intheknowcycling]

@@rhozjan I’ve reviewed a bunch of DTC wheels from Chinese and western brands, here intheknowcycling.com/best-value-carbon-wheelset/ just not all road ones

[@rhozjan]

@@intheknowcycling any chance you could review some Farsport wheels? They have also line with carbon spokes and with hub of your choice from world known brands. Extremly low weight. I have two sets and have not seen better wheels. Especially for such price.

[@rayF4rio]

My next wheelset will be the Campy WTO 60 Disc C23's - maybe the Ultra's (maybe). Due out soon: serviceable bearings, no rim strips, hooked, durable and smooth spinning. My WTO 45 rim brake wheels are awesome with 30mm tires. But the WTO C23's will be lighter and wider internal (23mm).

[@jjncravo]

Shamal Carbon 21 DB, for the same reasons and...less than 900€.

[@henkka_95]

I have shamal and they are great! Maybe ultra wto 45 would be more cool looking and little faster on straight road, but to be hoenst i’m not fast anyway. So i think shamal is pretty good price/quality for my kind of entry level stuff! And i defenedly like them! They are quite stiff, i can feel on the road, quite lighweight. Nothing bad to say! 😃

[@51249ca]

My previous 2014 Kona Process 153 27.5 had 25mm ID rims. Used for North Shore riding. Just buy some older non-boost wheels from someone who upgraded years ago. Particularly with some hubs with interchangeable axle end caps.

[@stefanwagener]

As I prefer wider tires of 32mm for my road bike, I didn't want to spend money on aerodynamic road wheels that are typically optimized for 28mm tires. Instead I looked for wider wheels, mainly for comfort reasons but also thought, it should be a better aerodynamic match with wider tires. I didn't find many choices a year ago. Zipp was one option, but then I found the Winspace Grapid gravel wheel set. 25mm inner width, 32mm outer width, 1500g, at that time 45mm deep and around 800€. Cool feature is, they don't need a rim tape for tubeless. Comfort is excellent, but I think they are quite sensible to wind. But I have no comparison with other carbon wheels and are not professional enough to judge on stiffness or responsiveness. For half the price of Zipp 303, I can easily recommend.

[@zaahierstanley955]

💯

[@JFomo]

Did you get the weights of the 353 NSWs correct? I think they might be flipped around? Anyways I bought the 353s and they have been great. I still get dropped on the hills and on the chop ride but I would say it's my poor conditioning.

[@intheknowcycling]

No. It's one of the rare cases where the actual weight measured less than the claimed weight. Good to hear you like them.

[@rayF4rio]

Question - when swapping wheels from all those different mfgr's, do you see any variation in the brake disc offset, requiring an adjustment to the caliper?

[@intheknowcycling]

Yes, sometimes I need to move the caliper a touch to make sure the rotor isn't rubbing.

[@gaza4543]

Chap I’d think a pair of wheels that cost nearly 3k a piece better be good if not fantastic. Personally though the Reserve 40|44 offer the best bang for buck here, especially if you purchase them with the 350 hubs. Or even the 370s if they offer them still. There certainly not a sprinting wheels, though not bad by any stretch and have that typically sluggish wind up that all deep wheels have but once up and your cruising they don’t let go of speed at all, from my brief ride of them anyhow . Mix that with a lifetime warranty. Which by the way roval lacks ,with super simple hubs that can be worked on and standard spokes that can be found anywhere. I’m sorry for what they offer at the price they’re at, they’re the best set by a country mile in that line up. There speed is in line with my roval rapide to the point I’d happily sell the rapide. I mean let me put it like this they’re (40|44) winning tour stages left, right and centre so I don’t really understand your review of them. It seems very at odds with I’m seeing on the telly bumpkin box. Average wheels, that don’t hold speed and not very good at racing? The review just doesn’t tally up. If a guy can’t hang at the top of a crit with the reserve underfoot I’d argue it isn’t the wheels, sorry to say. I’d put that down to a bad day at the office.

[@paulorr9262]

IDC if the wheel weighs 5 pounds. I just want a 700 x 38 wheel that will stay in true. I weigh 350lbs and they all warp.

[@DR_1_1]

Prices start around $2500 for a set, then quickly jump to $5000 and more?

[@intheknowcycling]

No. Most of the best-performing carbon wheels dedicated for road bikes or gravel bikes cost in the range of $2000 to $3000. An all-road wheelset that performs as well on both road and gravel bikes also costs $2000-$3000, so you only one.

[@DR_1_1]

@@intheknowcycling OK. Looking around I see some prices are for just one wheel, but other for sets, that was confusing.

[@davidburgess741]

When you weigh 230 lbs, best look elsewhere. Need 32 spokes minimum. 3x pattern mandatory. Got to buildmy own.

[@valiantabello]

I am not sure why hookless wheels are a thing for road

[@intheknowcycling]

Why? Simpler tooling makes for less mfg cost. No hook makes for a cleaner transition between tire and rim which is incrementally less aero, though not significant for most riders. But also not a safety issue if you inflate to the right pressure.

[@ivanyhtang]

I've been running tubeless for road for several years now and it's been great. No looking back now!

[@joeboxer82is]

Enves & Zipps are ridiculously overpriced!