Buyer's Guide
Carbon Wheelsets: A Buyer’s Guide
Choosing a Carbon Wheelset Has Never Been Harder
While choosing a carbon wheelset may seem like a simple endeavour, the truth is that choosing the right wheelset has never been more complicated. With so many options and a greater awareness of potential issues, making the right choice can feel like a minefield. In this guide, we will explore how to make an informed decision.
Before we get into how to choose a suitable wheelset for you, we want to explore some things to look out for. We highly recommend you read this article before making a purchase decision.
*Note that we will not be mentioning any other wheel brands in this article.
Do Big Brands Offer Better Quality and Performance?
The answer to this question is “it depends”. Let’s explore the reasons why.
Brands Share the Same Rim Factories
One of the most important things to understand about carbon rims is where they are made. That the vast majority of rims are made in Xiamen, China. While some may be skeptical of the quality of carbon rims made in China, virtually all big brand and small brand rims are made there, often in the same factories. Manufacturing is outsourced, even by virtually all Chinese brands. There are dozens and dozens of carbon rim factories.
The Underlying Issue
The truth is that there is nothing wrong with outsourcing, as long as the quality of the rims is good. The issue is that it is impossible for the consumer to know where their rims are made and whether the quality is excellent, good, average, or low. Each factory’s craftmanship, manufacturing techniques, and quality control can vary significantly.
What About Other Components
The same is also true with hubs, carbon spokes, wheelbuilding etc. Just like rims, virtually all branded hubs are oursourced. Despite what many people think, carbon spokes are made by a large number of manufacturers.
So Which Brands Have the Best Wheels?
The truth is that it is virtually impossible to know. Quality and performance are also subjective. In this buyer’s guide, we hope to show you how to evaluate this and make the decision for yourself.
Is There a Difference Between Western vs Eastern brands?
As mentioned above, brands often share the same factories, regardless of whether they are based in the West (Europe, America, etc.), or Eastern (Mainland China, Hong Kong, etc.). What we recommend is not necessarily focusing on where a brand is based, and rather on what they offer. The truth is that some brands are excellent at marketing, but the quality and value that they offer may be relatively low.
Why is There Such a Large Difference Between the Price of Carbon Wheels?
In terms of pricing, the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest carbon wheels is significant. Price itself is not not necessarily reflective of value. Let’s see the market forces driving different prices, and which wheels are worth getting from a practical point of view.
Expensive Wheels: Luxury and Big Brands
Big Budgets
Luxury and big brands typically have large advertising budgets. They have the resources to promote in ways that other brands cannot. They can easily sponsor a WorldTeam, which can gain them recognition. Luxury and big brands do not necessarily have to sell high quality and high performance wheels, and the teams may or may not be satisfied with the wheels. These brands can dominate the market, as their wheels are often relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and they can sell large quantities.
Are Expensive Wheels High Performance
It is important to understand that some premium-priced wheels still have steel spokes, hubs with machining quality, and heavier rims. Why this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does impact performance and is not ideal.
Medium Priced Wheels: The Sweet Spot
The Best Potential for Price-Performance
In our opinion, the most interesting category of wheels is wheels priced in the $1000-2500 range. Steel spoked wheels from the $800 range can also be considered medium priced. The reason is that we believe that some brands can sustainably sell wheels in this price bracket, while maintaining good quality, and still thrive. While we are American owned, and while our team includes staff from the US, Japan, Canada, and China, we are able to provide more affordable pricing, as we are based in Asia, where costs are lower.
Sustainability
Regarding quality, we do not just mean quality control, but also good components, and the ability to fulfill warranty claims. Do understand that not every brand has this philosophy. Even in the $1000-2500 range, you can find many brands who use similar components to what you may find on what we consider budget, or cheap, wheels. Some brands, especially those who sell “budget/cheap” wheels, may not be able to cover costs in case of potential warranty claims and defects.
What Makes a Performance Wheelset
In our opinion, medium priced wheels should have high strength to weight rims, being able to pass at the very least 2x the UCI standard. At the low end, a wheelset can have high-end steel spokes and/or 2nd/3rd generation carbon spokes, high precision hubs, as well as excellent wheel building. Wheels in the middle of this price range may be lighter weight and may feature 4th generation carbon spokes. Wheels in the high end should be cutting edge, which often means a high strength-weight ratio, UCI certification, 4th gen carbon spokes, and beyond.
Some Things to Look Out For
Understand that while there may be a lot of value on the surface, a wheel priced in this range may not be ridden by a pro cycling team, may not have been tested thoroughly, and may not have sufficient quality control.
Budget (Cheap) Wheels: Questionable Quality
Carbon Wheels: But at What Cost?
While it is not uncommon for high and medium priced wheels to have questionable components, it is difficult to avoid for lower priced wheels. While not everyone can afford a $1000 carbon wheelset, manufacturing costs for even budget carbon wheels can be quite expensive. In order to cater to those more on a budget, cost savings tend to happen by skipping quality control procedures, using inferior hubs, rims, bearings, springs, spokes, etc.
Potential Issues
Budget wheels may have issues with brands refusing to offer warranty coverage. The wheels may not have been ridden and tested by a pro cycling team. Working with pro cycling teams can prove that a wheelset has decent performance, durability, and parts in general, but this is not necessarily the case, as we will explore later in this article.
What Red Flags Should Be Looked Out For?
Are Brands on the Side of the Customers?
The purpose of this article is to educate. And while we do highlight issues, we do not think that those mentioned are necessarily the result of brands doing the wrong thing. In some cases, brands may not be aware of how to choose better components and how to design wheels in a objectively better way. They may not understand the quality of the manufacturing, as they do not have backgrounds in OEM. They may also not be aware of better options or of engineering in general.
Claims About New Tech
Problematic Hub Designs
If there is one thing that we recommend paying attention to is claims about new tech. While some new tech can be interesting and can be beneficial, a lot of what is out there is sold without proper testing. This is most imminent with hubs. Hubs contain multiple moving parts and are in most cases, the most vulnerable part of a wheel. Moving parts form a complex system, making them more easy to fail, even if it doesn’t happen during testing.
We recommend choosing a hub that features the DT-Swiss style star ratchet. The DT-Swiss style star ratchet has been adopted in many brands and manufacturers after the patent expired, as it is truly an excellent design.
While some star ratchet freehub mechanisms may have different designs, we recommend you be cautious of them, as they may have more issues down the line. In addition, many hubs are created in ways and of parts that are not suitable for hubs. Not all freehub mechanisms are created equal, and the “latest and greatest” isn’t necessarily better.
Problematic Rim Designs
After years of working in OEM, some of the most problematic issues we have seen are one piece wheels (except full disc wheels) with bonded spokes, which are notoriously difficult to produce and have histories of be problematic. They are impossible to true if there is lateral or radial runout, as the carbon spokes are bonded. Also, if a spoke breaks, the whole wheel becomes unrideable and must be thrown away. We strongly recommend choosing wheels with replaceable spokes, whether carbon, steel, or titanium.
Hookless Rims for Road and Gravel
While hookless rims have gained a lot of popularity for gravel and road, they have also been notorious for tires coming off the rim while riding, which poses a serious safety risk. A tire coming off at high speeds inevitably leads to a near complete loss of traction and can result in a serious or fatal accident. We think that having hooked rims is important for safety, even if they are slightly heavier and more expensive to produce.
Claims About Ceramic Bearings
Durability
At Particle, we are very open about our view on steel and ceramic bearings. For more information, please see this article. While it is true that ceramic bearings can offer better rolling resistance and can save roughly a few grams, they have weaknesses that we feel more brands should make others aware of. The truth is that ceramic bearings are vulnerable, due to the properties of the ball bearings themselves. They are quite fragile and can be easily damaged by impacting pot holes and on rough terrain.
Rolling Resistance
It is important to understand that the main factors governing bearing smoothness are the bearing seals and the grease used. Ceramic bearings offer a minor performance improvement, however ceramic bearings need to be replaced more often, as ceramic balls grind against the much softer steel races within the bearing itself.
Claims About Manufacturing
While it is true that some brands may actually manufacture some of their components products, this is extremely rare. We suggest you take these claims with a grain of salt. While it can be good for marketing, we at Particle are actually proud to outsource our production, as in our opinion, it is impossible to make wheels that are this high quality any other way. We are confident in our ability to choose whom we consider to be some of the best manufacturers.
Claims About Aerodynamics
Questionable Methods
Wind tunnel and CFD testing can help to evaluate one of the most important aspects in creating a performance cycling product, reducing aerodynamic drag. The issue arises when brands fabricate or manipulate data to suit their purpose. In our opinion, how wind tunnel testing is done and interpreted does not always reflect how it would perform in the rear world. And wheels, frames, and complete bikes do not get several watts faster every year.
Examples
Certain rim designs such as wavy rims are actually less aerodynamic at most normal yaw angles, as they are designed for crosswind stability. This makes them perform similar to low rim depth wheels, but with a heavier weight. Certain claims such as internal nipples, hookless and mini-hook rims being much more aerodynamic are also questionable. Other designs like dimples are also worth questioning.
What Actually Makes a Rim Aerodynamic
The truth is that deeper rims are faster, all else being equal. Tire matching is also very important. For optimal aerodynamics, the widest part of a rim should be at least 5% wider than the tire when inflated. U-shaped rims are better in crosswinds, and V-shaped rims are better aerodynamically, but perform worse in crosswinds and ad different yaw angles.
Impartial and Subjective Reviews
Understand that all reviews, regardless of the reviewer, are subject to bias, whether the bias is positive or negative, whether intentional or unintentional. We recommend doing a lot of research before making a purchase decision, as it is always important to get multiple opinions, and high-end carbon bike parts are by no means a small purchase.
Questionable Backgrounds
Just like with anything you buy, it is important to exercise caution when placing an order for a carbon wheelset, which as mentioned are by no means a small purchase. While some brands may have authority, it is unclear if this actually translates to better products. We implore you to ask questions and take your time to learn more about the brand, its origins, and to evaluate marketing claims.
Here is a bit of information about the Particle brand.
Using Name Brand Parts to Justify Higher Prices
One of the best ways for brands to charge more is to use hubs, bearings, and spokes from specific brands. We implore you to approach ordering these with discernment, as big name brand parts may not necessarily be of better quality. There is a difference between effective marketing and price vs actual quality.
Misleading and Insufficient Testing
About Testing
One of the most important things in product development is testing. While no product is guaranteed to be 100% bullet proof, sufficient testing is very important. Some brands and manufacturers may only do the bare minimum when it comes to testing. They may not have specific standards or many have done minimal testing. There are a few dozen laboratory tests that can be done on rims, hubs, spokes, and wheels, with some being arguably more relevant to the end consumer, specifically lateral stiffness and vertical impact.
Transparency
In our opinion, test videos, reports, etc., can all be valuable, and at Particle, we feel like this information is important to share in order to inspire confidence. We have released some of our test results and will continue to do so.
Vertical Impact Testing
It is important to understand that the vertical impact test is perhaps the most important test there is in terms of wheel safety. While the UCI Vertical impact test is important, we do not think it goes far enough. Our recommendation is to choose a wheelset that can survive at least 2x the UCI standard. Understand that lightweight rims have limitations in terms of durability. We have done testing on all of our wheels and have published the test results.
Lateral Stiffness Testing
The most important test in terms of ride feel is the lateral stiffness test. A wheel with high lateral stiffness transfers power more effectively, while a wheel with less stiffness provides a more comfortable ride reducing fatigue and even reducing road vibration.
The factors that influence lateral stiffness include the rims, the spokes, the hub, and even the bearings. All of them work together to influence how a wheelset feels to ride. The most important one is the rims, followed by the spokes, then the hub, and lastly the bearings. At Particle, we publish our stiffness testing to show riders which rims may be suitable for them.
Is the Wheelset You Are Considering Actually UCI Certified?
While most brands who state their wheels are UCI certified keep their word, upon investigation, we have noticed some false claims. Note that each specifc wheel model, defined by the UCI as a specific rim depth, spoke type, and model name, must be individually certified. A series cannot be certified, rather each individual wheel model must be certified. If this certification is important to you, we recommend you check. UCI certified wheels can be checked in either of these two places:
At Particle, since we have so many different rims, we have only gotten UCI certification for our Ultralight and Hyperlight disc brake wheels, as well as the Team series wheels that are raced by our sponsored UCI Continental teams. This is for a total of 18 different models. While our other wheels can receive UCI certification, it is a significant expense.
How to Spot Signs of Quality if You Have Already Ordered Received a Wheelset?
Wheelbuilding Inspection
Getting Your Wheels Checked
The truth is that wheelbuilding is not an easy skill to develop, and a good wheelbuilder is important in order to ensure that your wheelset is true, stays true, is centered correctly, and has even spoke tension. If you would like to check your wheel is build correctly, it may be worth taking it to a wheelbuilder to perform a check. Wheels may not necessarily be true enough or may have uneven spoke tensions, both of which can lead to a weaker wheel and worse grip.
Particle’s Wheelbuilding Report
In order to give you peace of mind, all of our wheels include a wheelbuilding report with the spoke tensions of each spoke as well as the lateral and radial(vertical) trueness. We are not aware of any other brand having this quality control step.
Visible Inspection
Covering Up Cosmetic Imperfections
In general, you should not see any visible cosmetic imperfections due to a layer of paint that is applied to most rims. The truth is that all rims have small visible cosmetic imperfections if they feature a paintless matte or paintless glossy finish, or if there is minimal paint applied, as each carbon fiber rim is unique and handmade. Laser engravings can also reveal the underlying carbon fiber.
What Causes Them
Note that these imperfections are normal and do not affect performance in any way whatsoever. They can occur due to particles of dust, differences in resin content, etc.
What About Our Rims
We choose paintless finishes and/or minimal paint on our rims in order to save weight and to give each rim a unique appearance, showing the craftsmanship.
Structural Defects
Rims
Structural defects are becoming less and less common upon receiving a replaceable spoke wheelset due to improvements in manufacturing. We recommend you check your rims, spokes and hubs anyways.
The main issue with carbon rims is that in rare cases, they can develop cracks. In the carbon wheel industry, the incidence of a rim cracking under normal use of less than 1% of rims is considered excellent.
For our rims, the incidence of any defect is far less than 0.1%. In general, cracks do not pose an immediate risk, but we still recommend you inspect your rims from time to time.
It is also recommended to check the entire rim for noticeable cracks or dents.
Hubs and Bearings
Hubs are machined, and there should be no issue with them out of the box as long as they are designed well, however, if you or your mechanic are having any installation issues, we recommend you check with the wheel brand. The same is true for bearings. We recommend that you rotate the wheel upon it arriving to see if the wheel spins properly.
Note that parts do wear over time, and proper maintenance is important. We recommend servicing your hubs on a regular basis. Also understand that bearings do not have an unlimited shelf life. If your hub is not rolling as well as it used to, it is recommended to contact the brand if you are not sure, and possibly change the bearings for new ones.
Carbon Spokes
In general, 3rd and 4th generation carbon spokes are considered to be quite reliable, as the technology behind them has matured. We still recommend checking to see if a carbon spoke is missing any material. If a package has been visibly damaged due to improper package handling while being shipped, there is a small likelihood that a spoke could be damaged.
What Components Are Worth Getting?
In general, we recommend two things: carbon spokes, DT-Swiss style freehub mechanism hubs, and closed hub flange hubs.
Carbon Spokes
Are They Better?
As opposed to steel spokes, carbon spokes do not fatigue over time. This leads to a wheelset not losing spoke tension over time, which means less maintenance over time. While much more expensive to manufacture, carbon spokes can be made significantly lighter, stiffer, and aerodynamic.
For those who prefer a ride more similar to steel spokes, we recommend 4th generation carbon spokes. For those who prefer a stiffer wheelset, 3rd generation spokes are recommended. Unlike 3rd and 4th generation carbon spokes, which have non-round spoke heads, 2nd generation spokes, which have round spoke heads, are not recommended. The reason is becauses they have a tendency to experience spoke twist, resulting in a loss of tension and worse aerodynamic performance.
What About Monocoque Wheels
Note that we do not recommend monocoque wheels where the spokes are bonded to the rim and hub, as a broken spoke would mean you have to buy an entirely new wheel. We also do not recommend “semi-monocoque” wheels, where a single broken spoke means you have to replace all of the spokes from one side of a wheel.
Not only is this a much more expensive wheelbuilding process, but these monocoque and semi-monocoque wheels are not necessarilly stiffer. And if for any reason a monocoque wheel is untrue, it is impossible to true, as there are no spokes that can be tensioned by a mechanic.
Star Ratchets
As mentioned before, the patent on the DT Swiss style freehub mechanim has expired, and many brands, including ourselves are using them. The design is proven, is easy to service, and parts in general are non-proprietary, meaning you can use swap ratchets, even if they are not from the same brand. At Particle, we try to keep our replacement parts affordable.
Some DT Swiss style ratchets like ours require no tools to remove the freehub, allowing for super easy servicing.
*Please note that our hubs are manufactured to very high tolerances, leaving very little room for error, so we only recommend using our own ratchets for our hubs.
Closed Hub Flanges
Avoiding an Uncommon but Serious Issue
In order to save on wheelbuilding costs and weight, some brands use fully open hub flanges. While many of these hub flanges are higher, slightly increasing stiffness, since carbon spokes are under high tension and are very rigid, there is a possibility of the carbon spokes popping out when riding, leading to instability and the possibility of multiple or even all spokes tensioning and popping out, potentially leading to serious injury.
What We Do?
At Particle, all of our disc brake wheels have closed hub flanges. Our rim brake rear hub has open hub flanges on one wheel, however, since the wheels are built in a 2:1 spoke ratio, the tension of the drive and non-drive side spokes is the same, preventing spokes from dislodging.
How to Choose the Right Rim Depth and Width?
Rim Depth
Perhaps the most important consideration when selecting a carbon wheel is the rim depth. In general, we recommend sticking to 40/45/50/52mm rim depths. The reason is that they offer a balance between weight, aerodynamics, and crosswind stability. For those who prefer steep climbs or just having a lightweight bike, shallower rim depths such as 27/30/33/35mm might be ideal. For those with excellent bike handling skills in case of crosswinds, or for those who do primarily flat riding, 55/60mm wheels would be a good choice.
Internal Rim Width
The Trend to Go Wider
Over the past several years, the trend has been towards wider tires and wider inner rim widths. While there is definitely a lot of marketing that has influenced people to make this choice, there are some legitimate reasons for choosing wider tires, such as improved comfort, grip, and confidence when riding.
Are Wider Rims Better
As far as how internal rim widths affect rolling resistance and much more, we recommend you read this article from the independent tire rolling resistance website Bicycle Rolling Resistance. There is virtually no difference between using a 28c tire on a 21mm or 23mm internal width rim for example in terms of rolling resistance and grip. Instead of focusing on the “ideal” internal rim width, we recommend focusing on external rim width for measurable performance gains.
Safety
One of the most important considerations when choosing the right internal rim width is matching it to the tires you plan to use. The ETRTO is a European organization that tests rim and tire combinations for safety. With the advent of hookless rims, they have become stricter with their recommendations. Since we do not offer hookless road and gravel wheels, we follow their old standard. If you plan on purchasing a hookless rim wheelset, we suggest you err on the side of caution and choose a wider tire, making sure that the tire pressure is within the ETRTO’s safety limits.
External Rim Width
If you are interested in aerodynamic performance, we strongly suggest you choose a tire that, when inflated, is narrower than the widest part of the rim. We feel that external rim width is much more important from a performance standpoint. Following this or the even stricter “rule of 1.05”, will give you measurable performance gains. In fact, having a rim that is slightly wider than the inflated tire is arguably just as important as having deep section rims.
What About Rim Brakes
While the bike industry has been pushing for disc brakes, we think that both rim brake and disc brake bikes have pros and cons.
Considerations
If you have a rim brake bike and would like to upgrade your wheelset, the options are fewer than they used to be, and we think that is unfortunate. We strongly recommend you choose rims with brake tracks made with high temperature 220 Celsius or above resin, and either 3k or basalt brake tracks, as other brake tracks might not be as good at dissapating heat. We also recommend against laser etched brake tracks, as they are very vulnerable to even small amounts of dust including brake dust and can easily erode, shortening their lifespan and even delaminating carbon rims.
Our Solution
The unfortunate situation is that because the bike industry is reducing options for those who prefer rim brake bikes, they are no longer making suitable rims and frames. At Particle, we think that all riders should should be accounted for, so we offer the CCX Ultralight rim brake series which makes use of the latest in wheel tech, DT Swiss style ratchets and a choice between 3rd and 4th generation carbon spokes.
Where does Particle Fit in?
The Golden Age of Bike Parts
In our opinion, there has never been a better time to enjoy the sport of cycling. There is so much choice, and due to the advent of Asian brands offering lower prices and in many cases, better quality products than those from Western brands, the cycling community has the potential to upgrade their bike in ways that were not possible even a few years ago. At Particle, we are trying to offer something unique, that combines the advantages of both Western and Eastern brands.
What Makes Us Different
We are going about creating a wheel brand in an entirely new way. Our American founder, Patrick Clark, is the first non-Chinese person to have started selling carbon wheels after working for three years for a well known OEM in Xiamen, China. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and works with factories directly, without any need for a middleman, serving as the middleman between us and the manufacturers. Due to his experience, he has gotten to know the strengths and weaknesses of different manufacturers when it comes to quality control, manufacturing methods, materials, etc. We have also been working with in conjunctions with some of the best engineers to develop our product line.
Transparency and Innovation
Unlike other brands, we are not afraid to explictly state that we do not manufacture our own products. In fact, we are confident that it is impossible to make high quality wheels any other way. Since we spend a significant time in Xiamen, where our warehouse is located. Due to our presence there, since starting in 2025, we have been able to make use of the most recent tech and are able to develop and adapt faster than other brands. This has allowed us to develop the World’s lightest UCI certified road and gravel wheels, the RCX Hyperlight and GCX Hyperlight, which are more than 2x as strong as the UCI requirement.
An International Team
Unlike Mainland Chinese and Western brands, we are a Western owned and operated brand, registered in Hong Kong. Us being based in Asia allows to reduce expenses in order to offer more affordable prices, which simply would not be possible if we were based in the US or Europe for example. Our team members from the US, Canada, Japan, and Mainland China all work together to offer something truly unique.
Putting Our Wheels to The Test
We are supporting three UCI Continental pro cycling teams who chose us rather than continuing to use the equipment that they were using in years past. They have given us reassurance that our wheels not only pass the strict standards of our laboratory testing, but also perform better than the big brands in professional cycling.
No Compromises
While we are extremely confident in our wheels not only because of our laboratory testing, pro team usage, the engineering that has gone into every part, and because of high quality control and manufacturing standards, there are other important things. We offer a 3-year comprehensive warranty as standard on all of our wheels with 5-year and lifetime warranty options. More than that, we have a crash replacement policy, that gives riders a discount in case of an accident.
Convenience
In addition, we are in the midst of creating a worldwide dealer and service center network, so you can easily get your wheels serviced anywhere.
Find Out More
If you have any questions about our wheelsets, please contact our customer service via our Live Chat or at support@particle-bike.com