Wheels to get you rolling fast — Five Cool Things wheelset special to get you speeding into spring

Upgrading your bike's wheels is one of the most significant performance-enhancing investments you can make, but let's be honest, figuring out what the best bike wheels are for your needs can feel like finding a needle in a haystack.

We review a lot of wheels, and the fact this week's five cool things is all about wheels confirms that. We already have a whole host of expert wheel reviews published and those are a great place to start your research. The below wheelsets will be soon featured on the reviews page, so keep our eyes out for those full reports and let us know what your favourite wheels are in the comments below! 

Prime Attaquer Disc Alloy wheelset - £349.99

Starting with the most budget-friendly option, we have the Prime Attaquer Disc Alloy wheelset, the only alloy wheelset in this round-up. The wheels consist of a robust, tubeless-ready 6069 aluminium rim, compatible with centre lock disc brakes, with 21mm internal width and 25mm depth. The shallow depth makes these wheels ideal for windy conditions and hill-climbing, although £1,522g weight might not be what the most serious hill climbers are after. 

> How to upgrade your wheels and revolutionise your ride

The rims are laced onto 36-tooth star ratchet hubs with DT Swiss’ straight pull spokes that give the wheels an extra aero advantage. You get four spare spokes and nipples with the wheelset, alongside tubeless valves, a 10-speed spacer and all the other little things you might need.

• www.wiggle.co.uk

Prime Doyenne 56 Carbon Disc wheelset - £599.99

The Prime Doyenne 56 Carbon disc wheelset takes things up a notch from the alloy hoops - and is more targeted for flat road racing as well as time trials or triathlons. 

As the name suggests, these wheels have 56mm deep rims, are made of carbon and have 23mm internal and 30mm external width. 

The wheels come with an SR2D 36T ratchet hub, laced onto the rims with J-Bend Pillar PDB1415 spokes and the set of wheels should weigh 1,910g. 

• www.wiggle.co.uk

CES Sport DRAIG 50 wheelset - £865.00

The CES Sport DRAIG 50 wheelset is another carbon set we’ve been putting through its paces - and they are made of full Toray T800 carbon. We tested the rim brake clincher version of these hoops back in 2018 and Stu really rated them, so these updated disc brake wheels have a lot to live up to. 

As you might expect, they’re also tubeless compatible, meaning they come taped with tubeless rim tape. 

> Should you buy carbon fibre wheels? What are they best for?

You get 20mm internal and 27mm external width rims that are laced on BiTex BX106 hubs with 24 Pillar PSR Wing 21 spokes and brass nipples. 

The wheels weigh £1,615g for the pair and come with a two-year warranty.

• www.ces-sport.co.uk

Halo Carbaura RCD 80mm wheelset - £1,099.95

These 80mm deep wheels are for sure best suited for the not-so-windy racing days, as they've been designed to maximise aerodynamic benefits. Carbaura promises that the excellent linear compliance and lateral stiffness of the RCD wheels should keep you a bike length ahead of the competition (make of that what you will).

The wheels have been built around aerodynamics, low weight (1,700g for the pair), and have been through Computational Fluid Dynamics testing to make sure the data stacks up. 

They feature a tubeless 28mm external rim width with a 21mm internal, which should be optimal for running 28mm tyres. The hubs are RD2 centre lock ones with Supadrive 120-point engagement. 

> How to choose the best width road tyres for your riding

Spokes are bladed lightweight aero spokes and both front and rear wheels use a 16/8e lacing pattern to balance spoke tensions and withstand torque and braking forces from the centre of the wheels.

• www.halowheels.com

Roval Rapide CL II wheelset - £1,500

And lastly, we have the most expensive yet lightweight wheels. The all-new Rapide CL II aero wheelset is the latest edition of the well-established deep section wheelset from the Specialized subsidiary brand, promising efficiency, incredible handling, and stability in all conditions to more riders.

Built on the exact same rims as the WorldTour winning Rapide CLX II, the Rapide CL II is the wallet-friendlier version of those premium wheels, with impressive claims. And actually, based on the real-life testing we've done on these wheels against other carbon wheelsets, they actually came out the fastest... 

Roval says it has developed the Rapide CL front rim to reduce drag and increases stability by 25% in sudden wind gusts compared to its previous 50mm rims. At the rear, the slightly deeper 60mm wheel with a 30mm external width should reduce turbulence and yields the greatest aerodynamic benefit. 

The Rapide CL II is hand-built on DT Swiss 350 hubs with 36t star ratchet and Competition Race straight pull spokes, resulting in a total weight of 1,590 grams a set, "delivering incredible reliability, durability, and performance," Roval claims.

• www.specialized.com

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