Boyd Cycling’s new Vitesse wheel set comes with a with a 23mm wide, 28mm deep alloy rim of their own design and pulls as little as $550 from your play money.
Boyd Johnson has been building wheels since September 2009, but this is his first set with a rim of his own design. The benefits are the width and depth combined on an affordable wheelset. The pair, which weighs in at just 1,480g (claimed) for the 20/24 spoke count set, retails for only $550. There’s also 24/28 spoked set for $570.
The rim has a slightly rounded aero profile and, like virtually all of their wheels they feature Sapim X-ray aero spokes, Enduro sealed bearings and brass self-locking nipples. They’re handbuilt in the USA.
Boyd says the Sapim spokes have one of the highest fatigue strengths on the market, making these a great training or cyclocross wheelset. The wide rim should spread a ‘cross tire out nicely, too.
The minimal front hub has bearings pushed all the way to the outside edge to maximize axle stiffness.
Boyd started out offering frames and wheels, but the wheel building business quickly drowned out the bikes. Yes, you can find these same hubs on other branded wheels, but our experience has shown creating a perfect set of hoops is as much art as it is science.
In the future, Boyd’s working on translating this rim design and some new deep aero ones into carbon wheels of his own molds. In the meantime, he offers a wide range of carbon rimmed sets priced from $875 to $1000 for tubulars and $1050 to $1150 for clinchers.
He’s also working on a disc brake carbon tubular for next ‘cross season as well as disc brake alloy tubies and clinchers. For TT, triathlon and track, they should have a full disc rear wheel available in May.
