Rolf Prima knows their carbon wheels aren’t the cheapest on the market (they’re also not the most expensive), so they wanted to help more people get on their paired spoke design and excellent carbon rims.
The new Ares ES series wheels do that by lacing their same Ares carbon fiber rims as the top level models to standard hubs and higher spoke counts to drop the price by $650 per set. The new build is available on the Ares6 (60mm deep) and Ares4 (42mm deep), both 27mm at their widest. Inside width is 17mm at the bead.
The ES wheels go from 16/16 spoke counts to 16/20, but use the same bladed Sapim CX Speed spokes. Total weight gain is just 70g, but none of that’s at the rim save for four more nipples. Even their folks admit the ride quality is very, very similar, you’re just saving a lot of money…
You can still do custom decal colors on the ES wheels, too. And they’re still hand built in Eugene, OR. So, you get a very, very similar ride quality with a big savings. And for heavier riders, it’s another option to go high end thanks to the extra spokes out back.
The carbon rimmed Ralos CXC gets a 27.5″ size to join the existing alloy Ralos models. The rim width is a bit wider than the 29er ones we reviewed, coming in at 29.5mm external and 22.2mm internal.
We reviewed the 29er Ralos CXC wheels last summer and they’re phenomenal. Check out the abuse and results here, they come highly recommended.
