The aero trend is in full swing. Helmets are getting slipperier, Specialized built their own wind tunnel, and it would seem that most major manufactures are dropping and/or refining aero road frames. One of the most popular aero upgrades comes in the form of deep carbon wheels. The amount of options on the market is staggering. You have everything from the industry standard high dollar Enve and Zipp wheels, all the way down to factory direct Chinese hoops on the cheap.
The Xentis wheels featured here definitely fall in the high end range. The feature rich carbon clinchers have an MSRP of $2799. Whoosh past the page break to see what make these wheels stand out from the crowd.
As mentioned, these wheels are loaded with features. They start life by being handmade (including the carbon layup) in Austria. Once completed, the rims are laced to hubs using straight pull Sapim CX-Ray spokes with hidden nipples. The silver lines spin on ceramic bearings (Update: Our review wheelset is not the silver line series. The difference being the rim on a silver line series has a uni-direction carbon finish and the hubs have ceramic bearings. Our review set has a 3K finish and is rolling on steal bearings.) The valve sleeve is molded into the rim, and includes a rubber washer inside that keeps rattling at bay. Also molded into the rim, opposite the valve sleeve, is a wheel magnet. These features help to keep a nice clean look to the wheel, as they eliminate the need for tape around the tube’s valve and a wheel magnet. External rim width is listed at 21mm, and my measurements averaged out to 20.8mm on both wheels.
Externally, the rim features a wave pattern just below the brake track. This is designed to cause turbulation in the air coming off the wheel, and that in turn should reduce the negative pressure behind the wheel that causes drag. Is this just a gimmick? A few more rides should help decide.
Quality control is high at Xentis. They imbed an RFID tag inside each wheel that allows them to track the product around their factory during production . They also label each wheel with hand written runout measurements.
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The real standout feature however is their patented brake track. During production, they machine off the top layer of resin, leaving just the carbon at the surface. This results in a brake track that is rougher, and it allows for the use of non-carbon specific brake pads. The buzz around town is that it yields superior braking as compared to other full carbon hoops (foreshadowing: it really works!)