Hailing from San Carlos, California, Ritchey Design has been providing the cycling world with innovative and kick-ass products for decades. Tom Ritchey, one of the legendary pioneers of the mountain bike in the 70’s, is still involved with design as the president of Ritchey. Their new WCS Zeta GX wheelset builds on those 50 years of experience, now with a focus on adventure.
This new wheelset does look very promising… it’s handbuilt, available, and selling for a price that is pretty damn wallet-friendly!
Let’s just start with the fact that Ritchey says these new wheels are “directly inspired by the reliability and top performance of the original Zeta Wheels, but meant shine in gravel.”
The new WCS Zeta GX wheelset is a 28-hole, hand-built, and tubless-ready wheelset that uses the new Ritchey WCS hubs which have sealed bearings and Centerlock brake rotor mounts.
The Ritchey WCS rear hub on this wheelset uses the precise dual-star Ratchet Driver with 36-point engagement which Ritchie says will “provide reliable engagement, no matter the terrain.” Plus the rear hub can be disassembled without any tools, making the hub easy to service, possibly resulting in a headache-free experience. Drivers that are available for the hub include Shimano Hyperglide, SRAM XDR, and Campy N3W. The hubs are available in BOOST 110/148 and 100/142mm spacing.
The spokes used on this wheelset are the DT Swiss Competition spokes that taper from 2.0 to 1.8. This combo Ritchey claims “males for a very robust wheelset that is strong where you need it and shaves weight where available.”
The rims on the Zeta GX wheelset are 6066 aluminum and feature a 25mm inner rim width, and are tubless-ready, being taped from the factory. All you need is a valve and some sealant and you are ready to rip.
Retail: $599
More specification deets:
- Rims: 6066 alloy Tubeless Ready with tubeless tape applied – OCR offset
- Rim depth: 19mm
- Rim inner/outer width: 25.5/29mm
- Suggested tire size range: 30mm-50mm
- Hubs: forged disc hubs and sealed bearings
- Freewheel: Ratchet Driver with 36-point engagement
- Freehub material: alloy
- Freehub options: Shimano / SRAM XD-Road / Campagnolo (N3W and backwards compatible specs)
- Compatibility: Shimano 9/10/11-speed and 12-speed road cassette – SRAM XD/ XDR – Campagnolo 10/11/13s (freehub conversion kits available separately)
- Disc brake compatibility: Centerlock (hub center-lock lockrings available separately)
- Available in BOOST and 100/142 spacing
- Spokes: DT Competition 2.0/1.8 double butted
- Front: 28 spokes / 2x lacing • Rear: 28 spokes / 2x lacing • Nipples: 2.0 brass 12mm
- Weight: 700c: 1840g/set 650b: 1740g/set (w/tubeless tape installed) • Color: black
Check out more from Ritchey below!
