Riders looking for affordable, wide internal width, carbon wheels for tackling road & gravel tracks keep getting more and more options. Next Cycling is the latest to roll into the fray with their new 24mm internal Xplor wheels that they’re calling “the best endurance allroad wheel on the planet.”
NEXT Xplor wide carbon endurance gravel road wheels
Hyperbole aside, the details of Next’s newest Xplor wheels hit a nice mixed-surface road sweet spot. The wheels are wide by most modern road standards at 24mm inside and 30mm external. That should make for a good high-volume ride feel, and still get a well supported tire shape & good aerodynamics profile even with 28-32mm wide road and gravel treads. At 40mm deep the blunt-nosed profile should do well into the wind without getting blown around much if it gets windy.
Tech Details
Of course they are tubeless, and Next opted for a hookless profile that works great at the lower pressures of fat all-road & gravel tires.
The disc brake only Xplors are light too, helped by dropping the brake track, and getting a max tire pressure rating of 70psi. That sounds low for a road rim, but when you consider they are an endurance wheel and destined for 30mm tires it seems about right. At 80kg, I usually run around 60 psi in tubeless 28mm road tires, and down to ~50psi at 30mm wide.
The Xplors low-resin, 3D wound carbon rims are said to weigh just 405g a piece, and include molded in spoke & valve holes. Next builds them up to a claimed 1402g for a complete wheelset with DT Swiss 240 hubs – including their tubeless tape and valves installed.
Pricing & Options
Each set of Xpor wheels are built up to order in the USA, which leads to high build quality and the opportunity for a bit of customization. You can pick from Next’s own alloy hubs with cassette & XD driver options, DT 350 or 240s, Industry Nine Torch, Project 321, or Chris King hubs, with several different color possibilities depending. The wheels all come with 24 spokes, 2x front & rear with premium Sapim CX-Ray spokes, and you can also pick spoke & nipple colors to suit.
Xplor wheels with Next hubs start at just $1395 for a pair (and a claimed 1453g), while the lightest DT hub build will set you back $1895.
