Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR: hit or miss?
 

I recently bought an Emonda SLR frameset from my local Trek dealer and the shop made me an offer: 50% off a brand new Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheelset, which is 300£. Should I take it?

P.S. The Comp 5 is the wheelset with a carbon fairing attatched to an aluminium rim, with a depth of 50mm. My current wheels are Campag Khamsins and the Bontragers are only 50g heavier yet much more aerodynamic than the Campags.

If you can afford it, I say yes.

At worse you have a back up set of wheels or you could sell them to a friend at the price you paid.

Fifty percent is a screaming deal.

I think the 1/2 off price probably makes it a valid pricepoint but not a great deal from objective standpoint. This I think is an 1,860 gram wheelset, which is no lightweight. I wouldn't pay this myself for this theoretical upgrade. Eg. compare to some Fulcrum Racing 4s at also about a $300 pricepoint. 150 grams or thereabouts less in weight, but still get a 35mm rim depth.

I’d also agree that at 50% it’s a maybe. There aren’t many good wheelsets available at that price, so it’s hard to say no.

But, Aeolus Comps are quite narrow, which, with 25 or 28mm tires, will cause inefficiency and instability. If you plan to use narrow 23s (ie not the gp4k) it will be better.

I also notice that the spoke entry holes in the fairing are not airtight (similar to FLO, HED), which probably causes you to give up a couple watts relative to a full carbon clincher of the same depth. This is what the dispute between FLO and Hambini was about. Even the revered HED Jet 6+ seems to perform like it’s 10mm shallower than it is.

I’m not saying that the alloy + carbon fairing wheels are bad. I would recommend the Jet 6+, actually. But that’s a wide, slightly lighter (1760g) and aerodynamically proven wheelset. Alloy/carbon rims also have braking and responsiveness advantages relative to full carbon clinchers imo.

The main question I’d ask is, why do you want an aero wheelset? Are you racing? It’s not gonna be a whole lotta watts you’re saving. Especially not over something like a Boyd Altamont, which is wide, 30mm deep and weighs 1550g. Of course, that wheelset is nearly twice the price... but I wouldn’t fall into the trap of buying things simply because they’re cheap. The cheapest wheelset is the one you already have.

EDIT: on Prowheelbuilder, where I ordered my Altamont, you can lace a set of altamonts to Bitex hubs (which are decent enough imo, especially if you ever get around to replacing the bearings) for $576 and the weight comes out to 1470g quoted. Not sure how much a similar build would cost in the UK.

I’d pass. Carbon wheel looks with entry level alloy wheel weight.

The curse of high-end: you can't cheap out on the wheelset if you just spent all that money on a really light, well-made frameset.

Thanks for your replies everyone! The reason why I want an aero wheelset is because I live in an area with many flats and my current wheelset is better for hills. My average speed is around 25 mph so the aero benefits will help me save some useful watts and I plan to do some time trials with the bike.

IMO, you'd be better served by saving up a bit more and getting nicer aero wheels. Lightbicycle does fantastic light + aero wheels for about $500-600, and personally, I would go that route instead. Locally you' have Hunt as well as good options from Planet X, Ribble, etc too.

Given that you are a strong rider, i think you'd get the most out of nicer wheels than relatively heavy wheels like the Comp 5 TLRs.

That’s really really fast. Faster than many races in california. You are a serious candidate for a proper 60+mm full carbon wheelset. I’d consider saving up for one.

25 mph average? That's fast enough to where they should be offering you a free set of wheels with their logo on your jersey...

I second LB. After I got my wheelset, 4 of my teammates followed (though they were all disc brake users).

I’d say, in the interest of catering to your budget, you should look to novatec or bitex hubs. The hubs that LB lists on their website are the weight weenie models with less bearing durability. I have the bitex RAR12 (the robust one) and it’s been just as good as my DT350 hub.

Save for full carbon wheels like Pro or better. Get the carbon ride.

Edit: Ask for 50% off Pro 5s or 3s. I have 5s. Not too bad in the wind but the 3s would have been good.

The COMP are the fairing over the AL wheelset. They're not light, they're not wide, but they are deep. With the narrow width and depth, I'd be worried about crosswinds. I'd pass.

Disc or Rim brake?

I'm also very interested in the Lightbicycle wheels now. I think I'm going to go with
Carbon-Ti hubs though since they have the Campagnolo option and they seem to be worth the extra money. The AR56 rims laced to Carbon-Ti hubs with Sapim CX Ray spokes weigh around 1410g for around £1000 so that seems to be the best option out there IMHO.

For me, if i am spending a 1000 quid on bikes, I'd rather up it a bit more and get something like SwissSide or DT Swiss, with proven aerodynamics and stuff. Does it really make a significant difference in actual performance? Probably not, but it would give me some peace of mind.

I'll likely get a gravel-oriented wheelset from them but with the light Novatec hubs.

Good luck with them. BTW, you can pretty much get any hub with a campy freehub, but you have to email them.

Just came across these also.. anyone have experience with this company's wheelsets (Scribe) ? About the same price range and weight as LB
https://scribecycling.com/collection...wide-50-1-434g

The AR56 rims are quite wide. A 25mm tire will measure somewhere around 29mm. Are you confident you have the room for that in your Emonda?

Sadly there's not space (recommended maximum is 25c for rim brakes) so I'll go for the R55s or build a custom one in the LB wheel builder.

Emonda with direct mount rim brakes will take any 25mm tyre on any rim.
Not sure why you didn't get a more aero frame though for riding at those speeds an flat roads with the possibility of doing time trials?

The H1 Emonda is the best option according to my fitter. It's also extremely light (my 47cm frame came at 600g) and it had a stunning paint job.

If this is true, I would definitely recommend the AR56 over the R55. It’s significantly better. If you want to read more about LB wheels or discuss them, you can check out this thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...le-wheels.html