PoorInRichfield

My bike came with Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3V TLR Disc Road Wheels which are lovely and are a great "do it all" wheelset. They're a super-wide carbon rim wheel that was primarily designed for mixed condition use. While 60% of the riding I do is on roads (which after often in poor shape because Wisconsin winters like to wreck roads), the remainder of my riding is only our state's many rails-to-trails trails which are often gravel... sometimes very poorly maintained gravel which can be a little dangerous if riding on slick road tires.

It's been my intention since I bought my new bike to have two wheelsets with different tires on each: 1 for fast road riding and 1 for light gravel use.

Therefore, I'm trying to decide if I should:

• do nothing. Just appreciate the wheels I have and know they're good enough for both road and gravel. Keep the 32mm tubeless tires that came on the 3Vs and ride both road and gravel.
• buy a deep section carbon road wheel. This new wheel set would be my new road wheel and my existing 3V's would become my gravel wheels. I'd likely go with a 40 or 50mm deep carbon wheel that is hopefully lighter than the 3Vs to gain both an aero and weight advantage (although my wallet my veto this decision.)
• buy another set of 3Vs for gravel. The point here would be that the tire would actually be the difference between the two wheelsets, not the wheel itself. One wheelset would have slick road tires, maybe 28mm, and the other wheelset would have semi-knobby, wider gravel tires.

If this was your decision to make, what which direction would you go?

blakcloud

Second set of Dura-Ace C40's. I have recommended these before on this forum. You get a lighter aero set of wheels than you have presently and they are optimized for 25-28 mm tires. You also get Shimano quality and as an added bonus they are blowing these out at $1400. These wheels with Rene Herse Chinook Pass extra lights with superlight tubes would be a killer ride. Keep the 3V's for gravel riding.

If you wanted to keep things in the family Bontrager XXX4's would be a nice touch.

PoorInRichfield

Thanks for the feedback, blakcloud. The C40's don't look very deep though? I.e., they look like they're about the same depth as the 3V's which might not provide much of an aero advantage?

If money was no object, I'd like to go with the Bontrager XXX's with the hopes that the hubs are similar to the 3Vs so I don't have to adjust my rear derailleur when swapping wheels. However, XXX = $$$ I'm inclined to think there are wheels that are just as good as the XXX for less jing.

biker128pedal

Get a set of narrower and deeper 5s.

GlennR

Not 100% sure which way you're going.

Have a set of Zipp 303s on my road bike and Zipp 30 Course with 32mm tubeless on my CX.

The 30 Course have more spokes and are designed to take abuse. My CX bike is my winter and foul weather bike so I ride it in the rain, snow and through all the winter debris on teh side of the road. They're also great on gravel and trails, with the right tires.

Noctilux.95

Personally I would get either the Campagnolo Bora WTO 45 or Enve Foundation 45 and have them mounted with a fast 28mm tubeless tire, like the Continental 5000 tubeless.

Mulberry20

I second Campagnolo wheels. The Boras are the bees knees. I have two bikes with full Campy groupsets, one bike has Campy Proton wheels and the other with Zondas and Campy wheels as a whole are superior including aesthetics. I have no doubt Shimano components are trusty and efficient but every time I see an expensive frame with 105 or even Ultegra I wonder what the owner was thinking. I saw a newer Pegoretti just the other day with 105 on it and wanted to cry.

Zipp makes fantastic wheels too and still made in Indiana I believe.

PoorInRichfield

I'm not likely going to do the Campy thing as my bike is equipped with Shimano R8050 Ultegra Di2 and I don't want my components fighting with each other

grnmasi

My girlfriend has a 56 cm Domane SL 7 etap with the Aeolus Pro 3v wheels. I have her set up with 32 mm GP 5000 clinchers and Conti 28 Wide butyl tubes. If I recall correctly, I have been using ~ 55-60 psi (F) and 60-65 psi (R) for the most part, but I think she feels more comfortable (she can tell the difference) at the lower end of the ranges. She really loves her bike and really flies when on flats or downhill, (i.e. seems faster than me :-) )even though the combo of me and my 2016 58 cm SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod probably is ~ 5 lbs less than her. I am sure she feels more stable on the downhills too because of the weight distribution on her bike. I personally am running 25 mm Michelin Pro Endurance tires on Ksyrium wheels.

The only time she struggles a bit is on hills and I was thinking of lightening up her bike with some lighter tires and tubes. From the Trek literature, I read that Trek recommended 32 mm tires as the minimum on the Aeolus Pro 3V wheels, but I found some reviewers had 28 mm tires outfitted on the bikes. I contacted Trek via chat and they said that initially 32 mm tires were the minimum as they had not tested the 28 mm tires on the wheels. Subsequently, the engineers tried those and found them to work very well, both smooth and fast on the road, and now state the 28 mm tires can be used.

Have any of you tried 28 mm tires, particularly the GP 5000, on the Aeolus Pro 3v wheels? How did you like them and how did the ride change vs wider tires on both smooth and rough roads? What pressures were you running them and what is your body weight? All real life experiences and recommendations are very welcome.

Thanks,
Nick

ckindt

I have a set of 3Vs and XXX4s for my Domane P1. I really like them both; 3Vs/32 gp 5000k TL for plush road riding (55/38) and XXX4s 25 gp5000k (90/70) latex for feeling-fast poseur-aero days. (I'm 195#).
I have to adjust my derailleur this much after changing wheels : 0.
I think I did shim my disks on one of the wheel sets so they both fit the calipers. It was minimal.

Option 1:
I suggest you do what you can to come up with the $$$ for the XXX4s or XXX6s (or an equivalent) for your feeling-fast road days.
The XXXs are lighter than the 3Vs and there is a noticeable difference in acceleration and climbing plus they feel more nimble with a less rubber.

Option 2:
Don't buy anything and enjoy the 3Vs and save to buy the XXXs.

Unless you really, really, really like the 3Vs, I wouldn't buy a second set. I appreciate the convenience of having different wheels for different tires, but I wouldn't want the same wheel especially for a different purpose. I'd save for the XXXs.
Moreover, the 3Vs are best for 32s and bigger. Maybe a 28 could work, but it might result in an undesirable tread profile depending on the specific tire.

The 3Vs are excellent all-around wheels and I really could live without my XXX4s in hindsight, but now that I have them, I think I'll just keep them.

Edit: I just saw this is 10-days old. Did you make a decision yet?

PoorInRichfield

Thanks for the feedback, ckindt! That's exactly the feedback I've been looking for... someone who's "gone down both roads" already

My experience with the 3Vs so far has been that along with 32mm tires, the wheels are a huge improvement in comfort on some nasty roads when compared to the 25mm tires on a narrower rim that I'm used to. That and they truly do inspire confidence in high-speed downhill cornering. However and as you've already noted, they certainly don't feel fast (I have no way to determine if they actually are or aren't, but they don't feel zippy.) I just ordered a pair of Continental GP5000 tires because I literally had the sidewall on the rear stock Bontrager tire blow-out on me yesterday and leave me calling the wifey help-wagon. So much for tubeless being reliable. Hopefully the GP5000's live-up to all the hype!

I haven't made a wheel purchasing decision yet beyond deciding that I'm not going to buy a second set of 3Vs for the reasons you stated. If money were no object, I'd certainly go the XXX route right now but my wallet tells me I can only go that route if I go used. Sometimes I think Bontrager really should market the wheels as Bontrager Aeolus $$$ instead of XXX.

biker128pedal

Get a set of deep 50 mm carbon wheels with narrower inside with for 23 to 28 tires. Then the 3Vs can be used for rail trail suitable tires for comfort and to go anywhere. That’s my plan but first I need a bike that will take wider than 27mm actual with tires. Let’s call those 23mm tires.

alcjphil

Campagnolo wheels are available for Shimano cassettes. There will be no fighting. Campagnolo created Fulcrum wheels for people who had this same mistaken belief.

grnmasi

Just bumping this up a bit and still looking for input from anyone who has put 28 mm tires on the Aeolus Pro 3v and how they road either as clincher or as tubeless. Thanks.

fietsbob

Donate that $700 to the Food Bank ..

aclinjury

Forget 50mm deep wheels. Aero starts at 60mm.
I'd get Reynolds 60 Aero, no question about it. $1200 plus shipping. Come with Industry Nine hubs, US made. Sapim CX rays. NACA teardrop profile (the only proven shape for aero).

Sasquatch16

Can you tell me the width of the GP 5000’s on the 3v wheels?
Thanks

PoorInRichfield

I don't have an accurate tool for measuring the tire width. With a plain old ruler, they look pretty close to 32mm to me (as they are 700x32c tires).

I made a decision on this topic a while back and my second set of wheels arrived this week after waiting about a month and a half for them to be built. They're Light Bicycle WR50 wheels at 1,354g for the pair (actual weight). They're lighter than the Bontrager Aeolus XXX 4 for about the price of 1 XXX wheel (i.e., 1/2 the price of the set of XXX wheels). According to Bontrager's site, the XXX 4's are 1,455g and that's before adding the tubeless rim liner. I ordered the LB wheels to have no spoke holes in the rim, so no need for the rim tape to set them up tubeless. Assuming the tests on Hambini: Testing to Find the Fastest Bicycle Wheels are remotely accurate, LB wheels are reasonably aero (although my exact wheels weren't part of the testing as the wheels are a relatively new model.)

The new wheels will be my "fast" road wheels and the 3Vs will get a new set of gravel-specific tires for trail use. Quite frankly, the 3V wheels are incredible all-around wheels and I needed the LB wheels like I need another hole in the head, but a fool and his money soon will part...

Outrider1

They look beautiful! Enjoy.

ckindt

The front is 34mm at 40psi and the rear is closer to 35mm at 60psi.

Sasquatch16

Thank you very much.

aclinjury

i saw that episode of Hambini. Hambini said that the reason why that model of LB wheels (not sure if you have the same model) have good aero is because of how LB construct the hook to optimize the air boundry at the rim-tire interface. This is the reason why LB wheels are surprisingly aero. It's sort of akin to Mavic's "stip" at the rim-tire interface (which is deemed illegal by the UCI).
Hambini espouses the NACA profile, which is what Reynold Aero Black series are.

PoorInRichfield

Got all the parts and now I have my two wheelsets...

For gravel...


... and for road...

grnmasi

Another shameful bump. Has anyone run the Aeolus Pro 3V on the road w/ 28 mm tires? Trek now says that you can run 28 mm, instead of the stock 32 mm that came on the Domane SL 7 eTap. Just trying to lighten up the wheelset a bit for my girlfriend without necessarily giving too much in comfort. Thanks.

PoorInRichfield

Not worth it.