Rides4Beer

So I've been shopping around for a while for a set of wheels for the new road bike, I knew I wanted around 50mm deep carbon, at least 19mm internal width, reputable company/warranty, but of course, didn't want to spend a ton. Enter the Prime RR-50 SE wheelset. There's not a lot of info out there about them, so I figured I'd post my experiences with them so far. For $470, they would be a deal by themselves, but they also come with Hutchinson Fusion5 Performance tires and tubes, so you're really looking at about $400 for the wheels. (not sure if it's still active, but there was a $20 off coupon code, so I actually got mine for $460).

They're not the lightest at 1750g, but that's the same weight as the 32mm DT Swiss wheels I had on my last bike, and they never felt heavy, so I figured I'd be ok. We love to get caught up in the numbers, but I think most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a couple hundred grams. The profile is 19mm internal, 27.5mm external. Build quality seems good, they spin true and I haven't even had a spoke ping. Had no problems mounting up 25mm GP5000s by hand, they measure out to 27mm on these wheels. They are tubeless ready (no valves, but they come taped), but I'm running tubes, so I can't speak to that, but the tape job looks good.

They come with prism decals, which would probably look good on a flashier bike, but my bike is dark with subtle decals, so they were a bit much. Luckily the wheelset also comes with a full set of black decals, so I swapped them out. The prism decals came off easily with a hair dryer, didn't even have any residue left. Shipping from the UK took 10 days, not bad, and it's free.

My first ride was 55 miles, and very windy, good test for deep wheels. The handling was very predictable, and even in big gusts I never felt unsafe (disclaimer, I'm 190lbs, so as always, a lighter rider may be more affected, but that's true for any deep wheel). Second ride was 101 miles with over 9,000ft of climbing, zero issues. They climb well, are stiff out of the saddle, and were right at home bombing descents at 45+mph. Freewheel is fairly quiet, which I like, but engages quickly (4 pawl). The hubs look to be rebranded Novatecs, 791/792 most likely according to others that have done some digging. If there are any bearing issues, I'll put some NTN bearings in, but at this price, I could replace the bearings every season whether they need it or not, and still take years to come close to the cost of other wheelsets.

Also, they tested well on Hambini's wheel test, within 1-2w of Enve 7.8s and Zipp 404s. They def feel fast and hold speed well. I've already set some segment PRs with them, but that could be due to several factors, so I won't chalk it all up to the wheels.

But overall, if you're looking for a solid set of wheels that won't break the bank, are from a reputable distributor, have a two year warranty, and a crash replacement program (40%), then these are def worth taking a look at. Obviously, 150 miles doesn't test the long term quality of a wheelset, so I'll make sure to update as I rack up the miles (I rode 10,000 miles last year, so it shouldn't take long to see how they hold up lol).

Out of the box:


Swapped for black decals:


On the bike:

Beach Bob

Thanks for the review. I've been keeping my eye on these as a cheap aero disc option for a future bike....still a bit heavier than I would like, but hard to argue against the value proposition they bring.

Rides4Beer

No problem, always nice to hear real world experiences instead of just marketing hype. Not the lightest, but they were still about 300g lighter than my stock wheels, def hard to argue the value. I had a set of Light Bicycle wheels on my previous bike, and they were great, would def still recommend them as well if someone is looking for a budget option, but even those are twice the cost of the Prime wheels, they are a bit lighter tho, my 46mm were a lil under 1500g (rim brake).

smashndash

Disc brakes are truly puttin the screws to big carbon brands. I wonder how much of these wheels’ weight is rim, and how much is spokes/hub.

Edit: looks like the pillar pdb 1415 spokes gain 60ish grams over sapim cx-rays. I’d say a “normal weight” for 50mm clinchers would be 1500g. That’s still about 190g that’s “unaccounted for”. So about 100g per wheel. Not bad at all.

Rides4Beer

I think the extra weight is the hubs/spokes, they have a black edition set with the same rims but DT spokes and different hubs that is listed as 1580g.

saverin

Just ordered a set of these myself. I'd say that the rim is probably a bit overbilt, given that most wider rims are similar to the dimensions below, whereas the Prime rims are 19mm ID, with similar OD. about 2mm more solid material around the rim bead. CRC lists them at 535g for the rim weight, which is about 100g 80-100g heavier than most similar rims and accounts for most of that difference

saverin

Yes, you're right as the delta b/w Black edition hubs and regular is ~160g