The UCI DON’T Want You To Use These Wheels!

Bored of modern bike tech? Want to change things up? Maybe a wheelset like this could be your perfect match. Alex got his hands on some six-spoke wheels. That’s right, only 6 spokes! These wheels may be UCI illegal but does that mean you should stop using them? Watch the video to find out.

00:00 Welcome
00:27 GCN Tech history lesson
01:07 Riding 6 spoke wheels
04:35 Why do wheels like this exist?
05:19 Who should ride wheels like this?
06:16 What does Alex think?

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[Music] welcome back to another video where I fit crazy parts to my bike and go for a ride in today’s episode I’m going to be riding these insane looking six spoke carbon fiber Wheels to find out what they actually like to use and answer one really important question why the hell do they even exist let’s do this now before I go for a ride and use these wheels let’s first have a quick gcn Tech History lesson so Wheels like this are nothing new they’ve been around since the ’90s specialized in Dupont invented the T spoke wheel a brand called spiny made a wheel with eight carbon fiber blades for spokes then there was a wheel with just two carbon fiber Spokes and then we’ve had Wheels like this these being the Vel 6 disc from Elite wheels these bad boys cost $1,300 for the pair they weigh $1,630 G and look absolutely out of this world anyway enough jibba jabber from me let’s go for a ride okay I’ve made it out onto the quiet Lanes outside of town initial feelings of riding these wheels are actually pretty exciting the noise is exciting the sounds are cool and in terms of the actual speed I’m getting when I’m riding these well it’s kind kind of comparable to what I expect with the normal carbon fiber Wheels I use so don’t expect to throw these wheels into your bike and feel like you’re going to be riding a rocket ship now a wind tunnel might tell you differently but out here in the real world I’m going to say um all things are pretty comparable now the idea behind the Vel 6 disc wheel is um is really that having the six bladed carbon fiber spokes which are aerodynamically profiled and optimized is to try to make the wheel faster than using lots of smaller spokes something that my brain is wanting to tell me though is that when you look at these wheels you want to assume that they’re going to be flexible because quite simply there’s less Spokes and whilst that would be true from uh wheels that were maybe manufactured and designed in say the late 90s and 2000s using this kind of construction process that’s certainly not the case now what I’m actually finding from riding them is that they’re actually incredibly stiff Elite Wheels actually say that the v 6 wheels I’ve got here are stiffer than their other Wheels which are constructed using that traditional Rim Hub and normal spoke construction process and it’s certainly something that is very noticeable when you’re sprinting or climbing out of the saddle which I think is pretty cool at 1630 G for the pair these wheels are slightly heavier than something like the drive 40 or the dve 50 that Elite Wheels also make and are constructed using a more traditional process now in terms of talking about weights the wheels have 130 kg Rider weight limit which is actually a really important point to note here because you don’t need to be a super lightweight Tor the France hill climber in order to use these wheels safely and that is important because the UCI fund police say these wheels are actually illegal to use in UCI road racing events but the reason behind that is because they say we need to have at least 12 spokes but the joke’s on the UCI because well they got no jurisdiction here nor do they have any jurisdiction in group rides time trials or um Grand fondos or sport EES so Wheels like this are a thumbs up for the masses now in terms of some of the tech specs and the more sort of details of these wheels well internally they’re 21 mm wide externally they’re 28 mm wide which means they’re best suited for tires that are between a 26 mil and a 30 mil the tires that I’ve got fitted onto this bike are 26 mm wide pelli P0 race SLS setup tubeless of course other details of them well they’ve got ceramic bearings as standard and um unfortunately they’re uh they’re disc brake only so the rim brake lovers of which I can’t account myself to be one are unfortunately going to miss out on Mad looking Wheels like this however two very important questions still need to be answered and that is why do Wheels like this exist and who are they actually for well the reason Wheels like this exist is to try and provide something that’s comparable in terms of speed and aerodynamics to that of a fully FedEd disc wheel kind of like what you see fitted into the back of time TR bikes but also strike a balance between providing stability as well because using this open design tries to sit as a kind of halfway house between a fully Fair disc wheel and a wheel which uses that traditional um spoke pattern where You’ got a separate rim and a separate Hub as well which kind of seems pretty simple to me but who are wheels like this actually intended for for the large majority of people I think the biggest draw to a wheel set like this is going to be the looks and how bold they are compared to the norm for me it’s perhaps a step too far away from tradition but as I say for a lot of people that is going to be the best thing and it’s going to mean that you can stand out from the crowd and quite literally have a wheel set that pro riders are not allowed to use now in terms of the performance well I’ve already covered off the idea behind this wheel set but I think it’s important to note that you shouldn’t look at a wheel set like this in terms of a GameChanger product but more of a performance alternative meaning you can have something that’s totally different that is still with speed and a Dynamics and performance in mind rather than thinking that you’re going to fit them to your bike and turn it into an absolute rocket ship so having fitted these insane Wheels to my bike what have I actually learned and what is the wisdom that I can depart on you well I’ve learned that these crazy looking wheels are crazy for a reason the looks are wild the riding is different to the norm but what I’ve also kind of learned is the reason why they’re in n product I think just like I feel like they’re too bold and too wild for day-to-day use I think a lot of people are going to feel the exact same way and I think ultimately because Wheels like this can’t be used in the Pro pelaton my gut and heart wants to tell me they’re going to just remain as a super cool Niche product for those people out there that really love everything about them but what do you think about Wheels like this is there a video or challenge where you want to see Crazy Wheels like this use well let us know in the comments section down below and as always subscribe to gcn Tech to see more cool bik Tech related videos see other break God damn it I’m out of here see you bye