Prime Race Road Alloy Wheelset

The Prime Race Road Alloy Clincher wheelset is a lightweight and hardwearing tubeless-ready choice for general road use and even gravel/cyclo-cross riding.

Prime is a new brand from Chain Reaction Cycles with a range that covers everything from £155 alloy clincher wheels up to £879.99 carbon tubular wheels.

The Race wheels feature tubeless-ready aluminium AT01 rims from Alexrims. They have an internal width of 17mm, an external width of 22mm, and a CNC-machined brake track. I used them with the excellent Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres (28mm width), which inflated first time with a floor pump and a little Stan's sealant. No fuss at all. I tried inflating from flat a few times. Sometimes the bead popped into place easily, sometimes it required soapy water to seal the deal.

Prime's R020 hubs are forged and CNC-machined 7075 alloy, very low profile in the case of the front one. They contain sealed cartridge bearings so there's no particular skill required during maintenance. The sealing isn't elaborate but I've used these in all conditions over several weeks and no water has got inside.

The alloy freehub body – Shimano/SRAM 9/10/11-speed compatible – is lighter than steel options often found at this price point, while durability is good thanks to an Anti Bite Guard spline insert that stops the sprockets digging in. The freehub has four pawls and 26 teeth.

The front wheel is built with 20 DT Swiss double-butted J-bend spokes and DT Swiss Pro Lock alloy nipples, while the rear wheel is laced with 24.

The Prime Race wheels have put in an excellent performance out on the road, offering plenty of stiffness and durability, and braking is as firm and reliable as you'd expect on an aluminium surface. I've been using them for general road riding and I also put them on a cyclo-cross bike and hit the local gravel roads and byways a few times. They've done a great job throughout.

They're light too. Ours weighed in at 662g (front) and 868g (rear) – a total of 1,530g (without skewers or valves). That's exactly the overall weight that Prime claims.

> Check out our guide to the best road bike wheels

> Read our buyer's guide to tubeless wheels

Checking them post-test, both wheels are still as round and true as they were to start with, the spoke tensions virtually unaltered. That augurs well for long-term durability. The brake tracks show signs of wear, obviously, and there are marks on the freehub from the sprockets, but they're not at all deep. I imagine the stuck-on graphics will eventually start to look tatty but they're doing fine so far.

The wheelset is supplied with Prime Quick Release skewers, tubeless valves (installed), and three spare spokes and nipples. Although the valves on our test wheels are silver, they're black on the production version to match the rim finish. If you want to ride tubeless, all you need are the tyres and sealant and you're good to go.

Verdict

Lightweight alloy clincher wheelset that's hardwearing and tubeless-ready out of the box