Prime Kanza 650B Carbon Gravel Wheelset

Prime has created a tough yet lightweight package with its Kanza 650B Carbon Gravel wheels. The wide rims make fitting larger tyres a breeze and they stand up to a lot of abuse on the trails. At under 1,600g they are responsive too, and you certainly can't complain about the price.

A lot of gravel bikes are coming with the smaller diameter 650B wheels these days, over the more standard 700C, or at least have framesets designed to work with them, and if you are looking for an upgrade then these Kanza wheels are a great place to start.

> Buyer's Guide: 22 of the best gravel and adventure bikes

Wider tyres fit easily with the wheels' 32mm-wide rims (24.5mm internal), sitting with a nice rounded profile once installed.

I went with the excellent Rene Herse Juniper Ridge tyres in a 48mm width. As the Prime wheels come with tubeless tape already fitted and valves included, it's a pretty inexpensive way to get set up.

As you can see from that review, the Juniper Ridges aren't the easiest tyres to fit without using some kind of compressor to get the supple sidewalls to pop up against the rim edges, but once in place on the Kanzas the fit was fine and I had no issues whatsoever.

> Buyer's Guide: 18 of the best gravel and adventure tyres

If you don't want to go tubeless, they work fine with an inner tube too.

Once fitted to the bike and out on the trails, the Kanzas felt nippy and responsive. Lighter gravel wheels can be had, but at 1,550g (730g front, 820g rear) for the pair, Prime has delivered on performance without sacrificing the durability.

They seem to pick up speed well and certainly don't give a feeling of getting bogged down when accelerating hard from a standing start or a slow speed. Stiffness levels are also high, with no feeling of flex when accelerating hard or climbing.

With 24 Pillar PDB 1415 double-butted spokes front and rear it's a strong build, and at the end of a month of testing the wheels are still looking and feeling pretty much like new.

At speed on my local gravel tracks I had a few 'moments' and whacked a couple of potholes which, because of the colour of the stones and the angles when descending, are near-impossible to see at times. The noises weren't good but the Kanzas took it all in their stride and it didn't affect their trueness either.

The hubs are CNC machined from 7075 aluminium alloy and look nicely finished, adding to the overall quality of the wheels.

The sealed cartridge bearings have seen plenty of grit, mud and water over the test period and are still running smoothly. I can't see any signs of water ingress either. Replacement bearings are readily available and cost around a tenner a wheel, so when they need replacing it isn't exactly going to break the bank.

The hubs come as 12mm thru-axle as standard, although there are various kits you can buy for quick release, and you get 15mm end caps in the box.

The freehub has an anti-bite guard which stops the Shimano cassette body from digging into the splines under heavy pedalling loads, which is a nice touch at this price. There is a SRAM XDR freehub available and one for Campagnolo too, but these are optional upgrades and don't come as standard built wheels; this will add around £25 to the price.

Even if you had to add that on top, though, the price is still very competitive with an rrp of just a penny shy of £600.

Mike absolutely loved the Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel Disc X-Wide wheelset and Hunt also does a 650B version. They have a shallower rim depth of 22mm compared to the 30mm of the Prime Kanzas, but are a similar width internally and a similar weight.

It isn't often that Hunt is beaten on price, but the Primes are £199 cheaper than the £799 asking price of the Hunts.

> The 650B alternative: Is this smaller wheel size right for you?

The Primes stand up well against the FFWD F3A Disc Brake wheelset, too, which cost £624.95. They're very good wheels in their own right, but for the money you are getting an alloy rim rather than a carbon one, and they're a little heftier.

Overall, when it comes to performance and build quality, I can't really fault the Kanzas, especially for the money.

Verdict

Solidly built, with a great performance – top-level carbon wheelset at an entry-level price