Cole Rollen Lite wheelset

The Cole Rollen Lites are marketed as an 'all purpose wheels for racing and training' and occupy the lowest price rung in Cole's extensive wheel range. At a portly 1920g for the wheelset, the racing claim may be a tad optimistic, but they perform just fine for everyday duties.

Both wheels use identical 20mm wide and 19mm deep rims, laced with 28 straight gauge spokes (radial in front and 2 cross at rear) to the hubs. Pretty standard stuff. The hubs themselves run on sealed cartridge bearings with Shimano and Campagnolo compatible freehubs available.

Out of the box, the Rollens were true and tension has remained high and even throughout the test (with one exception, see below). Sometimes, wheels can take a while to 'bed in' so to speak, as the spoke tension rebalances under the load of riding. This is more commonly a problem with factory built wheels where each spoke is brought to tension individually, instead of all together as you would do on a hand build. This wasn't the case here which indicates a good quality build was involved.

The braking surface is standard aluminium so there shouldn't be any surprises here for anyone. Power is nice and progressive with a distinct, but expected, drop in power in the wet. The upshot is that you have a pretty much unlimited choice of pads that you can use (the wheels don't come with their own pads).

Out on the road, the Rollens are quite lively for a wheelset of this weight, making them easy to get up to speed. Out of the saddle efforts did lead to a small amount of flex, with my rear derailleur grazing the spokes in the biggest sprocket. This is more of a minor annoyance than a hindrance, and you couldn't say that this affected forward speed in any way. The unusually high flanges are probably to blame for this as they place the spokes closer to the rear mech. The benefit though, is that the increased bracing angle should make for a stiffer wheel, all else being equal.

40 days into the test period, the rear freehub started to make some ominous grinding sounds after a particular nasty ride. This was unexpected and a bit of a let down for a wheelset which had seemed durable. Granted, the conditions this 'summer' haven't been kind to equipment, but one would expect more from a wheelset that is likely to be used day in and day out.

Getting the hub stripped down and lubricated is an easy process once you have the correct tools. You'll need a couple of 17mm cone wrenches to do this which I suspect most people won't have -something to bear in mind if you're planning to pull the trigger on a set. The front, meanwhile, is still going strong.

Having previously said that the wheels have stayed true throughout, I did experience a broken spoke on the rear wheel. As is typical of j-bend spokes, the spoke broke right at the hub eyelet knocking the wheel slightly out of true, but not enough to end the ride. With only a flick of the brake quick release, I was able to spin home where the spoke could be replaced easily. Given that this has only happened once, I'll chalk it up as a freak accident and not some inherent design flaw.

I was pleasantly surprised with the included skewers. Normally, I'd only ever touch internal cam skewers but the extra long levers on these Cole numbers means that you can get a good clamp with the external cam. And whilst the freehub has needed re-greasing, the skewers have remained maintenance free and are still as smooth as the day they were first used.

Verdict

Decent training wheels that ride better than the stats might suggest.