Prime Doyenne 56 Carbon Disc Wheelset

The new Prime Doyenne 56 wheels have gone down the wide-and-deep route to create a wheelset that embraces being ridden at speed on flat roads and descents. They aren't the lightest in their category, but once they are rolling it really doesn't matter as aerodynamics trumps weight virtually all the time.

Prime has brought its Doyenne deep section wheels in at a cracking price of a penny under six-hundred quid. And as our best road bike wheels buyer's guide shows, you can easily pay over a grand (or two, or three...) for a quality set of aero carbon wheels.

But in spite of their very appealing price, the Doyennes do not feel like cheap wheels when you're riding them. The carbon fibre rim is stiff – as is the rest of the build – and the ratchet-style freehub gives instantaneous engagement for hard and rapid acceleration.

Ride quality overall feels smooth. The Doyennes are most definitely a stiff set of wheels that are capable of coping with big out-of-the-saddle efforts, but they don't feel harsh and they don't resonate over poor road surfaces.

In fact, for wheels with such deep rims they feel surprisingly comfortable even with the tyres pumped up hard.

A wheelset with 56mm deep rims is only going to be about one thing: speed. The wide-profile rims measure 23mm internally and 30mm externally, which gives them a bulbous shape and a smooth transition between rim and tyre with tyres from 25mm wide and upwards.

Above 20mph there is a noticeable aero boost where you feel that you don't need to put in a huge amount of extra effort, even though your speed is increasing, until you get to the point where wind resistance starts to become a drag for the whole package – including you.

The best thing, though, is that the Doyennes make that swooshy noise like all good deep-section wheels do. After all, everyone knows a fast-sounding wheelset is worth at least 20 watts!

At 1,840g per pair, including rim tapes, these aren't the lightest set of wheels around. This is noticeable from a standing start, but when rolling it really isn't an issue. I don't think I'd want to use them in a crit where you have to accelerate out of bend after bend, but for time trials, triathlons or for just riding fast, their aero benefits outweigh any negatives.

I also found that the deep-section rims weren't overly affected by sidewinds, except when they were especially gusty.

Rather than use pawls for the freehub, Prime has gone for what it describes as a dual-sprung star ratchet system that gives 36 points of engagement. While most freehubs aren't exactly slow to lock in, you can sometimes feel a little lapse in between the bite points, especially when rocking the bike while track-standing. There is none of that with the Primes.

Overall, the performance of the wheels has been very impressive, which has been matched with durability. Both wheels have remained true throughout testing, and this being Britain, I haven't only taken them out for rides on smooth tarmac (as if you could actually find any of that in a British winter...).

The T700 UD carbon rims are compatible with any tyre. They have a hook for the bead of a tyre to lock in under so that you can clincher tyres with inner tubes – or you could go fully tubeless. The wheel boxes include tubeless valves, which is a nice touch.

The hubs use steel sealed bearings inside 7075-grade aluminium alloy hubs, which are laced to the rims via 24 J-bend Pillar spokes on each wheel.

The freehub is compatible with Shimano/SRAM 9-/10-/11-speed cassettes and comes with an anti-bite guard to stop the cassette notching into the splines when under load.

Brake rotor capability is for Centerlock, which makes for quick and easy maintenance.

Value

In addition to their excellent performance, the other area where these wheels excel is their £599.99 price

For a similarly shaped, wide, deep-section wheelset you are looking at something such as Hunt's 54 Aerodynamicist that I really rated. They are lighter than Prime's Doyennes at just 1,620g a pair with tape fitted, but at £949 they are over 50% more expensive.

Vel's RL Carbon Tubeless Disc wheelset has a slightly deeper rim but they are a similar weight to the Primes and I thought they were great value at £749 when I reviewed them.

Conclusion

The performance of the Doyennes is great if most of your riding is about cycling at speed. Their weight blunts acceleration a little, but that's only a concern in disciplines such as criteriums. But for day-to-day fast riding and events where that isn't a concern – time trials and triathlons for example – I'd say Prime's Doyennes are well worth the comparatively modest amount of money being asked.

Verdict

A deep-section aero carbon wheel that feels very fast in the real world, though they aren't the lightest