Velocite Hyperdrive Ultra 50mm Disc Wheelset

The Velocite Hyperdrive Ultra wheelset is designed for all-out speed, and thanks to the rim profile and aero carbon spokes, doesn't disappoint. The wheels perform brilliantly, and with such a low weight their responsiveness under acceleration and when climbing is excellent.

> Buy now: Velocite Hyperdrive Ultra wheelset for £999 from Velocite Wheels

For more options, our best road bike wheels buyer's guide rounds up our favourites from £250 to over £2,500.

Ride quality & performance

If you don't have a huge budget, or if your bike doesn't warrant spending north of two grand on a set of wheels, these Hyperdrive Ultras will give you an aero benefit and low weight for less than four figures – just.

With a 50mm carbon fibre rim they are deep enough to make a difference to how you cut through the wind as your speed increases. I found the most noticeable point to be from around 18mph+ compared with shallower wheels, but there are also some more marginal improvements at slower speeds.

Their rim profile is on the wide side at 29mm externally, 21mm internally, and they have a rounded shape at the spoke bed which is quite stable in the majority of crosswinds. Once wind gusts were above about 25mph they could become a bit twitchy in exposed areas, but that's true of nearly all deep-section wheels.

The rim itself is designed to work most efficiently with tyres of 28-32mm in width, but because of that wide profile they'll work with much wider rubber too.

Our set tipped the road.cc Scales of Truth at 1,337g including the tubeless rim tape that was fitted, which puts them in line with the claimed 'naked' weight of 1,299g from Velocite.

What this means for performance is that the Hyperdrive Ultras feel very responsive and nippy. The freehub has a rapid engagement, so with their low weight these wheels take no effort to whip up to speed. This is obviously noticeable on steep climbs or when accelerating from a standing standard, but the biggest benefits are probably found on those rolling roads that don't have a single section of flat asphalt along their length.

Lateral stiffness seems to be great. It's harder to detect now the rims having nothing rub against like the good old days when testing rim brake wheels, but these feel very tight when sprinting hard out of the saddle.

It's also hard to detect whether the carbon spokes bring any improvements to the ride quality over the Pillar Wing spokes used on Velocite's Hyperdrive wheels that I reviewed back in the summer, as the difference will be marginal and mostly lost within the tyre/road contact point.

With the tyres pumped up hard, though, these wheels feel comfortable overall, and the rims certainly don't feel harsh.

Overall, from a performance point of view I can't find any faults at all. You have aero benefits and low weight, not something that is always achieved in the wheel world.

Build & quality

As I've mentioned above, the Hyperdrive Ultras use a 50mm-deep carbon fibre rim. No specific grades or specs are mentioned on Velocite's website other than that the carbon composite is high-modulus. All components are backed up by a three-year limited warranty covering defects in materials and workmanship.

The rims are a hooked design, which I'm glad to see, as there are no worries about tyre/wheel compatibility. Hookless rims rely on pressure to keep the bead of the tyre locked against the inside of the rim, so they are only compatible with tubeless tyres and have a pressure limit of about 75psi. Hooked rims like these let you run whatever tyres you wish, and that includes standard clinchers designed to run with inner tubes.

The rims, of course, are tubeless compatible, and I found fitting tyres other than those supplied with our wheels (28/30mm Schwalbe Pro One Evos – £130 fitted) relatively straightforward.

Both the front and rear wheel uses a 21-spoke build, which is quite low, especially for the rear. I didn't have any issues, though; lateral stiffness was great and the spokes maintained tension throughout the review period. Each set of wheels is built by Velocite in its UK premises.

Using carbon spokes drops weight, with these coming in at a claimed 2.2g per spoke versus the 4.3g of the Pillar Wing used on the non-Ultra model. Velocite hasn't gone down the hidden nipple route like some wheel brands, and the exposed ones here will help you fettle trueness without having to remove the tyre and rim tape should the need arise.

The Hyperdrive X hubs use straight-pull as opposed to j-bend spokes and are fitted with either steel bearings or ceramic depending on which build you go for.

The freehub uses a ratchet design and the engagement feels solid, plus everything runs smoothly. The Shimano fitment freehub body has a steel plate added to stop the cassette biting into the splines under high pedalling load.

As the road and gravel market has pretty much settled on 12mm thru-axles, those are the fittings that you'll find on the Hyperdrive Ultras, and Center Lock for brake rotor retention.

The whole build feels high quality, and they stood up to everything I threw at them over the admittedly short review period. I've only had around six weeks so it's hard to judge on long term durability, but I definitely couldn't sense anything that would cause to me to worry.

Value

The cheapest build option for the Hyperdrive Ultras is £999, with a Shimano freehub and those Ldrag steel bearings. If your bike is running SRAM's XDR or Campagnolo then those freehub bodies will cost you an extra £20, plus if you want the ceramic bearings then that'll add another £100 regardless of freehub choice.

Still, a lightweight deep-section carbon wheelset with carbon spokes and ceramic bearings for £1,119 in the most expensive build is impressive!

Giant's SLR 1 50 Disc wheelset that George reviewed recently has an RRP of £1,199.98 for a 50mm carbon rim, alloy spokes and steel bearings. They weigh a bit more, too, at 1,525g and he wasn't a big fan of the hookless rim design, something that I agree with him about on road wheels.

Hunt's direct-to-consumer approach is similar to Velocite's, but a set of Hunt 54 UD Carbon Spoke Disc wheels will set you back £1,499 and they come with steel bearings. They weigh a claimed 1,410g, so are still light, and the Aerodynamicist rim profile is very quick out in the real world, though I did find that it could catch crosswinds when I reviewed the non-carbon-spoked version.

Scribe's Core Superlight 60-D wheels impressed me a lot recently, and have the same £999 price tag as the Hyperdrive Ultras. They are a bit heavier at 1,486g, but they are 10mm deeper so there is a bit more material involved, and they use Sapim's CX Ray spokes rather than carbon.

Scribe has also recently released the Elan SL range of wheels, with a 50mm-deep set with ceramic bearings weighing a claimed 1,268g for £1,399. We're hoping to get a pair of those in for review very soon.

Conclusion

Overall, what we have here is a good quality wheelset at a low weight for not a lot of cash. I can't really think of anything else to say, really. It's excellent.

> Buy now: Velocite Hyperdrive Ultra wheelset for £999 from Velocite Wheels

Verdict

Aero, light and impressively stiff without costing a fortune