Wheels

These wheel ride like a dream and exceeded my expectations of ride quality, comfort, speed and braking performance. But, it didn't come with out major hassles along the way. Really hoping the warranted rear wheel will be free of issues when it returns. Read below.

1) The rear wheel came to me flexing and would rub on the brake track with 4mm of pad clearance on each side when I got out of the saddle when needed. Brake is dead centered. Wasn't my bikes frames fault as the wheel sat square in the rear triangle with no rubbing on the chain stays. I'm 65 years old, 175 lbs.

2) Took me 2 different compounds (new pads each time) to find one that wouldn't squeal. Sanding pads, cleaning pad and rim with alcohol, toeing in, toeing out, tightening brake mounting bolt to spec, pads engaging rim in the perfect location. Nothing would stop the deafening noise and vibration. Spent hours trying to resolve this. Finally installed Koolstop black pads with success.

3) after a few months of very light usage and riding. a clicking sound developed. Spent a couple hours isolating the problem to the rear wheel and specifically the wheel orientation where the noise occurred. After consulting CS at HED ( they're really good) the tech dept came to the conclusion the alignment pin that is used during the welding process and popped out of place. HED warranted the rim and laced up a new one for me. The warranted wheel is en route back to me as I write.

All luxurious and wonderful light bike tech always comes with a price. The durability and integrity with these wheels seem to be of no exception. Fingers crossed problems will be behind me now. Not holding my breath.

My second set of Berd Wheels (I run Berd on my XC bike too) -- I really love the way they ride. There's some thought about deep-dish wheels in gravel, and these wheels aren't -- but I find I am on rough roads far more often than I am going over 30mph. Rough roads are where these wheels truly shine. They are amazingly light, accellerate quickly, but most importantly (to me) dampen road chatter and washboards letting me fly through the rough.

These wheels are easy to overlook going by the spec sheet alone, but these wheels are much better than the specs would suggest. They are super responsive and more comfortable than I expected, certainly not to the level of something with a 25mm internal width, but they handle rough pavement surprisingly well. The stiffness is really impressive, I'm able to put out about 1000 watts in short bursts and I don't notice any lateral flex or spoke deformation at all. They hold air better than any wheels I've previously used, I think that is partly due to the GP5K AS TR tires, but Shimano definitely made this wheel the right way. These are probably the most stable wheels in crosswinds that I've ridden and they hold speed nicely as well. Shimano might have a more modern design in the works at this point, but these wheels are still really solid performance wise and the ride feel is amazing, they feel fast even at lower speeds which makes them a lot of fun to ride. When they are on sale it is a great value.

Vision Metron wheels are used by the pro peloton. This 40mm depth version is the predecessor to the Metron SL 45, which I've been lusting after for the past few months. However, considering I wanted to upgrade the (aluminum) DT Swiss R460 wheelset that came stock on my 2018 Ridley Carbon X-Trail, I was super stoked to see this 40mm Metron wheelset on sale for an incredible $845. Sign me up. The unboxing told the story I wanted to hear. Wheelbag? Check. QR skewers and adapters (in case you need these)? Check. Tubeless valves and tape? Check. The wheels themselves were wrapped in a fabric protective case, and then inside a plastic bag, and then safely ensconced in a side-by-side cardboard and foam board carrier inside the sturdy cardboard shipping carton. Everything arrived to my address in Texas in perfect condition. These wheels will save me almost 16 ounces of rolling weight on my Ridley, and I can hardly wait to test them out. Oh, one last thing: my Ridley wheels were setup with 6-bolt disc brakes vs. centerlock, which is what these new Metron wheels feature too. So, it saved me even more time and money. Truly a 5 star product and deal.