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Some of the bikes used in the Tour de France are designed to be primarily lightweight, while others focus more on aerodynamics, but one thing they all have in common is that they are all meant to offer a competitive advantage… and unfortunately for those of us who have to buy own bikes and equipment, they are all quite expensive! In this article, we look at what bikes the pros ride, along with affordable alternatives.
As with our budget Tour de France bikes, you can often find good deals on precision wheelsets used by the pros, but you can also find more affordable models that feature many of the same technologies.
If you want to upgrade your bike but feel like a brand new one is an unnecessary expense, investing in new wheels is probably one of the best ways to improve feel and performance. While some of the wheels listed here certainly aren’t cheap, they’re much more affordable than the high-end models used by professionals, which can cost several thousand pounds.
> Best wheels for road bikes
At this year’s Tour de France, different bike brands are represented among the 22 teams. Four teams use FSA Vision wheels and the other four are on Shimano Dura-Ace wheels. Roval and Zipp bikes are selected by two teams, as are Enve bikes. The remaining teams are equipped with bikes from Reserve, Black Inc, DT Swiss, Newmen, Bontrager, SwissSide, Corima and Giant’s Cadex.
Let’s take a look at a few designs and some current deals on cheaper versions of these top deals…
Do you like the look of the Roval Rapide CLX II Team wheels (£3,000)? Try the £1,323 Roval Rapide CL II instead
Two teams use Specialized Roval bikes at the Tour: Red Bull – Bora Hansgrohe and Soudal Quick-Step. Top riders like Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel have access to the newly released Rapide CLX II Team bikes. You’re looking at £3,000 for a pair of these, even more than the already expensive £2,500 for the non-team version.
However, if you want similar technology for much much less, then we’d recommend checking out Roval’s Rapide CL II wheels for less than half the price. These have the exact same super wide aero rim as the CLX II wheelset but with lower spec DT Swiss 350 hubs which we found to be high performance and very durable.
Get the Roval Rapide CL II wheels for £1,323 from Balfe’s Bikes
Zipp 303 S (£849) > Zipp 353 NSW (£3,379)
Movistar and ProTeam Lotto Dstny use Zipp 353 NSW wheels which retail for a whopping £3,379 a pair (but you can currently get them for £2,799 from Sigma Sports, haggle!) If you’re looking to spend less than four figures on a set of wheels though Zipp 303 S bikes can be picked up for around £850.
> Are expensive carbon road bike wheels worth the money?
The 353 NSW wheels have a distinctive wavy rim, while the 303 S wheels have a standard rim shape. However, both are 45mm deep. The 303 S wheels have an internal rim width of 23mm, which Zipp says is “aerodynamically optimized when paired with a 28mm tubeless tire. They are also compatible with tires up to 50 mm wide, so they are also suitable for riding on gravel.
Buy Zipp 303 S wheels for £849 from Sigma Sports
Can’t justify spending £3,350 on an Enve? Try the Enve Foundation 45 for £1,620 a pair
ASO
American brand Enve supplies wheels for Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates, as well as Team Total Energies and their rider Anthony Turgis, who won stage 9 of the Tour.
Pros commonly use Enve SES 4.5 wheels, which are 51mm and 56mm deep front and rear. Retail price is £3,350 per pair.
The Enve Foundation 45 wheelset is about half the size of the SES 4.5, features a 45mm deep carbon rim with a 21mm internal rim width and is said to be optimized for 25-28mm tires. Like SES bikes, the Foundation collection is tested and developed in the Mercedes Benz Formula 1 wind tunnel “to deliver best-in-class aerodynamic performance in the real world”.
Enve’s Foundation 45mm costs £1,620 from Balfe’s Bikes
Go for the Vision SC60 (£1,149) over top-of-the-line Metron wheels
This season, FSA’s Vision-branded bikes have doubled their presence in the WorldTour peloton, with four teams now on Vision hoops. These teams are Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Astana Qazaqstan, Bahrain Victorious and EF Education-EasyPost.
Riders typically choose the Vision Metron 60 SL Disc wheels, but they also have the option to upgrade to the shallower Metron 45 SL Disc wheels.
> Tour de France wheels
A more affordable alternative are the Vision SC60 wheels, which the brand says use the latest version of the Vision rims found in the Metron pro range “but with more classic and less extreme design solutions”.
The carbon rim is available in 45mm or 60mm depths and features a 21mm internal width that is said to achieve maximum efficiency with tubeless tires ranging from 28 to 32mm.
Get the Vision SC60 wheelset for £1,149 from Team Cycles
Save £500 over Dura-Ace with Shimano Ultegra C60 wheels (£799.99)
Team Ineos Grenadiers, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Groupama-FDJ and Team dms-firmenich PostNL use Shimano wheels (most of the time). Ineos Grenadiers, for example, are known to dip into the Lightweight and Princeton ranks in search of those famous time trial marginal gains.
The pros use top-of-the-line Shimano Dura-Ace wheels, and you can currently pick up C60 disc wheels from Sigma Sports for £1,299.
For less money, the £799.99 Shimano Ultegra C60 wheelset with Dura-Ace drop technology is currently available. The latest Ultegra wheels make their debut on full carbon rims, with this model having a rim depth of 60mm and a width of 21mm.
Shimano says: “As with the Dura Ace counterparts, a balanced relationship between three factors: aerodynamics, stiffness and lower weight was at the forefront of development”.
Buy a Shimano Ultegra C60 wheelset for £799.99 from Fawkes Cycles
SwissSide Hadron2 Classic 500 wheels cost £1,090, almost £700 less than the pro version
> Can the Van Rysel RCR Pro become one of the most successful bikes in cycling’s WorldTour?
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale this year rides on Van Rysel road bikes equipped with SwissSide Hadron2 Ultimate bikes costing £1,746 a pair. These wheels are available in 38mm, 50mm, 62.5mm and 80mm rim depths, with the team often opting for the 50mm set.
For “world championship winning pedigree at an affordable price with unsurpassed quality”, SwissSide also manufactures the SwissSide Hadron2 A classic wheelset using identical rims to the Ultimate range, in depths from 38-80mm, but with cheaper DT Swiss hubs and spokes.
SwissSide Hadron2 Classic 500 wheels cost £1,090 direct from SwissSide
Go for the Giant SLR 1 50 Disc (£839.98), a fraction of the price of Cadex wheels
The Jayco–AlUla team is the only team to use Giant’s Cadex brand wheels, making their wheels truly a giant affair. Riders like Michael Matthews and Simon Yates use the Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheelset, which features a 50mm depth and hookless rim profile and weighs 1,349g for the pair. However, each bike costs between £1,149.99 and £1,499.99.
For less than the price of a single Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheel, a pair of Giant SLR 1 50 Disc wheels can be picked up now for £839.98. Like the Cadex wheels, these feature a 50mm carbon hookless rim profile and an internal rim width of 22.4mm. They’re less than 200g heavier for the pair, with a claimed weight of 1,518g.
The Giant SLR 1 50 Disc wheelset costs £839.98 from Pedal On
DT Swiss AR 1600 Spline wheels (£519.99) are a quarter of the price of the Arc 1100 Dicut Disc
ASO
Uno-X Mobility riders use DT Swiss wheels, specifically the Arc 1100 Dicut Disc brake set. This wheelset has a claimed weight of 1,299g per pair and is priced at €2,499 (around £2,100). They come in a range of rim depths – 38mm, 50mm, 62mm and 80mm – and are available in rim and disc brake versions.
The DT Swiss AR 1600 Spline wheels cost less than a quarter of the price at £519.99, and while they’re not carbon fiber, the AR 1600s are designed to offer the highest aerodynamic performance from an alloy system, according to the brand.
DT Swiss says the same “know-how” went into the development of these wheels as its top-of-the-line carbon aero wheels ridden by the pros. Aero touches include flat spokes and hidden spoke nipples.
Buy DT Swiss AR 1600 Spline wheels for £519.99 from Velo Workshop
Which of these (almost) professional team bikes would you choose? Let us know in the comments section below.