ELITEWHEELS Drive SL CS carbon-spoke road wheelset

On the Drive SL CS, Elitewheels fits a rim with a 25 mm internal width, in 48 or 58 mm, to 3.2 mm carbon blades. It is aimed at the road racer on 29 to 32 mm tyres who wants a wheel that stays stiff in a sprint.

Its subject is tension balance. A disc wheel isn't symmetrical. The rotor at the front and the cassette at the rear move one flange closer to the centre, and the spokes on that side run at higher tension. So Elitewheels laces it 2:1: two spokes on the loaded side for every one opposite, 21 at the front, 24 at the rear. Each spoke on the loaded side carries less, those opposite carry more, and the tensions come closer together. The brand claims less than 7 kgf of difference.

Closely matched tensions make a rim that moves less under load. Elitewheels claims more lateral stiffness than the previous generation, and less rotor rub out of the saddle. In 58 mm, it measured savings of 1 to 6 W at Silverstone at up to 15 degrees of yaw. Its truing specs are public: 120 to 130 kgf on the rear drive side, lateral runout under 0.2 mm. A workshop with a tension meter can therefore check it. The blades are specific to the brand, hence the four spares supplied.

Every Drive SL wheelset goes through more than 20 lab tests at Elitewheels, including the UCI vertical impact test. Because its tension is measured and published, instead of promised, MAAKE chose it.