Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc wheelset review | BikeRadar

The Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc wheelset delivers big performance with a relatively small price tag.

At £699, it's still a fair investment to make, but the Hyperdrive Carbon wheelset has impressed me, showing precious few compromises compared to bigger-name, and higher-priced, rival road bike wheelsets.

If you’re not committed to the hegemony of established brands, the Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc wheelset is worth consideration, especially if your budget is tight.

The Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc wheelset is an interesting proposition, given it packs a lot of bang for your buck on paper.

Priced at £699 / $935 / €819 (US and EU prices are subject to exchange rates and additional delivery charges), the wheelset is cheaper than the other road wheels I tested it alongside. It undercuts perennial value-striver Hunt, with its 50 Carbon Disc (£799 / $999 / €999), while Giant’s SLR 2 50 wheelset comes closest, costing £719.98 / €1,038.

The Velocite rims feature a modern 21mm internal width, flaring out to 29mm externally.

The Hunt and Giant wheelsets are slightly wider, and can therefore be considered more progressive in design, but this difference alone isn’t transformative on the road.

Velocite says it has used CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and analysed customer feedback to make updates on the previous-generation Hyperdrive wheel, although it doesn’t publish any data (computer-simulated or wind-tunnel derived) to benchmark the new wheelset against the old version or its rivals.

On the scales, the Velocite wheels impress – at 1,477g including tubeless rim tape and valves, they’re the lightest among the test cohort (albeit the 1,425g claimed weight is notably wide of the mark).

You might assume the spec list would reveal some kind of concession to achieve such a price and weight, but the components and manufacturing quality seem on a par with competitors.

Straight-pull, stainless-steel Pillar Wing spokes attach to alloy nipples fitted into drilled spoke holes, and lace to the brand’s Hyperdrive X alloy hubs.

These spin on stainless-steel bearings, but can be upgraded to ‘high speed’ steel bearings (£20 upcharge), or to ceramic bearings for a £100 premium.

The freehub features a ratchet design, with an inboard fixed ratchet ring interacting with a sprung ring. These have 36 teeth, resulting in a 10-degree engagement angle.

Velocite says it offers a crash-replacement discount scheme (albeit it’s managed on a case-by-case basis), while it sells accompanying maintenance packages for its wheels.

These feature three tiers of coverage, costing £49, £99 and £149 per year, with services ranging from basic maintenance up to a full wheel rebuild (if required).

It’s worth noting these require you to send the wheels back to Velocite for attention, and the service is only available to customers in the UK.

While it’s unlikely anyone will know Velocite wheels better than the brand itself, it’s fair to say a good bike shop should be able to perform these tasks too.

Setup was about as easy as I’ve become accustomed to. I was able to get my 700x28c Continental GP5000 S TR mule tyres over the rim with the final pry of a tyre lever.

In fact, when setting one wheel up tubeless, I was impressed I could get the tyre over the rim lip without the help of a lever. For me, at least, this is a rare occurrence.

The tubeless tape was also applied neatly and with no air bubbles – something Hunt and Ere Research should take note of.

Once inflated, I measured the tyres at 29.6mm wide at 80psi / 5.5 BAR – narrower only than the Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheelset, by a mere 0.2mm.

Velocite also includes hub caps with an integrated valve core remover, rather than the standard plastic ones – something premium brands such as DT Swiss and ENVE do.

Given the price, it would be easy, and perhaps lazy, to assume there’s a lack of quality elsewhere in the wheelset. As it is, I couldn’t detect any shortfall in stiffness, aerodynamic efficiency or stability – or overall ride quality – compared to any of its similarly deep rivals.

Freehub pickup is quick and solid-feeling, and the low overall weight helps the wheels feel agile and satisfyingly reactive to inputs, even on steeper climbs.

Sadly, riding the wheels for thousands of kilometres is beyond the scope of this review, but a cursory check of the freehub internals and bearings revealed no obvious weak points or initial reasons for concern regarding wear.

That said, my test wheelset exhibited some scratches on the rim and finish wear on the hubs.

It must be noted that the most prominent rim scratches were present before testing, though, and Velocite confirmed they're part of a test fleet.

However, the wear on the sharper edges of the freehub body, revealing the silver alloy under the black finish, was a little disappointing to see. I’d hope this wouldn’t be a factor for any wheelset for many thousands of kilometres of riding.

This is a small blemish on an otherwise impressive copybook, though.

Some might be put off by the relative obscurity of the brand name, but there’s little evidence to suggest these wheels aren’t as ‘good’ as their competition.

Those in the US and Europe don’t quite have the same access to Velocite’s full-service offering at the time of writing, and need to pay attention to exchange rates and delivery costs to ensure it remains as good value as it might appear, but this doesn't necessarily mean they should be discounted.

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The Velocite Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc delivers impressive all-round performance where it matters most – on the road.

The fact that it does this at a cheaper price than its rivals means it represents very good value for money.

Some might feel more comfortable investing their hard-earned cash in a brand with a more proven reputation, and the superficial wear is slightly disappointing, but the latter is a niggle that should be easy to deal with, with requisite care.

If your budget is tight, there’s no practical reason why the Hyperdrive Carbon 50mm Disc wheelset won’t fit the needs of a performance-oriented road rider.