Pacenti Forza-C 30mm Disc Clincher wheels

The Pacenti Forza-C 30mm Disc Clincher wheels are a new design from the ground up and they are absolutely lovely. You can feel the quality of the build as soon as you start riding, and their stiffness is impressive considering their very svelte 1,378g weight. Pacenti hasn't even stung you on the price either.

• Pros: Fast and responsive, impressive price given the stats
• Cons: Compatibility only with tubeless tyres might not appeal to all

Pacenti builds these wheels by hand in the UK and it shows – not necessarily the UK bit, but definitely the handbuilt part. The wheels feel tight and stiff, but the spoke tension allows enough comfort through to take out any harshness.

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The tyres will obviously do the majority of this, but using the same tyres, pressures and so on between the amount of wheels I get through, you can feel the tiny little differences.

Speaking of tyres, the Forza-C rims are hookless so they are only compatible with proper tubeless tyres, none of that tubeless ready stuff, so that might limit their appeal somewhat to prospective purchasers. You can fit an inner tube if you like, as long as you use a tubeless-specific tyre.

If I'm honest, as much as tubeless is making inroads into all aspects of road riding, personally I haven't really felt the need to make the transition. The number of punctures I suffer on both road and gravel throughout the year considering my mileage is minimal (probably two or three), so I haven't bothered. I'm not fussed about running lower pressures for comfort either, which is probably the main reason I haven't swapped.

> Buyer's Guide: Tubeless tyres – all your options

That aside, I had some tubeless tyres kicking around, the Ere Research Genus in a 24mm width, tyres that admittedly I wasn't that impressed with when it came to their ride quality, but they did little to damp the feedback from the Pacentis.

Fitting them was easy on the 21mm wide rim (internal) using the rim tape and valves that came with the wheels, and I managed to get them inflated with just a standard track pump after a bit of fettling and a few videos – it being the first time I'd used hookless rims.

The wheels were running true straight out of the box and that is exactly how they stayed throughout testing.

The 30mm-deep carbon fibre rims have an asymmetric spoke bed, to offset the dishing, creating a stronger wheel thanks to better spoke tension to cope with today's current wide-ranging cassettes and the width of adding disc brakes to the hubs.

They are laced with 24 spokes front and rear in a two-cross pattern for strength, using Sapim's CX-Ray spokes up front and its D-Lights at the rear – something we see on a lot of builds, especially the drive side as the D-Lights are very strong, being primarily designed for mountain bike use.

Hub-wise Pacenti uses its own in the build, which are fitted with EZO bearings. They run beautifully smooth and have stood up well to varying weather conditions.

It's good to see the freehub getting a bite guard, too: a small strip of stainless steel to stop the cassette gnarling up the alloy body under load.

I spoke up top about how stiff and comfortable these wheels are, but that is only the half of it. What this build has created is a set of wheels that are not only durable and robust but impressively efficient.

A pair of wheels weighing (without valves and tape) sub 1,400g (747g rear, 631g front) are never going to feel sluggish, and these certainly don't, but they don't feel like they have sacrificed anything to achieve that. Acceleration, climbing and sprinting are delivered without hesitation and... well, I can't really sum it up more than that these wheels deliver the all-round package, such a joy to ride.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best tubeless wheels for under £1,000

And on top of all that, you can have all of this for a penny under £900!

Yes, it's still a wedge of cash, but from some of the more mainstream brands you'd be looking at getting on for double the price.

Similar options such as the Token Prime Ventous Carbon Disc wheelset will set you back £1,099.99. They certainly impressed Sean, so it's not a bad comparison and they have a decent weight of 1,479g.

And for a little less, the likes of Parcours with its Grimpeur wheelset (£819/1,406g) and JRA's £850 Gecko wheelset are worthy competitors, and show what quality company the Pacentis find themselves in.

Conclusion

The Forza-Cs are up there with some of the best carbon disc wheels on the market thanks to quality components and a great build. If you've embraced tubeless and want one of the lightest, durable, best value for money wheelsets out there then this could be the one.

Verdict

Light, strong, good value – you don't have to pick two, you can have all three