Kinesis Crosslight CXDisc wheels

The Kinesis Crosslight CXDisc wheels are an excellent value wheelset for disc-equipped road/cross bikes. Most disc-compatible CX wheels currently available are towards the higher-priced end of the spectrum; while the Crosslights might be a little heavier than this exotica, they are a lively, tough and well-built wheelset at a great price.

This year there's been a lot of talk about disc brakes for road bikes, with high-end manufacturers like Colnago, Time and Parlee going all disc-o-bling at recent shows.

Cyclocross (CX) bikes, of course, are already starting to see disc brakes being specced fairly widely, and Kinesis have got in on the act with their disc-compatible Crosslight Pro6 frameset. To go with this (and their Decade Tripster) they have launched a disc wheelset for cyclocross and road use.

Wheels are a perennially popular upgrade for cyclists and for good reason – arguably more than any other upgrade it can change the feel of your bike. At present, only a few other manufacturers are offering a 700c disc wheelset aimed specifically at road or CX riding – Easton, HED Reynolds and Stan's offer more expensive options.

Another option is to have some custom built, or you could use a 29er mountain bike wheelset - but this will be a heavier option lb-for-£.

At £274.99, these Crosslight CX Disc wheels are a competitively-priced and good-looking set of clinchers. Labelling is fairly discreet and smart – these are certainly not an out-and-out bling wheelset like the Reynolds AssaultCX. We liked the sticker marking where the valve hole is.

The rims are from WTB and according to Kinesis were designed to meet their particular requirements for a rim tough enough for hard off-road riding with a relatively skinny tyre, coupled with 'real world cost and weight, and high durability and function". They are 24mm wide and 22mm deep with a tapering disc-brake-only profile. The wheels are built up with 28 triple butted spokes and aluminium nipples, with two-cross lacing all round. The hubs are Kinesis's own, made from 7075 aluminium with standard 6-bolt mounting for the brake rotor. The front hub has three sealed cartridge bearings (with two on the disc side) and the rear hub has four bearings.

The rear hub's freewheel is a three-pawl one with 36 engagement points per revolution. Freewheel clicking is audible but certainly not Hope/King loud. The first production run are only compatible with a Shimano-type cassette, but the distributor (Upgrade Bikes) told us that the 2013 model will have a Campagnolo option. The bearings run impressively smoothly – when you set the front wheel spinning in a workstand, it seems to go on forever.

Lighter wheels means faster acceleration. However, while the weight of wheelsets is commonly discussed, the reality is that it's the weight of the rim that makes the big difference to the wheel's rotational inertia (as it's turning at the largest radius). How light you want to go will of course depend on your intended usage. From the total wheelset weight of 1,828g, Kinesis claim a rim weight of 550g. By way of comparison, Mavic claims 435g for an Open Pro rim.

Obviously, the Open Pro is a road rim, and Kinesis are marketing these wheels as a tough 'cross rim, so you'd expect a bit more mass. We asked Upgrade if there were restrictions in terms of rider weight, tyre pressure and so on and they were pretty relaxed, saying that the CEN tests which these wheels have passed should mean there are no particular restrictions.

WTB recommends tyre sizes between 28 and 62mm to fit their rim, although we doubt that many CX frames could accommodate 62mm tyres. Kinesis said they'd had no problems using skinnier tyres and we had no issues with any of the tyres we used (Schwalbe Durano 23 / Vittoria Randonneur 28 / Ritchey Excavader 35). Equally, tyre fitting proved straightforward.

The Kinesis Crosslights replaced some basic Ritchey wheels on a Boardman crosser and the 300g saving was immediately noticeable, particularly on the road, giving faster acceleration when stamping on the pedals. Once up to speed, they rode very nicely too, with a pleasing 'over-engineered' feel and no discernible flex into corners.

We took them off-road and deliberately aimed at pot-holes on-road to see how they fared and they shrugged it off, remaining perfectly true throughout. Obviously with disc brakes, slightly bent wheels aren't a huge problem anyway as you don't get brake rub, but the Crosslights (interesting that Mavic doesn't own a general trademark on Cross-something wheel names) simply didn't budge. Fingernail plucking revealed that spoke tension also remained perfectly even throughout our test period.

Probably the toughest test we gave the wheels was on a trip to Cataluña where some navigational issues and the gathering dusk left us no choice but to cane it along some stony cross-country trails with 23mm road slicks fitted. This was quite exciting with minimal grip from the deeply unsuitable tyres, but the wheels remained true despite several big hits, so it seems that Kinesis's spec for the wheelset was bang on the money.

Verdict

Tough, disc-brake compatible cyclocross wheels easily able to withstand knocks and bumps, super-smooth bearings… they look good too