Reynolds G700 wheels

Reynolds' G700 wheelset is a gravel design through and through, with a wide rim to suit large volume tyres and the ability to shun all the knocks and bangs that your local trails can throw at them. Their weight is decent too, allowing for good performance without sacrificing stiffness or durability.

I've tested many wheelsets recently that are designed as crossover wheels, capable of being used on the road with thin rubber of 25/28mm right up to 50mm gravel tyres. According to Upgrade (Reynolds' UK distributor), the G700s are for tyres from 35mm in width upwards, so there is nothing 'all-road' about them. These are for adventures away from any paved surface.

The rims are carbon fibre, with a depth of 26mm, while the width is 30mm externally with an internal channel 25mm wide. That's about the norm these days for gravel hoops.

The cross-section is asymmetrical, shifting the spoking off-centre to increase the angle of the dishing on the side of the wheel caused by the width of the freehub on the rear, and the disc brake on the front.

The rims are hookless, a technology we've seen steadily gaining traction in gravel wheels, and even road in some places.

Many manufacturers say that you can only run tubeless tyres on hookless rims because of them having a stiffer bead than a traditional clincher tyre, causing the latter to pop off a hookless rim at pressure.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best gravel bike tyres

In fact, most manufacturers recommend an upper tyre pressure of 75psi on hookless rims.

Neither of these is a huge hassle for most gravel riders as they're likely to be running their tyres at half that maximum pressure, and running them tubeless anyway. If you're not, you'll need to factor in the cost of tubeless tyres and sealant. Luckily, Reynolds does supply you with the tubeless tape and valves.

Fitting tyres was a simple affair. Trying two sets, one 38mm and one 45mm, in a tubeless setup, both were easy to fit just with thumb pressure and they pinged up against the rim and sealed with just the use of a powerful track pump.

The hubs are Reynolds' Ringle SRX Road DB which have a CNC machined body and use a 3-pawl system in the freehub, giving engagement within 12 degrees; that's not as quick as some, but far from sloppy when it comes to a standing start.

A Shimano HG freehub comes fitted as standard, but you also get a SRAM XDR offering in the box.

Brake rotors are fitted using the Center Lock design.

Reynolds' website says that a Campagnolo N3W option is available for those of you running Ekar.

Attaching those hubs to the rims are 24 Sapim Sprint spokes for both the front and rear wheel, with brass nipples.

These wheels are likely to see plenty of wet weather and if you have to ride on the road to join up the gravel sections that means exposure to salt in the winter. That can corrode and kill aluminium nipples, so I'm glad to see brass used here.

So, that's the spec. How's the performance?

Very good, is the answer.

For riding on the rough stuff, the G700s are a quality wheelset. At 1,520g (including rim tape) on our scales, they are a good weight and that is reflected in how they ride.

They feel quick off the mark and, more importantly on a gravel ride, make it easy to maintain pace on undulating routes and never feel laggy on steep climbs.

Creating a relatively light wheelset hasn't caused any issues with overall stiffness as they felt really tight when hammering the bike up the climbs out of the saddle, or when riding loaded up.

Ride feel is heavily dictated by tyre pressures, but with the rubber pumped up hard the G700s feel good without any harshness, even over rippled or rough surfaces.

Durability is very good, too; this is a solid set of wheels.

The test period was pretty dry which meant my main route over Salisbury Plain was heavily rutted and rough through the chalk sections, and there are a lot of large rocks on the gravel sections just lying in wait to ruin a ride.

I covered about 500km over this loop and the G700s remained true and tight throughout; in fact apart from a bit of dust they went back to Upgrade looking and feeling exactly the same as they had when they turned up.

Value

The Reynolds are competitively priced, too, at £1,350, and I think that reflects their overall build quality. The wheels are built in Reynolds' own factory, and the original owner receives a lifetime warranty.

Compare that with the Corima G30.5 Carbon Gravel wheelset I tested a couple of years ago, which also had an excellent ride quality: the Corimas also use a hookless rim and the weight of our test set was just over 1,570g, but they cost £2,010.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best road bike and gravel bike wheels

There are cheaper options to consider, though. At the same time as I was riding around on the G700s I was testing the Halo Carbaura XCD Carbon Gravel wheelset for our sister site off.road.cc (full review up soon), which have a similar specification to the Reynolds. With a 26mm internal width, albeit a hooked one, and a 35mm depth, they have a great ride feel; they are about 200g heavier, but that is offset by the price of £949.96.

Scribe's Carbon Gravel Wide++ have a 25mm internal rim width and weigh just 1,370g. It's quite the package for just £870.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a solid wheelset that you can trust for those long adventures on rough surfaces or when loaded up, but they are also still light enough to not hamper acceleration, sprinting or climbing performance when you want to go out for a blast.

Verdict

Solid wheelset with excellent build quality that performs well on those twisty gravel trails