Scribe Duty-D wheelset

The Scribe Duty-D wheels sum up the term all-rounder. With a high spoke count, heat-treated hardened alloy rims and sealed bearings, you're getting a hugely durable wheelset, while a decent weight and a 31mm depth means you'll see some performance gains too. All for a good price.

Scribe says it's designed the Duty-D wheels to be super strong and super robust, and that is exactly what it's delivered.

With 28 (2x) and 32 (3x) spokes on the front and rear wheels respectively, paired to those relatively deep alloy rims, this is certainly a stiff and durable setup. It's one that allows Scribe to offer a 130kg weight limit – higher than quite a few other brands.

> Buy these online here

So, if you are a larger rider, ride on crappy surfaces a lot, or load your bike up for a bit of adventuring then these could well be the wheels for you; especially if you don't want to sacrifice on performance.

Scribe claims a weight of 1,688g, and with tubeless rim tapes fitted ours came in at 1,790g on the road.cc scales. That's not superlight, but it's by no means heavy, and they belie those numbers anyway when you stand on the pedals.

Pulling away from a standing start or accelerating hard, the Duty-Ds don't feel sluggish and – thanks to some very impressive stiffness levels – you don't need to worry about any of your effort being wasted as lateral flex. The 31mm deep rims offer a minimal aero advantage over a standard box rim, but not that you'd really notice in the real world.

The Duty-Ds cruise along smoothly, and I found them to work well on rolling terrain, with the extra mass helping you carry more speed from the downhills into the slight drags and hills.

Double D

We were actually sent two pairs of the Duty-D wheels for testing (a second set arrived a few weeks after the first due to a spec change; more about that in a minute) so they've had quite a lengthy review period.

They've seen all kinds of terrain, from smooth A-roads to canal paths and a bit of light gravel work, to see just how versatile they are. The weather has been iffy too, so they've seen plenty of water, muck off the roads and dust when the tracks have been dry.

They haven't missed a beat. Everything is still running smoothly and quietly, and from previous experience of Scribe's wheels I can't see a reason why that'd change any time soon.

Well built

The rims are 19mm wide internally (24mm external), which works especially well with 25mm and 28mm tyres, although there is no issue with going wider. I've used 40mm gravel tyres on rims of these dimensions without upsetting tyre profiles too much.

The second set of Duty-Ds arrived with Continental's GP5000 TL tubeless tyres fitted, and they measured up true to their 28mm width.

Fitting and removing tyres wasn't an issue with these rims, with Scribe using a ramped bed to aid fitment, and a beadlock design to stop tyres popping off at low pressures.

Bed time

Due to the width of a modern freewheel, the dishing of the spokes (the angle from hub to rim) is minimal, which isn't that great from a performance point of view. To combat this Scribe has positioned and drilled the spoke bed section asymmetrically, biased towards the non-drive side. It's the same on the front rim, which is offset towards the non-braking side. It doesn't add a huge amount, but every degree matters.

The difference between the two sets of wheels we had lay in the spokes and nipples. Originally Scribe went for Sapim's CX-Ray which is, as it says on Scribe's website, considered the most aerodynamic spoke on the market. These were paired with Sapim's brass nipples.

However, Scribe discovered from both in-house and independent testing that Pillar's Wing 20 spokes are both more aero and stiffer than the CX-Rays. So the switch has been made to the Wing 20s, along with Pillar's nipples. Personally, I couldn't detect any real difference when riding, but it at least highlights Scribe's attention to detail.

The hubs use Scribe's patented Ratchet Drive technology where, instead of pawls locking into ratcheting teeth, a 54-tooth ratchet ring (in the freehub) engages a 54-tooth plate (threaded into the hub shell) by way of an internal leaf spring. When you coast, the tips of the teeth glide over one another.

Full details can be found here in our First Look piece of Scribe's Aero Wide 50-D wheels. It's a great system with rapid and precise engagement, finished off with a reassuring click as you freewheel – though it's not so loud as to be annoying.

No biting

The green anodised freehub body is available in Shimano/SRAM as we see here – including a pair of anti-bite steel strips to protect the splines from damage – plus Campagnolo and SRAM XDR options.

Inside the hubs you'll find Taiwanese TPI stainless steel bearings, which are sealed cartridge units. They run very smoothly indeed, and have done throughout testing, even after some heavy bouts of rain.

Accessories

I like to see a wheel brand that provides all the accessories and spares you'll need to just get on with riding, and Scribe doesn't disappoint. In the box you'll find tubeless valves, adapters to convert your six-bolt rotors to the Centre Lock fitting used here, a lockring for 15mm axles, and a slim-fit lockring for tight fork clearances. You also get spare spokes and nipples, plus a 10-speed spacer.

> road.cc's Best Cycling Wheels of the Year 2020/21

Scribe also offers free fitting for tyres you add to the basket before checkout, with the Continental GP5000 TLs found here setting you back £110.

Value

The Duty-Ds cost £390, and I don't think that's too bad at all for such a quality set of wheels. The Halo Devaura Disc RD2 wheels have the same rim dimensions as the Duty-D, but a much lower spoke count at 24 front and rear. They are around £570 a pair.

FFWD's F3A DB wheelset is a touch shallower at 27mm and again comes with fewer spokes. Like the Halos they are a very good set of wheels, and tough too, but were £625 when we tested them.

There is some tough competition out there, though. I'm currently testing Alpkit's Sonder Alpha 700C Aero wheelset, which uses a similar rim design and Pillar spokes with a 28F/32R set up. They are a bit heavier at 1,950g, but cheaper at £299.99.

Prime's Barouder Road Disc wheelset again follows a similar theme, and Liam was very impressed. They're a bit lighter and have a few less spokes, and are £249.99.

Overall

The Duty-D wheels are very well made and offer exceptional ride quality, plus I can't fault them for stiffness either. If you want a set of wheels with decent performance and aren't bothered about sacrificing weight for durability, I reckon you can't go far wrong with the Duty-Ds. It's a wheelset that gives you plenty of confidence in its ability.

Verdict

Great build quality and impressive durability, yet they don't scrimp on performance. A great all-round wheelset