Bontrager Aeolus 5.0

The Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 clincher wheelset may single-handedly be leading the charge toward a truly versatile aero carbon wheel. This wheelset is better than a Jack of all trades and certainly master of more than a few.  Boasting of some of the most high-end bicycle hardware of any wheelset on the planet, the Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 clincher certainly has no shortage of impressive words to fill a tech list with.

Its Steve Hed designed 50mm rims slice the air with all the efficiency of a samurai sword, while maintaining a surprisingly low weight for a wheel so thick. This may well have something to do with the dual-stage construction. Most of the rims structural support comes from its thick and conventionally shaped inner core, which is based on Bontrager’s ultra light Race XXX Lite OCLV carbon rim.

Bontrager ship those already bad wheels off to Minnesota, where they receive a very thin outer fairing that takes care of the aero duties. The Aeolus’ cross-section is actually slightly thicker than the width of the tire, allowing Bontrager’s engineer’s to create a trailing edge boat-tail to reduce the drag caused by wake vortices. Perfectionist, much?

Since those thin fairings don’t add that much structural rigidity, the Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 wheelset is slightly more forgiving over the rough stuff than most wheels this thick. This has not a little bit to do with its carbon spokes (16 front, 20 rear), which have some give but not enough to significantly degrade the overall feel of the wheelset.

Ultra smooth bearings will spin for thirty years with a slight breeze, no doubt owing to their overwhelming abuse of titanium and carbon fiber.

Make no mistake; this is one bad-boy wheel-set. As versatile as any aluminum unit ever made and light as anti-matter, the Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 wheelset would be the perfect addition to any serious racer’s arsenal, provided they have the scratch to purchase it in the first place.

Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 Wheelsets on eBay

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