Reserve’s New Road Wheels Are Straightforward and User-Friendly
The Takeaway: The Reserve wheel brand, originally started by Santa Cruz Bicycles for use on its mountain bikes, expands into the road market, with rim shapes developed by Cervélo (Santa Cruz’s corporate sibling).
Available carbon rim depths include 35mm, 50mm, and 65mm, all with a 21mm inner width and aerodynamic rim profiles optimized around a 25mm tire.
All rims are tubeless ready with a hooked bead and backed by a lifetime warranty.
Also launching is a Reserve 32mm deep gravel rim with 24mm inner width.
In 2017, Santa Cruz launched Reserve carbon mountain bike rims with the claim that they were the strongest and most reliable on the market. Santa Cruz also touted their compliance, straightforward build, use of common parts and spoking pattern, and lifetime warranty.
Basically, they were supposed to be a no-bullshit wheel: well designed, high performance, easy to service, and, if they did break, a lifetime guarantee that had your back. That same no-bullshit approach is now available in road rims.
Keeping It Simple
Reserve now offers a suite of road wheels in three depths: 35, 50, and 65mm. All the rims are tubeless ready, with hooked beads and a 21mm internal width, and all have 24-hole drilling and use external nipples. There is also 32mm gravel rim with 24mm internal width.
The 35, 50, and 65mm rims feature aerodynamic shaping—optimized around a 25mm tire—developed by the same engineers who design Cervélo’s aerodynamic road bikes.
Quick corporate background information: Santa Cruz and Cervélo are both part of the Pon Holding’s portfolio of brands. Some Cervélo bikes are assembled at Santa Cruz’s HQ in Santa Cruz, California.
While hook-less rims are a growing trend in road wheels, Reserve chose not to go that direction with its first road product. “We don't want these to be the kooky nerd fest than can only run with [specific tires],” said Nic McCrae, Santa Cruz’s R&D manager and senior composites engineer, adding that though they are tubeless ready, the hooked bead allows them to be compatible with all clincher tires.
Though it seems like the premium brands that play in the aero-wheel space have their own unique rim shapes, the Reserve rims’ shapes seem like a seemingly simple V-shape, and use the same shape for both the front and rear wheel. But even though they look like a simpler aero design, Scott Roy, Cervélo’s engineering manager and part of the team that developed the Reserve aero road rim shapes, says that in wind tunnel testing the shapes proved to be competitive with the best on the market.
McCrae added, “You can have wind tunnel data basically show what you want. And I think we’ve done enough to understand that what we have performs in the realm of all of the top-tier brands on the market. We’re not going to say we’re the fastest in that condition, or that condition. We tested a broad range of scenarios, and the shape performed really well overall. We didn’t want to compromise on fit or durability or overall feel to get those four watts in a specific wind tunnel scenario. It’s something that works well for 95 percent of people out there whether you’re racing or just enjoying a ride on the weekend.”
Given this stance, it’s perhaps not surprising that Reserve provided no wind tunnel data for the Reserve wheels, individually or compared against their competition.
Like the Reserve mountain bike rims, the road rims carry a lifetime guarantee that’s possibly the most straightforward around, “If you break a wheel, we’ll send you a new one within 24 hours. If you back over it with your car, we’ll get you a low-cost crash replacement ASAP.”
The Line
The Reserve road and gravel wheel line will first be available as an upgrade for Cervélo's bikes, but will come to the aftermarket later in 2020. Pricing is the same for all wheels, no matter the rim: $1,800 with DT Swiss 350, $2,400 with DT Swiss 240, or $2,800 with DT Swiss 180.
The 35mm is the lightest option of the three. A rims weighs 395g; a set, with 240 hubs, weighs 1,449g. The 50mm is the all-arounder, with a rim weighing in at 490g and a set, with 240 hubs, weighing 1,638g. The deepest rim, the 65mm, weighs 520g and is intended for use in the rear. A 50 (front), 65 (rear) combo, with 240 hubs, weighs 1,673g. If you want the most aerodynamic setup, go for a 65 up front and in the rear.
Reserve 50/65 DT-Swiss 350 Review
I received a 50 (front), 65 (rear) rim combination laced to DT-Swiss 350 straight-pull centerlock hubs. On my scale, the wheelset weighed 1,700 grams exactly.
Mounting the 26c Bontrager R3 tubeless-ready tires I used for the review was painless. They dropped into the rim without a fight and inflated effortlessly. The DT-Swiss hubs have easily swappable driver bodies, and the centerlock rotor mount works with everything. The subtle branding is also a welcome relief from the massive logos some brands plaster on their rims.
On the road, the Reserves were well balanced. Lateral stiffness is very good, and they roll well without chatter or harshness. They whoosh a bit loudly, but that’s typical of most deeper carbon wheels.
The build I got is the heaviest offering. It’s no boat anchor, but at 1,700g it is a wheelset for flatter terrain where the aerodynamics of the deeper rims is advantageous. I pulled a set of less-deep, 1,500-gram wheels off my Canyon and swapped in the Reserve wheels, and I felt the difference. Some of the bike’s punch was lost, and its handling was slightly damped.
But once spun up, the wheels felt good and fast, and they are some of the most comfortable road wheels I’ve been on in a while. Crosswind stability is a concern when running deeper wheels, so I went out on a blustery day in the mountains to see how the Reserve set faired. Overall, they were very good: Certainly I felt some push, but it was never inconsistent or unpredictable.
Good wheels are a thing of beauty. And although there are many good road wheels available to buy today, there’s nothing wrong with one more. The Reserve road wheels may be reserved when compared to the splashy approach of many of their competitors, but high-performance wheels that are straightforward and user friendly are a refreshing approach.
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