Impellers

Experience outstanding performance with our high-quality bicycle wheels. Precisely manufactured and robust in use, they offer optimal stability and speed for every ride. Discover our range now and equip your bike for an unparalleled riding experience.

The Wheelset – The Heart of Your Bike

Whether it's a road bike, MTB, or gravel: hardly any other part has such a significant impact on your bike's performance. Acceleration, rolling behavior, comfort, handling, weight, and aerodynamics – all of these depend heavily on the right wheelset. So, if you want to upgrade your bike, this is where you'll usually find a lot of tuning potential!

What is a Wheel?

Wheels consist of a rim, hub, spokes, and usually rim tape. With a complete set ("wheelset"), you get front and rear wheels as a coordinated set. If you're looking for a single front or rear wheel, you can also find great deals in our shop.

System Wheels

An older term you might still encounter sometimes is "system wheel." It dates back to a time when wheels were often built by hand and was intended to distinguish factory-made wheels from handcrafted masterpieces. Today, most modern wheels are system wheels. Therefore, the distinction is now obsolete.

What Types of Bicycle Wheels Are There?

If you're looking for a new wheelset, you should first clarify the following questions: What will be the intended use of your new wheels? Which tire system do you want to use? What material should the rims be made of? And, especially for road bike wheelsets: What height should the rim profile have? Here's an overview.

Wheel Types by Application

• Road Bike Wheels: For road bike wheelsets, aerodynamics and weight are the dominant themes. Since air resistance becomes more noticeable than rolling resistance at speeds as low as 20 km/h, aerodynamic optimization is always a performance optimization. However, aero wheels are generally a bit heavier and less agile. If you like to ride in the mountains, a light wheelset can significantly reduce the weight of your bike and thus save energy. Our brands in the road bike sector include DT Swiss, Mavic, ZZYZX, and Vision.
• Gravel Wheels: Here, it depends on whether you plan long bikepacking tours or want to perform in races with your bike. In the former case, you'll opt for robust and stable material to comfortably transport yourself and your luggage over rough terrain. However, as gravel races become increasingly popular, aerodynamics and weight are also becoming more important categories.
• MTB Wheels: As diverse as the spectrum of specializations is the world of mountain bike wheelsets. Whether cross-country (XC), trail, enduro, or downhill: from ultralight to extremely stable – you can choose depending on the load and preferred terrain. Brands you'll find with us include DT Swiss, ZZYZX, Newman, and Mavic.
• Wheels for City, Trekking, or E-Bikes: They focus on durability and everyday usability. They often come with a higher spoke count. E-bike wheels should also be particularly stable, as the bikes are heavier than their unmotorized counterparts.

Wheels by Tire System

Modern wheels offer you some flexibility in choosing the tire system. Nevertheless, not every wheel can be ridden with every tire. So, it's beneficial to consider which system you want to use before buying. Here are the most important aspects:

• Hooked or Hookless: Classic bicycle rims have a small hook on the rim bead (hook) that is intended to prevent the tire from jumping off the rim. For all applications, from mountain bikes to gravel and road bikes, there are now also hookless alternatives. But be careful: with hookless wheels, only certain tires are allowed. So, pay close attention to compatibility here.
• Tubeless Ready: Applies to most modern wheels in the road bike, gravel, or MTB sectors, whether hooked or hookless. You can ride them with tubes or convert them to tubeless with a few simple steps.
• Tubeless: Some wheels are optimized for use without an inner tube. You should only choose these if you are sure you want to ride tubeless.
• Tubular Wheels: Made for use with tubular tires, which are glued into the rim bed, and can only be ridden with these.

If you want to know more about the pros and cons of the different tire systems and associated rim types – in this blog article we cover the topic in detail!

Carbon and Condition: Wheels by Rim Material

Regarding material, you generally have a choice between aluminum and carbon. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, which are strongly linked to the intended use of your bike.

• Wheels with aluminum rims are usually robust, uncomplicated, and often offer good value for money. They are standard on city bikes and e-bikes. For road bikes, they make sense as a training or winter wheelset, as you can thus spare your valuable high-end carbon rims for competitions or other special occasions.
• Carbon rims are generally optimized for performance and are particularly popular for road bike wheelsets. The material is very light, so you can save weight even with high profiles. At the same time, it has high stiffness. However, carbon is more delicate than aluminum, which should be considered for its intended use. Carbon wheels tend to be in the higher price segment. But you'll always find top offers with us!

The Right Rim Height

It's mainly a topic for road bikes: How high should the rims of the new wheelset be? The following points will give you guidance:

• Low profile: light, agile, good in wind and mountains
• Medium profile: often chosen as an all-rounder, as it's often a good compromise between aero and weight
• High profile: maximally aerodynamic, but more susceptible to side winds
• Disc wheel: Especially for triathlon and individual time trials
  

Compatibility: What to Look For When Buying a New Wheelset

The most important question when buying wheels comes last: Does the desired model fit your bike? So that you don't experience disappointment, we'll tell you here which critical points you need to pay attention to for compatibility:

Wheel Diameter

Simple but important: The wheel must fit your frame. Fork and chainstays are the crucial parts. Below you can see the standard sizes:

• Road bike: almost always 28 inches (622 or 700c)
• MTB: 29 inches, less commonly 27.5 (650b) or Mullet (29 inches front, 27.5 rear)
• Gravel: mostly 28 inches, less commonly 27.5; depending on the frame, 29 inches may also be possible sometimes

If you want to switch to wider rims, also check what tire width your frame allows max.

Brake System

Depending on the brake system you use, your wheels should have certain characteristics.

• Disc brakes: The wheel hubs must be suitable for mounting discs (Centerlock or six-bolt)
• Rim brakes: The wheels must have rims with braking surfaces, as braking occurs directly on the rim

Axle Standards

• Do you need thru-axles or quick releases? Changing is only possible to a limited extent.
• Do the diameter and width of the axles match?
• An overview of the different mounting standards and more interesting facts on the topic can be found under "Quick Releases & Thru-Axles".

Freewheel

• Does the freewheel fit your sprocket cassette?
• An overview of the different mounting standards can be found in our information text on "Hubs".

Conclusion

With all these considerations, nothing stands in the way of buying your dream wheelset. Browse our top offers and find the perfect match for your needs!