Eight reasons to upgrade your gravel wheels

Advertising feature in partnership with Deda Elementi

A new set of wheels is high on the priority list of many road bike riders, but there are just as many - if not more - reasons to upgrade the wheels on your gravel bike. Here are eight reasons why a quality set of new hoops could up your gravel game.  

Wider rims 

Wider rims are a trend for road bike wheels, but they’re even more important for gravel bikes, where tyre widths are much greater. That extra width means that a gravel tyre is even more likely than a road tyre to be “lightbulb shaped” on a narrow rim.

It’s not just about aesthetics: a tyre with a flatter sidewall profile will be more stable, less prone to roll to the side over obstacles and when cornering and less likely to sustain sidewall damage. With the lower pressures at which gravel bike tyres are run compared to road bike tyres and their lighter, less robust construction than MTB tyres, better support from a wider rim can really up the handling characteristics and durability of a gravel tyre.

There are added benefits, one of which is the larger air volume that comes with a wider tyre stance, which should add a bit of extra comfort. The tyre’s grip should be improved too.

More aero 

Aerodynamics may seem less important on gravel than on a road bike, but it’s still significant; witness the growing number of fast gravel bikes that include aero features like the new Pinarello Grevil F. 

A gravel wheelset with deeper aero rims will add just that dash more speed to your ride. If the rim is wider as well, it’s also likely to provide a smoother interface to a gravel tyre, which will improve airflow over the wheel-tyre interface.

Faster/lighter 

You can take a chunk of rotating mass out of your gravel bike with an upgrade to a lighter wheelset, just like with a road bike. That’s particularly true of deeper section carbon rimmed wheels, but any wheel that drops weight will give you a performance bonus.

You can expect faster acceleration and a more lively ride from a well-built lightweight gravel wheelset. Add in aero design and you’ve got a winning set-up.

Easier tubeless 

Staying with the rims and tyres, an upgraded gravel wheelset may give you easier tubeless set-up than a stock pair of hoops. It will likely have been designed with tubeless in mind and most will come with everything you need to set up tubeless out of the box. The wheels will usually be pre-taped with tubeless rim tape and ship with tubeless valves. You may even have tubeless sealant supplied. 

More robust 

An upgrade wheelset is likely to be more robust and better built than a wheelset that comes as stock with the majority of gravel bikes. Wheels are an item that bike brands are notorious for downspeccing to meet a price point, whereas a replacement wheelset has to stand on its own merits.

That means that brands are likely to have put more effort into ensuring that wheels are built with quality components like robust spokes with locking nipples and possibly a higher spoke gauge or spoke count to ensure that they stay true for longer.

It goes without saying that a gravel wheelset is likely to experience more abuse than a road bike wheelset, so build quality is even more important.

Better hubs 

That build quality is likely to extend to the hubs as well as the rims and spokes. The jury may be out on whether you need ceramic bearings, but quality steel bearings will up a wheel’s longevity and be more precisely machined, so they’ll roll more evenly with less friction. 

It’s likely that a quality gravel wheelset will have better hub seals too, to help keep water, mud and dust out of the bearings and the hub’s internals.

Wider compatibility 

Well made hub internals are likely to extend to the freehub too, with a better quality ratchet mechanism with more points of engagement for faster pick-up once you start to pedal.

Compatibility with different cassette standards is also important. You may be content to run a standard Shimano/SRAM 11-speed drivetrain and cassette, but new options continue to emerge. First it was SRAM XDR for compatibility with its 12-speed AXS drivetrains and more recently Campagnolo N3W for use with its 13-speed Ekar gravel groupset. 

Gravel bike axles have more-or-less standardised on 100x12mm front and 142x12mm rear, but some older gravel bikes still used quick releases and some had 15mm front thru-axles. Boost spacing is also appearing on some gravel bikes. They’re all minority configurations, but it’s nice to have a wheelset that gives you the option if your bike doesn’t have a standard set-up.

Longer lasting 

Finally, as a result of everything above, a quality upgrade gravel wheelset is likely to last longer with fewer service needs. When things do wear out, you’re likely to find it easier to source replacement parts too. 

Deda Elementi gravel wheelset options 

Italian brand Deda is a big name in road bike components, with its handlebars and stems used by both the UAE Team Emirates and Lotto Soudal WorldTour pro teams. It also offers gravel wheels and handlebars with its Gera wheels hand built at its factory in Campagnola Cremasca near Milan in Italy’s cycling heartland. 

Gera means gravel in Northern Italian dialect and the Gera wheels are available either as a new alloy version or a top flight aero carbon wheelset.

The Gera Carbon ticks all the boxes for a gravel racing wheelset listed above. It’s wide at 23mm internal/29mm external for great stability for wider tyres and, of course, tubeless ready. At 32mm deep and built with a mix of high modulus and 3k carbon fibre it offers both aero benefits and strength, paired with a low claimed wheelset weight of 1,445g.

The latest addition to Deda’s gravel range is the Gera Alloy wheelset. It’s designed to deliver the same durability, versatility and quality as the Gera Carbon at a lower pricepoint and to be a great upgrade for mid-range gravel bikes. The alloy rim is 23mm internal and 28mm external width and 25mm deep, which Deda says helps to keep the weight down to 1,690g a set. The asymmetric rim profile evens out spoke tension, improving durability. 

Both Gera wheelsets are laced with 24 black aero profile steel spokes front and rear, with self-locking nipples and they run on alloy hubs with durable Enduro steel bearings.

There’s all the compatibility you could want, with Shimano/SRAM 11-speed, SRAM XDR, Campagnolo 11-speed and Campagnolo N3W 13-speed freehubs available. There’s a four pawl ratchet mechanism for fast, secure engagement.

You can also convert from the standard 12mm thru-axle to a 15mm thru-axle or a quick release front hub. Both Gera wheelsets are ready-taped for tubeless and delivered with tubeless valves and Centerlock rotor lockrings. Deda says that they’re designed for tyres up to 57mm wide, although you can go down to 28mm making the Deda Gera Carbon and Alloy wheels ideal for road bikes that see a little off-road action, not just the dedicated gravel rig.

Recommended price for the Deda Gera Alloy wheelset is £534.99 / €675.00 and for the Gera Carbon £1204.99 / €1520.00. More info on the Deda Elementi website.

Take a look too at Deda’s range of four gravel handlebars. There are carbon and alloy options with different degrees of flare and reach and, for most, the option to use Deda’s DCR internal cable routing system.