Scribe Core SL+ 50 carbon wheelset - high performance, low cost

Carbon wheel design has come a long way from the original, sharp, slab-sided models that were a bit of a handful in anything more than a light breeze. The price of carbon wheels has also become much more affordable, and it is many riders’ first port of call when it comes to upgrading their stock bike, both for performance and aesthetic reasons.

The move to disc brakes on road bikes has allowed not only the use of wider, faster tyres but also wider rims, which better accommodate the bigger tyres. Scribe has been quick to adopt these new standards and produces a range of alloy and carbon rims with thoroughly modern dimensions at very reasonable prices.

Scribe offers three levels of carbon road wheels, the range-topping Elan, mid-level Core and less expensive Inception. The Elan and Core each feature 40, 50 and 60mm rims, whilst the Inception is only available in 50mm depth. All rims and hubs are proprietary and are designed and assembled in Belfast.

Construction

We chose to review the new, sub £1,000 model in 50mm depth as they offer an enticing blend of aero, low weight and affordability.

I weighed the pair at 1,376g, 33g more than Scribe’s claimed weight, but as my wheels had tubeless rim tape in place, that seemed fair enough. This is a fantastic weight for the price, but even more so when you consider that Scribe hasn’t scrimped on the rim’s size. The front wheel has an internal width of 24mm, whilst the rear is 21mm, making them better for use with wider tyres.

The T1000 carbon rims are tubeless and hooked, so they can be used with a very wide variety of tyres, including tube-type. Scribe suggests that the rims are ideal for 28-30mm rubber but that anything up to 40mm will be fine. The toroidal, blunt U shape of the rims, as used by nearly all wheel manufacturers now, promises good aerodynamics and decent crosswind stability even at 50mm deep.

Ratchet hubs, in either 36 or 54 tooth or flavours, are available with the higher tooth count giving slightly faster engagement, but to keep the cost below £1,000, we stayed with the standard hub option. Typically, ratchet hubs are a bit more durable than pawl systems as the load is spread over a much greater surface area as there are far more contact points between the two elements compared with pawl freehubs. It’s nice to see the steel reinforcement spline on the freehub, which should prevent the cassette’s sprockets from biting into the soft aluminium.

There are no corners cut when it comes to spokes either, as the Core Superlight wheels are supplied with the industry gold standard straight-pull Sapim CX-Ray spokes and Sapim Secure Lock square head nipples.

The ride

The Scribes are a smart-looking wheelset. The gloss black graphics look great against the carbon rim, and when lifted out of the box, the low weight was striking.

Fitting some 28mm Hutchinson Blackbird tyres was very straightforward, although even with a ramped rim bed, I had to over-inflate to get them to pop evenly up onto the rim. Cassette on and rotors attached, the wheels were ready for business.

At 50mm deep and weighing less than 1,400g, I hoped for great things from the Core 50s, and I wasn’t disappointed. Climbs and descents were despatched with equal aplomb; there was plenty of encouragement for pushing on the pedals as each effort was transferred to the tarmac seemingly undiminished. Where I ride, there are plenty of climbs on every ride, ranging from 5km drags to 25% kicks, so low weight and efficiency are always something to be thankful for, but there are some flatter roads too. The Scribe Core SL+ 50 deeper stablemate, the Core SL 60, did very well recently in some independent wind tunnel tests, out-performing or matching some far more expensive products, and the Core 50s felt lovely at full speed as well. Of course, the 50s won’t be quite as slippery as the 60s, but the results indicate that Scribe has done a great job with their rim shapes.

From my experience, the Core SL+ 50 hits a very desirable sweet spot between the momentum-holding abilities of heavier, deeper wheels and the responsiveness of very light, shallower rims. On the poor roads of the Peak District, the wheels' speed will have also been greatly helped by the wide rims, allowing the tyres to spread and provide a smoother passage over the bumps and irregularities of the tarmac. The 28mm Blackbirds actually measured 29.5mm on the wider front wheel.

Similarly, I used the Scribes with Pirelli P-Zero Race tyres in 30mm flavour, and this gave me nearly 32mm in width.

Despite the shock-absorbing properties of the tyres, I felt that the Core 50s were on the stiffer side of the spectrum, feeling quite direct and not at all ‘flimsy’, aided by the straight-pull spokes and excellent build. Stiff wheels and supple tyres are a great way to find some extra speed on poor road surfaces without sacrificing either comfort or performance.

I was also impressed with their behaviour in crosswinds. The weather seems to have been rather blustery of late, and I didn’t particularly enjoy a recent windy ride using Mavis Cosmic S 42s, but in similar conditions, the 50mm deep Scribes were easier to handle.

The wheels stayed true for the duration of the test, despite a puncture-inducing clatter into a pothole, but should the worst happen, then replacement Sapim spokes will be easy enough to source. I guess some riders won’t like the undeniably loud freehub, but having grown up with Hope hubs, I like the reassuring buzz. Otherwise, the Scribe Core SL+ 50 wheels are very impressive and enjoyable to ride.

Value and conclusion

It is hard to think of any downsides to the Scribes, especially when you consider that they cost less than £1,000. With some of the most expensive wheelsets costing over five times the price without any super obvious benefits (to amateurs anyway), they offer fantastic value for money. For the cost of one set of Princeton CarbonWorks wheels, for example, you could buy all three depths of Scribes and still have plenty of cash left for plenty of premium tyres. Furthermore, wheels are pretty vulnerable to damage, and although £1,000 isn’t pocket change, I think using even more expensive wheels might actually affect my riding for the worse, as I'd worry about damaging them. Scribe offers a free lifetime crash replacement service on carbon wheels, whereby crash-damaged parts can be replaced for a 50% discount.