Reynolds Attack Disc wheels review

The Reynolds Attack Disc wheels have been designed by Reynolds to be genuine all-rounders - good on the flat and better on rolling and hilly terrain, with enough sturdiness to even tackle the odd bit of gravel or cyclocross too.

As you would expect from any road disc brake wheels, the Reynolds Attack Disc wheels are tubeless-ready, and unlike the identically-priced DT Swiss RC 38 Spline wheels, everything is already set up so that you can run the wheels with tubeless tyres straight out of the box without the need to apply tape and other bits and bobs. Of course, if you don't want to go tubeless, then normal clinchers will still work fine too.

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Rims have been getting wider and wider in recent years, and the Reynolds Attack Disc wheels come with a 17mm internal rim width. This is much wider than the majority of wheels that you could buy a few years ago, but probably about average nowadays, and not quite as wide as the whopping 21mm internal width of other disc brake wheels such as the Zipp 30 Course wheels.

The importance of internal rim width is that it governs what width of tyres you can use, how the tyres sit on the rim, and the volume of air that is in the tyre at any given pressure. With regards to tyre width, the 17mm internal width of these wheels means that you will be use them with the widest road tyres and even cyclocross tyres if you choose to take them off road.

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I put the Reynolds Attack Disc wheels through their paces topped with a pair of 30mm tyres (run as normal clinchers with inner tubes rather than going tubeless). With this width of tyre the sidewall sat beautifully flush against the side of the rim, giving a slight aerodynamic benefit, and of course running this width of tyre will give a nice big contact patch with the road, meaning that you can make better use of the increased braking power that disc brakes will give you.

When you buy a pair of Reynolds Attack Disc wheels they'll come equipped with quick release skewers, which is fine, unless your bike is set up for thru-axles. The good news is that you can buy adaptors for 12mm or 15mm front thru-axles, and 142 x 12mm or 135 x 12mm rear thru-axles.

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The bad news is that they will set you back £19.99 each, effectively bumping the cost of the wheels up by 40 quid if you're using thru-axles. Seeing as you're already spending £1,299.99 on a new pair of wheels, I don't think its too much to ask for all the necessary end cap adators to be supplied in the box.

The hubs are proprietary to Reynolds (but are made by Chinese company KT) and are very hard to fault, rolling lovely and smoothly. The spokes are laced in the same two-cross pattern in both the front and rear wheels, and there are 24 spokes at both front and rear too.

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This is necessary to help the wheels withstand the addition asymmetric forces that a disc brakes exert, and creates a very stiff wheel, but thankfully not at the expense of comfort, with impressive lateral stiffness achieved without the ride becoming rickety or harsh.

A quick glance at the total weight of the Reynolds Attack Disc wheels (1565g) might leave one a little unimpressed. However most of this weight is in the hubs rather than the rims as Reynold has sensibly decided to design the rims from the ground up rather than just taking a pair of rim brake rims and adapting them for use on a disc brake wheelset.

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This low rim weight and inerita is really felt whenever you accelerate and climb, particularly on steeper gradients, so despite these not being the most "bling" wheels we've ever seen, they are lightening fast.

Finally, the price, which certainly doesn't put the Reynold Attack Disc wheels at the budget end of the market. However, thankfully the performance matches the price, and the two warranty and replacement scheme should provide peace of mind.

For more details visit Upgrade Bikes.