New Reserve Carbon Wheels for road has been announced, expanding the carbon wheel line into the road market. Initially launching with MTB carbon wheels in 2017, at the time Reserve was the only company to offer carbon rims with a lifetime warranty.
The carbon rim project was initially founded by Santa Cruz Bicycles engineers in 2014; when they were released, the new Carbon Reserve wheels were originally only available as an upgrade when purchasing a CC level bike. When Pon (who also owns Cervelo) purchased Santa Cruz Bicycles in 2015, it was only natural a line of carbon road wheels would follow as Cervelo had rim profiles designed, but lacked the resources to fully develop them and take them to market.
I had the opportunity to ride on the Reserve 50 wheels earlier this year during the course of a 3-day photoshoot on Orcas Island. The largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, it offers plenty of scenic hilly paved roads to take in the experience of riding on the new wheels.
The Line Up: Reserve Road 65, 50 & 35
All Reserve wheels and rims are tubeless-ready with a hooked bead, 21mm internal width, 24-hole drilling, and external nipples. There are 3 hub options and price points available — and they are compatible with all clincher tires.
Reserve 65 rear-wheel is 65mm deep tubeless-ready rim. It was designed to complement the Reserve 50 for sprint stages, triathlons, and anywhere with straight long enough to make a break for it. The rim is most aerodynamic when used with a 25mm wide tire, but can also comfortably run a 28mm tire.
- Depth: 65mm
- Width: 21mm
- Weight: 1615g (w/DT180 hub)
- Price: $2,800 USD
Reserve 50, following the same naming convention, is intended for all kinds of pavement-based racing—crits, triathlon, and road. It can run 25mm race tires and 30-35mm training/offseason tires.
- Depth: 50mm
- Width: 21mm
- Weight:1579g (w/DT180 hub)
- Price: $2,800 USD
Reserve 35 is the all-around workhorse that works equally well with 25mm race tires and 30-35mm training/offseason/cyclocross tires.
- Depth: 35mm
- Width: 21mm
- Weight:1389g (w/DT180 hub)
- Price: $2,800 USD
The new road (and gravel) Reserve wheels are launching exclusively on 2021 Cervelo disc brake bikes but they will also be available to the aftermarket once those bikes are released.
Reserve 50 First Impression
The tubeless-ready rims, with their 21mm internal width, offer a great tire profile with the 28mm rubber. I’m fond of the minimal logo design and paired with a solid black tire, it’s a stealthy combo that complimented my 2020 BMC Roadmachine 01 Four.
Though 50mm makes for a deep rim, I felt amply stable and comfortable in fierce crosswinds. I enjoy bombing downhills, and even at 30+ mph speeds, didn’t experience any sort of wobbling. I also had the opportunity to ride these wheels on gravel and was surprised by the braking responsiveness. Though I had yet to take my BMC endurance road bike onto gravel, during the weekend I felt confident enough to ride a similar pace as the other seasoned drop-bar gravel riders.
Conclusion
When it comes to high-performance carbon wheels, there’s a lot of competition. Santa Cruz has made their mark, becoming well known for an amazing lifetime warranty, low-cost crash replacement, and quick turnaround. The Santa Cruz hoops boasts ample reliability, compliance, as well as a straightforward build and spoking pattern. To sum it up, these are solid, uncomplicated high-performance wheels.
More information on the Reserve wheels can be found on their website: Reservewheels.com.
Or shop for Reserve wheels at retail partner JensonUSA.com