Light climbing wheels aren’t dead, but they’re certainly in a hospital bed, on a drip, and the immediate family has been told to come and visit. In the last decade, an ever-increasing focus on aerodynamics has seen the shallow wheel go from something approximating the default to a much more specialist option when considering the best road bike wheels, for those wanting to prioritise weight over all else.
Even lightweight bikes like the Scott Addict RC Ultimate are coming equipped with mid-depth wheels, as are all-rounders. It seemed a little against the run of play, then, when Zipp came out with a brand new 202 NSW wheelset earlier this year.
