Bontrager launches wider Aeolus Pro 3V road/ gravel wheelset

Trek’s Bontrager component brand has added to its Aeolus Pro wheel range with the launch today of the brand new Aeolus Pro 3V wheelset. It’s 700c and uses the same tech as Bontrager’s existing Aeolus Pro wheelsets, also coming at the same price of £1200 per pair.

But, pursuing the trend to ever-wider wheel rims, the Aeolus Pro 3V wheels have an inner rim width of 25mm, against 19.5mm for the Aeolus Pro 3 TLR road-going wheels. Bontrager says that the new wheels work best with tyres of 32mm upwards. So they are well suited to gravel or cyclocross use, as well as supporting the wider tyres that more and more road frames are designed to clear.

So you get a ton of air volume to tackle uneven terrain, whether off the tarmac or on the usual dodgy UK roads. The wider rim adds even more air volume, allowing lower pressures to be run and increasing traction, performance, comfort and speed, says Bontrager.

Along with the wider section, there is Bontrager’s Rapid Drive 108 freehub, for quick freewheel engagement. Naturally, the rim is tubeless ready too. The wheels use Bontrager’s stacked lacing alignment, that pairs the spokes for a better bracing angle and improved rigidity.

Other tech is carried forward from the other Aeolus Pro wheels too. So the rim has a D3 aero profile, designed to reduce drag both at the tyre-leading and rim-leading edges of the wheel. It also uses the same OCLV carbon make-up.

The Aeolus Pro 3V wheels are also covered by the same Bontrager Carbon Care wheel loyalty programme, which gives two years of repair or replacement coverage for damage, followed by discounted rebuild or replacement for the original owner beyond that time.

Alongside the complete wheelset for £1200, you can also buy the front and rear wheels separately, with the front priced at £549.99 and the rear at £649.99. We weighed the front wheel at 710g and the rear at 841g, for a combined weight, untaped, of 1551g - not bad for a wide wheelset designed to handle rougher surfaces.