The Crystal Palace is our best-selling wheelset, named after the summer criterium series where, on any given Tuesday evening, you’re likely to find a good few pairs of these being raced round the course. As well as being popular with racers, they’re great for sportive riders and climbers as they’re light and wide, so they accelerate well, corner reliably and have low rolling resistance.
The design brief was to be lighter, stiffer and less expensive than Mavic Ksyrium Elites or Fulcrum Racing 3s and they exceed it. Plus they can be economically repaired or rebuilt if you crash or wear them out (unlike many factory wheels).
The Crystal Palace wheelset is built on lightweight Owen Wheels hubs for stability and speed, and Kinlin XR22 rims, which handle superbly and have an asymmetric rim profile on the rear to give the durability of balanced spoke tension without losing aerodynamics. We use Sapim CX-Ray spokes, with a 20-spoke radial front and a 24-spoke rear with 2-cross lacing on the drive side and Race spokes radial on the non-drive-side to maintain wheel stiffness. They’re tubeless compatible.
These wheels weigh in at around 1410g, and are £530 a pair.
They can also be built with Sapim Race spokes, which are round and double-butted instead of bladed – meaning a pair of wheels that are just as strong but more economical – for £410 at around 1495g.