If you are looking for one of the best road bike wheels available there is always going to be a push-pull with weight vs aero. Making a wheel deeper means making it heavier and you have to decide if you are going to buy into the idea that an aero wheel is faster at the end of a ride even if it’s not faster up a steep climb. For some people the calculation is that they’d rather choose one of the best lightweight wheels even if it’s a little slower. Cadex has a different calculation though.
What if you didn’t have to choose between aero and lightweight? The latest Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheelset is lighter than anything on our lightweight wheels list but it’s still 50mm deep and aerodynamically fast. Is it too good to be true? Keep reading to find out. We put the wheels to the test riding hundreds of miles over all kinds of routes and we are ready to talk about what we enjoyed and what they are like to ride. If you are looking for a wheel that breaks boundaries and does it all, these are worth checking out.
Design and aesthetics
It’s easy to jump into the aesthetics of the Cadex 50 Ultra wheels. Simply put, in my opinion, they are some of the best-looking wheels on the market. On either side of the wheels, you can find a simple gel coat with a Cadex wordmark. In between these, there’s a smaller set of perpendicular designs that also sit opposite each other. At the valve stem is a logo that’s black and proudly states the 50mm depth as well as the status of the ‘hookless’ bead. On the opposite side is a shiny wordmark that says ‘Cadex Ultra’ with a pair of lines to give it space among the slab of carbon it inhabits.
That carbon is the real story. The dominant visual is the carbon construction and there’s no obvious finish, gloss or matte, that sits on top. By itself, using a raw carbon fibre finish to a set of wheels isn’t completely unique. There are other brands that do it but somehow, this is different. The look is attention-grabbing without the need to be flashy. It catches the light and you can almost see the directionality of the layup. The effect is a depth that’s well beyond what is normal for raw carbon and it’s mesmerising.
Seeing that raw carbon also gives a subtle window into what’s below. Unseen beyond the final layer of carbon is…
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