The Best Cheap Lightweight Aero Wheelset for Road Cycling? New 9Velo CD Wide from China

Dominate your next road cycling crit or conquer those gravel bike climbs with a budget carbon wheelset that doesn’t compromise on performance! In this in-depth review, we’re diving into the 9Velo CD 2025 Wide Wheels, a 1300 grams lightweight aero wheelset from China that promises fast cycling wheels for every serious cyclist. Discover if these Chinese carbon wheels truly offer the best value for riders seeking an edge in races. So you can feel like racing the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, or Giro d’Italia – but without breaking the bank.

Time stamps:
Rims: 00:22
Spokes: 01:01
Hubs: 01:27
Soundcheck: 03:00
Weight: 03:12
Spares: 04:09
Price: 05:15
Summary: 05:43

@Hambini Test: 9Velo CC 45 and really likes the hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNm7vFNxjE
And aero testing the 9Velo predecessor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2deYOny3YM

@PeakTorque Test: 9Velo LV 55 wheels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kP03pELRbs

#roadcycling #cycling #wheels #cyclist #roadrace

Hello everyone. The new 9Velo CD Wide 2025 
wheels. Is this the best budget wheelset on the market right now? Let’s find out. Xiamen 
based wheel producer 9Velo released this latest iteration of the aero wheelset a couple of 
weeks ago. And finally, the road wheels come with a rider rim. This is the 58 mm height. 
You can get it in 50 mm and 65 mm as well. And there’s also a mixed wheel size option. 
Let’s go check the height. Yep, it’s 58 mm. The old rims came with a 21 mm internal and 27 
mm external. Not bad, but not up to date. The newer rims are wider. They have 24 mm on 
the inside and come in at 31.5 mm on the outside. From an aero standpoint, wider rims 
are usually better suited for wider tires. The rims are hooked and of course tubeless. Both 
wheels come with 20 bladed carbon spokes in 3.5 mm width. I took the time to check for spoke 
tension and these wheels are not as well balanced as I hoped for. On the rear wheel, 
we had an outlier on the drive side. On the front wheel the drive side was not as balanced 
as I hoped for – as you can see in the chart. Now let’s have a look at the heart of the 
wheelset: the hubs. These are not some cheap rebranded OEM hubs from some factory. This 
is 9Velo’s own design. They have a nice look to them. They look well made. They have good 
bearings inside them. Go check the review of Hambini or Peak Torque. They go over them in 
detail. These hubs come either in a 36 teeth configuration or 45 teeth configuration for the 
free hub. I got the 45 here. It’s $40 more. And these hubs only come in center lock. So for all 
your weight weeny titanium bolt boys, better luck next time. Let’s talk about the rear hub for a 
moment. You can get Shimano 11 or 12 speed. You can get Sram XDR what I got inside here. You can 
get Campagnolo 11 or 12 speed. Or you can get the new Campagnolo 13 speed. If you want to go for 
some understatement, you can get a free hub body in titanium as well. It is 18 g heavier and sets 
you back $80. I got steel bearings inside my hubs, but you can go for ceramic bearings as 
well. They cost $100 more. Speaking of hubs, let’s talk about the front hub. Peak Torque 
tested the predecessor of this wheelset like two years ago – and he ran into trouble with the 
front hubs. The end caps were a loose fit so that when a heavy fella was pushing hard you could hear 
clacking noise. This however is a really tight fit and 9Velo even put some grease in there. So 
what we need to do now this is sound check. What do these bad boys weigh? Let’s put 
them on the scale. The front wheel first. It comes in at 613 g. This is good. Put it on 
the side. Let’s see what the rear wheel got. This is 723 g. In total, 1,336 g. This is with 
tubeless rim tape already installed. Good job. Let’s say 15 g per tape. So, these wheels 
come in around the 1300 g mark. I like that. On the website, 9Velo claims 1323 g without 
rim tape and with a 30 g margin. This is for the Shimano freehub body. What I got here 
is this Sram XDR. What else do you get for the wheels? First of all, the wheels come 
in this cloth wheel bags. They’re cheap, but they work. And you get a 
little box with some goodies in it. You get three carbon bladed spokes with your 
alloy nipple. And of course, you got your valves. They look rather long with valve 
caps. Get rid of those, of course. Let’s see. They will work. What else? This wheelset came 
properly packed and from Xiamen, the carbon wheel capital of the world, to Germany 
shipping only took 11 days. So, we have a light, wide aero wheel set with really nice hubs that 
ticks all the boxes. So, let’s talk about the pricing. In this setup – 58 mm height, steel 
bearings with the Sram XDR freehub body and 45 teeth ratchet system, it comes in at $1,339 as 
of mid 2025. If you go for the 36 teeth option, it’s only $1,289. Both prices including taxes, 
duties, and shipping to Germany. This wheelset got everything to be a good aero wheelset. It is 
light enough to climb the mountains. I really like the hubs, they have a nice look to it. This 
wheelset is for everyone who takes his riding seriously but does not want to break the bank. 
If you know any other lightweight aero wheel sets in this price range, please let me know 
in the comments. Thanks for watching. Ciao.