The road bicycle wheels are divided into three categories: road bikes, time trial/triathlon and all-terrain road bikes/CX road bikes. Let's talk about the difference between the three types of wheels.

Excluding the shape and structure of the wheel set, the width of the rim is also different due to the different tire widths used in the three models.

Nowadays, road bikes generally use 25-28c tires. Therefore, general wheel manufacturers will optimize the wheels for these two specifications of tires. Due to weight control, aluminum alloy wheels are generally not too wide. Nowadays, the mainstream inner width is 17mm and the outer width is about 22mm; the disc brake aluminum alloy wheels will be slightly wider by about 2mm because there is no brake edge.

Because carbon fiber wheels are lighter, we can use some radical designs, such as widening the rim to improve stability in crosswinds. Carbonal road rims / wheels have 18mm and 21mm internal widths, perfect to fit the 25-28c tires or even more wider tires.

Because all-terrain road bikes will be fitted with wider tires or gear tires, the wheel rims they use will become wider. The 700c specification generally uses 28-42c tires; if mountain tires are needed, 650B specification wheels will be used. The inner width of the rim is generally about 25mm, and the outer width is about 30mm. All terrain road wheels are basically vacuum specifications.

Compared with all-terrain road bikes that tend to have fun attributes, CX has the characteristics of short-distance racing, so CX wheels attach great importance to performance. The rims will be narrower than all-terrain road wheels, and a tubular version will be launched to pursue lightweight advantage.

Carbonl CX/Gravel rims are 24mm & 25mm internal width, more details refer to: cx-gravel-rims.

The biggest difference from road bicycle wheels is that in order to reduce wind resistance, time trial bicycles basically use all-carbon closed wheels (disc wheel) on the rear wheels, and the front wheels also have special three-blade or four-blade cutters for the rider to choose (of course, there are also riders’ front wheels preference. Use traditional spoke wheels). The time trial/triathlon pursues speed and aerodynamic efficiency, and basically does not use wide tires. 25c is the top. It is said that many professional drivers are still using 23c tires...so the wheels of the time trial are basically not too wide. Carbonal 3 spokes, 5 spokes and disc wheels are 23mm wide (external width), and 15mm internal width.

Triathlon wheels cannot be directly applied to the routines of time trial bicycles, because the triathlon track is long and the environment is changeable, so you need to choose the wheels according to the actual environment. For example, the windy KONA World Championships prohibits the use of closed wheels. Therefore, the general tricycles use ultra-high-frame carbon fiber wheels. If the road conditions are not good, 28c tires may be used.