Our reviewers have been scooting around for the last month on the Ellsworth
AL Road Wheelset mounted with Challenge Open Criterium (sexy white) tires. We were hooked up by local rep Joe Houston, a big boy who is hard on wheels. He had high praise for these. We do too.
The 1450g set is spoked 20 front and 24 rear. We’ve found some low spoke count wheels to have a lot of lateral flex (i.e. rubbing the brakes when out of the saddle). The stainless bladed spokes and use of radial lacing (front wheel and rear non-drive) on the Ellsworth’s eliminated that flex for our 175lb tester. Paired with the 300tpi Challenge tires, the ride remained very very smooth.
Speaking of the white tires; At first our tester was a bit worried about how well they would work in the wet. The pilot was confident in the supple casing and generous air volume of the 23mm size. However, even though this is not Challenge’s specific rain tire, it worked quite well on a slippy day where our tester needed to make a ‘time cut’ at home. A bit over six miles with long stretches of 27-28mph in the rain ended with plenty of trust in the rubber.
Hill rides, bricks, a little dirt, and a wet 10km of time trailing (to make an appointment) all were handled quite nicely. A big thumbs up for the ride and the unique Cholo Ellsworth graphics. Retail $899.