Tested June 8th, 2009

Vuelta Corsa Super-Light

• Light alloy rims at a competitive price point
• 20 spoke front, 24 spoke rear with triple-butted aero and stainless steel spokes, sealed cartridge bearings and "lubeable" cassette body.
• 27mm rim
• Claimed: weight -- Front: 607 grams, Rear: 835 grams, 1442 total. Actual -- Front: 650 grams, Rear: 870 grams, 1520 total, +78 grams (5.4%)
• $400 msrp for the pair

This is a follow up review to the Vuelta Corsa Carbon 50 clinchers.

Design
These are impressive wheels, especially for the unbelievably reasonable price point of just $400 for the set, including quick release skewers. They feature the same "fast looking" red and black graphics and deliver on their promise.

The wheels feature 20/24 spoke rims with triple-butted stainless spokes, and the awesome "lubeable" cassette body. They also have the same excellent quick release levers featured in the Corsa Carbon 50 clinchers. And while not as light as the claimed 1442 grams (they came in at 1520), they are relatively light and very strong.

Often times with aluminum rims, you can see the seam and joint which is at the opposite side of the nipple hole. And, as you can see from the pictures, it was  impossible to see the joint in the rim, compared to another competitor. This is a nice touch and hints at the fine finishing work.

Performance
These wheels performed like a much more expensive wheelset. They are stiff and encourage aggressive turns in the descent. They are also tough; I regularly bounced off curbs and even cyclocrossed a bit around a local park. The rims proved bombproof and remained true. The rear hub is a bit noisy but it has an organic mechanical noise which sounds purposeful. There were only two drawbacks of the wheels. First, tires are somewhat hard to mount and, maybe because of that, seemed prone to pinch flats. Using these for commuting and training, I had three flats in 300 miles. One flat cut the tire casing, the other two were typical pinch flats.

Summary
These are fantastic training wheels and might even make a great set of dedicated cross wheels. They were very stiff yet comfortable. If I was in the market for some inexpensive but reasonably light wheelset, these would be a strong consideration.

Value: 5.0 stars 
Overall: 4.75 stars