Zen Carbon Wheels Xiamen

[gbrnole]

ideally, both. a 52mm U shaped front wheel with a 50mm U/V rear wheel would be the ticket.

[Rolle2k]

I would want U-shaped, but in 58/64mm depth. Maybe make 52/58/64mm depth of these?

[Sakizashi]

If its one rim I would do option 2. If you are thinking about as a product family, I would do one of each.

Product A: I would still do option 2, but increase the depth to at least 54mm.

Product B: Profile from option 1 and make a 64mm rim (or go as deep as you can without worrying about UCI legality due to mold inaccuracies).

This would give customers the opportunity to run a more stable and lighter wheel with the A/A, A all-round but still very aero set with A/B and for the people who want all-out speed, a UCI max depth wheelset with B/B

[toxin]

Dusted off the rim cfd setup for this. Caveats, this isn't professional grade stuff and it's only one orientation at a time, in a 2d plane, so not a representation of what drag on a whole wheel looks like, but still useful as an isolated comparison. Also debatable how accurately I eyeballed the shape of a tyre. The rim profiles were traced from pictures, but I think I hit those pretty well. 32 mm WAM tyre at 40 km/h, from 0 to 20° of yaw.

"Forward" orientation means the tyre is the leading edge, "reverse" means the rim is the leading edge. "Large r" is what most are describing as "U shape", "small r" what is being described as "UV".

Drag plot attached. Can see that the small r profile exhibits slightly lower drag at lower yaws, but it also stalls earlier, which could possibly indicate worse stability (THIS IS NOT A RELIABLE ASSUMPTION). The point of stall can by identified by the abrupt and sharp rise in drag, anything after that is unreliable data (or rather, even less reliable than it was in the first place).

CFD snapshot galleries
large r forward
large r reverse
small r forward
for some reason, 4 links gets you filtered out so another in next post

Not sure if this is a case of bad data being worse than no data, but I have it so might as well show it, instead of just sitting on it.

[toxin]

small r reverse

[ZenCarbonBike]

Thanks everyone for all the feedback — really appreciate the time and input from so many members.

At this stage it looks like we’re still moving forward with the 50 mm full U‑shape direction. Current working spec is around 350 g per rim, 25 mm internal width, and 34 mm max external at the rim. Impact target is 100 J with a 120 kg system weight limit, optimised around 30–32 mm tyres.

I mainly wanted to get a consensus on whether people preferred the slightly lighter hybrid profile or the more stable full U, and the feedback has been very clear in favour of the U‑shape. Stability, tyre support and real‑world handling seem to matter far more than chasing the last 20 g.

As with all our rims, we will work to provide three weight options:
• ~350 g
• ~370–380 g
• ~400–410 g

Thanks again to everyone who commented — the input genuinely helps guide the development.

[Gianpy]

I'd like to do a mini review of the VaporLite Pro 50mm iw23 wheels with 3.1mm carbon spokes, which recently arrived.

Ordered on January 11, they arrived in Italy on March 9... At least the shipping was fast, less than two weeks.

Unfortunately, the box arrived damaged, and I feared the worst.
Luckily, only the protective side cover was broken; I advised Zara to use sturdier cardboard.

I found all the spare spokes, tape, and tubeless valves.

The wheels weigh 450g + 555g = 1,005g less than the estimated weight.

They were fitted with RideNow and GP5000 28mm latex tubes with no effort.

I checked the tension and both are within 5% (report attached), while the truing and roundness are within +/- 0.10mm.
I'd say they're well-aligned and tensioned, and most importantly, they look fantastic—much better than in the photos!

The only thing I noticed is the slightly off-center camber on the front wheel 0,6mm on the DS side and the rear 0,15mm on the NDS side.
For now, I'll try them that way.

Last but not least, I appreciated Zara's support and expertise!

[ZenCarbonBike]

I'd like to do a mini review of the VaporLite Pro 50mm iw23 wheels with 3.1mm carbon spokes, which recently arrived.

Ordered on January 11, they arrived in Italy on March 9... At least the shipping was fast, less than two weeks.

Unfortunately, the box arrived damaged, and I feared the worst.
Luckily, only the protective side cover was broken; I advised Zara to use sturdier cardboard.

I found all the spare spokes, tape, and tubeless valves.

The wheels weigh 450g + 555g = 1,005g less than the estimated weight.

They were fitted with RideNow and GP5000 28mm latex tubes with no effort.

I checked the tension and both are within 5% (report attached), while the truing and roundness are within +/- 0.10mm.
I'd say they're well-aligned and tensioned, and most importantly, they look fantastic—much better than in the photos!

The only thing I noticed is the slightly off-center camber on the front wheel 0,6mm on the DS side and the rear 0,15mm on the NDS side.
For now, I'll try them that way.

Last but not least, I appreciated Zara's support and expertise!

Hi @GPC,
Thank you very much for taking the time to share such a detailed mini‑review of your VaporLite Pro 50mm iw23 wheelset — we really appreciate it!

I’m very happy to hear that the wheels arrived safely, performed well in your initial checks, and that the real‑life appearance exceeded expectations. The tension report and trueness measurements you shared look great, and it means a lot to us that you recognise the effort we put into quality control.

Thank you also for highlighting the shipping box damage. Even though the wheels were not affected, this is something we take seriously. We have already started reviewing stronger carton options with our packaging supplier to prevent similar issues in the future.

And thank you again for your kind words about our service. We’re always here to help before and after purchase.
Wishing you many great rides with your new wheels!

[Evaso_CC]

How are customers finding the zen hubs, compared to H works? They look very similar.

[ZenCarbonBike]

How are customers finding the zen hubs, compared to H works? They look very similar.

Good Day Sir,

For you information along with our own hubs we can supply H-Works Hubs, DT Swiss and THR Industries R2 hubs.

[Rebel_Yell]

How are customers finding the zen hubs, compared to H works? They look very similar.

I have H Works and am very pleased with mine.

[Sander2177]

How are customers finding the zen hubs, compared to H works? They look very similar.

Everyone is copy everyone with hubs. The design are all very generic.
I have been told some ex H-Works employees are now doing there own thing.
Zen do H-Works hubs anyway.

[bsharp77]

Hi Zara,

Thanks for the discount code and all the options.

I'd like to build up a lightweight set of wheels, but want to use brass nipples, as our weather is generally terrible and want to be able to actually use them without worry of galvanic corrosion.
Is it possible to build any of the carbon spoked wheels with brass nipples or would we have to look at something like the alpina or titanium spokes for such a build?

My target is a 55mm set of wheels coming in around 1200g if at all possible.

Thank you.

[ZenCarbonBike]

Hi Zara,

Thanks for the discount code and all the options.

I'd like to build up a lightweight set of wheels, but want to use brass nipples, as our weather is generally terrible and want to be able to actually use them without worry of galvanic corrosion.
Is it possible to build any of the carbon spoked wheels with brass nipples or would we have to look at something like the alpina or titanium spokes for such a build?

My target is a 55mm set of wheels coming in around 1200g if at all possible.

Thank you.

Hi,

Thanks for the question—and just to add a bit more clarity on options and pricing:

We don’t monitor this forum very frequently, so for any enquiries or orders, the best way to reach us is via WhatsApp (details let the bottom). You can also DM us on our Facebook or Instagram pages and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

In terms of your build:

- Carbon spoke wheels use proprietary nipple systems, so they can’t be paired with brass nipples 
- For brass nipples, we’d recommend Alpina Hyperlite or similar steel spokes such as Sapim CX Ray

For long-term durability—especially in wet or winter conditions—we generally recommend stainless steel spokes with brass nipples rather than titanium. While titanium is corrosion-resistant on its own, when paired with brass nipples it creates a higher risk of galvanic corrosion over time, particularly in salty or consistently wet environments. Titanium is also more sensitive to installation prep and can be more prone to thread seizure if not perfectly treated. In contrast, stainless steel spokes with brass nipples are a well-proven, industry-standard combination that offers excellent corrosion resistance, more consistent long-term reliability, and easier servicing.

Spoke weights (Alpina Hyperlite):
- ~3.8–3.9 g per spoke with nipples
- ~4.0 g we round up to
- ~4.8–4.9g with brass nipples so round up to 5g

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### Wheelset options

Option 1 – Lightest 55mm build
- VaporLite 55 mm rims (370 g each) 
- ZC240RS hubs 
- 24/24 spokes (Hyperlite) 
- Approx weight: 1220 g ±30 g 
- Price: $849 USD (Promo: $799 USD)

Option 2 –
- ZC261RS hubs 
- Hyperlite spokes 
- Approx weight: 1249 g ±30 g 
- Price: $839 USD (Promo: $789 USD)

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### Weight optimisation option
If you want to push closer to ~1200 g:

- Use a 50 mm front rim (330 g) + 55 mm rear (370 g) 
- This saves ~40 g

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All stated weights are ±30 g as standard for handbuilt wheels.

Feel free to reach out via WhatsApp or social DMs and we’ll help you fine-tune the perfect build.

Thanks!X

[bsharp77]

Superb level of detail Zara, thank you.
I’ll get in touch with you to sort the details privately.