I am very thrilled about these wheels. Please advice which configuration would better suit me.
1. I am lightweight rider 56-57kg with 280w on FTP. My sprint values however are just average and I can do about 1000w in the sprint.
Climbing - 50% in the saddle, and 50% out of the saddle.
2. I am riding 60% indoors, 40% outdoors and my descending skills are mediocre. No criteriums, only may be a few alpine marathons a year.
3. Current wheels choice: Hunt 44 Aerodynamicist, with steel spokes about 1460gramm a set. Even with this set descends can be very "windy" for me.
4. What I am looking for: May be a same stability or better in the crosswind, depth 40 or 44mm ( not ready to go 35mm just yet) and shave some weight.
I do not like when the wheel does feel not solid and occasionally I ride through the potholes ( if it is safer due to the riders, cars etc..)
Which rim / hub / depth configuration will you advise? How does these wheels compare to CRW and does it worth to overpay for them ?
How long are shipping times to Germany and the duties?
Looking at the official website I have not found anything similar discussed in this thread. How do you do the order and your payment method?
Thanks!
The last time I spoke with anyone, who bought a set of Zen wheels, the manufacturing time was about 15 working days. Shipping, including taxes, took around 10–15 days.
As I’ve mentioned, and as discussed in this thread, Zen is an OEM manufacturer, not a retailer. Their website often isn’t fully up to date, so it’s best to contact them directly via email or WhatsApp for the most current information.
I can’t directly compare these wheels to CRW, but I do have a pair of XM CarbonSpeed wheels in a 50/60 configuration. I sold my 50/60 CRWs to buy those, and I’m extremely happy with them.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, if I were spending money on wheels again tomorrow, I’d still choose a set of Zen 40/45s over CRW, mainly because they’re almost half the price. That said, the CRW hub—with the spoke directly threaded into it—is very well designed, but that alone isn’t enough for me to prefer CRW wheels.
Advising others on which wheels or configuration to buy can be tricky. Obviously, if you buy a set of CRW 40/45s, the choice is straightforward, but a like-for-like setup for Zen wheels would be…
CRW wheels have a system limit of 100 kg, which aligns with Zen’s superlight layup.
Although, based on your weight, you would also be well within the limit for the ultralight version at 90 kg.
Superlight
40mm rim front 360g
45mm rim rear 380g now as I’m a heavier rider and to help balabace spoke tension in the rear I opted for an asymmetric rear rim this also helps with lateral stiffness. Now you don’t notice the asymmetry when the wheels built also most wheel brand will not do this as it means an extra wheel mold. For example Extralite do asymmetric front and rear. At your weight though you should be ok with a regular rim profile it’s up to you or speak with Zara at Zen she may ask the engineer who is her father who owns the company.
3.25mm carbon spoke 40 number including nipples 136g
HX Hub 20 spokes from and rear 226g
Zen Wheelset estimated weigh 1102g
CRW Generation Wheelset 1180g (21mm internal width)
CRW 2025 wheelset 1140g (24mm internal width)
That said, if you often ride through potholes, hitting any pothole hard enough on a carbon wheel isn’t ideal—damage can happen regardless.
If you want something sturdier, you could choose the lightweight layup, which adds about 40g to the wheelset, bringing it to around 1142g—comparable to the CRW 2026 wheels.
Or you could opt for the standard layup, which adds about 80g, making the wheelset roughly 1182g. That’s on par with the previous generation CRWs and still considered lightweight!
