Chinese carbon wheelsets are becoming an increasingly popular upgrade among enthusiast cyclists. However, the market is expanding, making it increasingly difficult to figure out which products offer real value for money. In this review, we take a look at a wheelset from a new brand called 10PLUS, which focuses more on solid technical features than fancy extras.
I like simplicity and clean design. Maybe because I know that a product’s quality isn’t determined by a long list of impressive-sounding features. And the 10PLUS E-series wheelset is something that doesn’t try to be more than it is.
A good wheelset improves the riding experience
The frameset and groupset of a mid-range road bike are more than capable of meeting the needs of an enthusiast cyclist. However, these bikes usually come with aluminium-rimmed wheelsets weighing around 1,800–2,000 grams.
If we had around $500–600 to spend on an upgrade, the smartest choice would be a new wheelset. For this price, we can buy a higher-end wheelset with alloy rims or even a Chinese carbon wheelset. I would choose the latter.
These wheelsets typically weigh under 1,500 grams with 50 mm deep rims. It makes the bike look more like a pro-level machine. However, at speeds of around 35–40 km/h on flat roads, you can really start to feel the aerodynamic advantage, which puts a smile on your face. The low weight is also an advantage when climbing.
A new brand with a great philosophy
The philosophy of 10PLUS is built around three main ideas. The first is to make premium solutions available to a wider audience. These include a star-ratchet freehub mechanism, ceramic bearings and a lightweight build.
Great value for money through direct-to-customer sales is also important to them. The brand itself is new, but the products are backed by an OEM manufacturer with 13 years of experience. They want to prove the quality of their products in the long term, so they specifically asked us to conduct a 2,000 km long-term test.
The meaning behind the 10PLUS name is that 10 represents perfection, while PLUS means they don’t stop there. They also apply this philosophy to cycling, encouraging people not only to beat their competitors, but also to surpass their own previous performance.
What makes a good carbon wheelset?
One of the main benefits of the disc brake era is that instead of 23–25 mm tyres, we now ride 28–32 mm tyres on road bikes. Wider tyres also call for wider rims, helping us take full advantage of their comfort potential. Today, a modern road rim is at least 21 mm wide internally, while 23–25 mm internal widths are also becoming increasingly common.
Rim depth should primarily be chosen based on how you plan to use the wheels. Rims up to 40 mm deep are mainly designed for climbing due to their lower weight. Another advantage is that they are less affected by crosswinds on high-speed descents. For the same reason, they can also be a better all-round choice for lighter riders under 70 kg.
Rims 60 mm or deeper are designed for flat terrain and high speeds. The extra depth also comes with some additional weight, so their advantages are best exploited by riders who can maintain high speeds on flat roads. However, very deep rims can become more difficult to handle in crosswinds.
I prefer the middle ground of a 50 mm rim depth. My riding is quite varied, from riding around Lake Neusiedl to climbing the Rosalia Mountains, but the terrain around here is generally rolling and hilly.
What makes the 10PLUS E-series wheelset good?
The manufacturer isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. They simply combine proven technical solutions with a few nice extras. The star-ratchet freehub mechanism has 45 teeth on this model, while even the cheaper T-series comes with a 36-tooth version. Ceramic bearings, however, are exclusive to the E-series.
Apart from that, there is nothing suspiciously flashy here. There are 24 spokes front and rear in a 1:1 pattern, laced two-cross. The spokes are made by Pillar, which represents the highest level of Far Eastern spoke manufacturing. They didn’t choose the lightest model, which adds a little extra weight, but considering the 130 kg rider weight limit, that is absolutely forgivable.
The rims are made using Toray T700 and T800 carbon fibres. I discussed their properties in more detail in my Triaero Flyee frameset review, but T700 can be used to increase flexibility and comfort. The wheelset also arrives tubeless-ready, with rim tape and valves already installed.
The rims have a 21 mm internal width and a 28 mm external width, which is perfectly reasonable in this category. The claimed weight of the 50 mm version is 1,415 grams. I measured 1,449 grams, which is within the specified ±3% tolerance. Interestingly, the 40 mm version is only 30 grams lighter, while the 65 mm version is 150 grams heavier.
The wheelset feels like a quality product straight out of the box. The design is clean: there is a logo near the valve, while the rest of the rim only features + symbols, with nothing loudly advertising the product’s Chinese origins. The hubs are also simple and clean, using straight-pull spokes. The bearings run smoothly, and when you spin the wheel freely, it feels like it will never stop.
How did we test the wheelset?
I fitted the wheels with 32 mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 tyres and my trusted RideNow Race Formula 36 TPU tubes. Interestingly, when measured on these 21C rims, the 32 mm tyre is only slightly wider than the 28 mm version on 23C rims, but it is a few millimetres taller.
I was able to reduce the 5.2/6.0 bar pressure I used with the 28 mm/23C combination even further thanks to the 32 mm tyres, down to 4.8/5.6 bar, which improves comfort even more. I first fitted the wheels to my Van Rysel NCR CF for around 120 km, basically for two final farewell rides before selling the bike. After that, I moved them over to my Chinese project bike, the Triaero Flyee, and by the time this article was published, they had covered a total of 800 km.
The wheel test is far from over. As I mentioned earlier, they asked us to test the wheels for 2,000 km, so we will update this article later with our long-term experience. And who knows, the wheels might even end up on another bike in the meantime.
How does the wheelset perform in practice?
Since this wheelset is 160 grams heavier than the carbon-spoked Superteam wheelset I had been using, I expected it to feel noticeably slower. But on the very first ride, it really didn’t feel slow at all. Of course, that is subjective, but it is still an important feeling.
What impressed me on the very first ride, however, was the comfort of the wheelset. Of course, the wider tyres I hadn’t tried before and the lower pressure also contributed to this, but I felt that the wheels handled road imperfections really well. Unfortunately, even they couldn’t turn the lake Balaton cycle path into perfectly smooth asphalt…
You could say the wheels are almost unnoticeable, which is definitely a positive thing because it means they simply get on with the job. This is also helped by the fact that while the 54-tooth ratchet mechanism in the Superteam is brutally loud and sharp, the similar 45-tooth system in these wheels is much quieter and has a more muted sound.
One negative I noticed was how the wheels handle crosswinds. The 10PLUS rims have a simple design, with a smooth surface and a straight lower profile. In stronger crosswinds or sudden gusts, the bike can feel a bit nervous to handle. In this respect, my Superteam wheels behave more calmly, which is probably partly due to their more sophisticated rim design.
Verdict
I had high expectations for this wheelset from the very beginning. The specifications, the clean aesthetics of the wheels and the philosophy of the brand all suggested that this would be a good product, and fortunately, that turned out to be the case.
The E-series wheelset costs $549, which is around 170,000 HUF. That is half the price of the Superteam wheelset mentioned above, and for this money you get a wheelset that represents a kind of rational sweet spot in terms of technical features and performance.
The entry-level T-series is $100 cheaper and comes with steel bearings, a 36-tooth star ratchet and a steel cassette body. If you want a few more extras, you can choose the E Pro series with Sapim CX-Ray spokes, which has a claimed weight of just 1,300 grams and costs $699.
Overall, I think the 10PLUS E-series wheelset is a great choice that can bring a lot of enjoyment to anyone willing to spend this amount of money. I would happily recommend it to any fellow cyclist looking to replace the basic wheelset on their bike with a carbon wheelset offering great value for money.
You can buy the wheelset here, and use the bikemaghu coupon code to get 5% discount.
