Review: Atomik 38 Disc wheels

We Liked

Wheels. Its one of the first things you should upgrade on your bike. And with so many options out there it can be kind of confusing on which wheel set is right for you. So where do you begin to figure out which wheel you should get? We make a christmas list of what we want in a wheel set and then we start checking those features off the list. There are a lot of aero carbon clincher wheels out there. The Atomik 38 wheelset was on our list to check out and we were not disappointed when we got them in. Here is our list of what we liked about the Atomik 38 Road Disc set.

• Wide rims 17 mm inner. A good part of cyclocross is edging , wider is better.
• Tubeless ready. One less step to do when you are getting your bike prepped for the season.
• Extra spokes! Spokes break and that is down time when the shop has to order the spokes in, not now. Down time gone.
• Decent price/weight. Most of the wheels out there that are like this cost $1,000 more and are only 200g lighter. A thousand dollars for 200g sounds like a drug problem to me.
• Nice bearing selection. We spent time just spinning the wheels they were so smooth..
• Aero spokes. Even Though the average speed doesn't really warnet aero these wheels will be used on the road and that counts.
• Tough wheels. You can't finish a race if your wheels break.
• 13 decal color combinations. Custom decals to match your kit or steed.  

We Didn't Like

When you are mounting the tires you need to punch a hole in the rim tape.. Also we don’t run tubeless and mounting regular tires and tubes was difficult. We had to use a good amount of soap in a spray bottle. Even then getting the tire to set on in the rim ( tire bead to catch) was very difficult.  

The Final Say

In cyclocross the most important things start with the ground and go up. So first are tires then comes wheels. One of the main strong points of the the Atomik 38 wheels is that the rim is wide! Having a wide rim will give you a wider tire and a better footprint for your tred. And in cyclocross edging is king. Strong light and does not require a second mtg on the house. It seems that the market is full of $2500 wheel sets. Not everyone can afford that. Atomik comes in $1000 cheaper with a lot of the same features as the more expensive brands. We would like to see them a little lighter and at 1610g it’s not too bad especially for what you get. Decent bearings, good quality spokes and a nice wide carbon tubeless ready rim and that comes in $1,000 cheaper and you can choose the stickers to match your bike or kit is a real value winner in my books. 200g for $1,000 no thank you, especially if I can keep my speed up in the corners.  

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