Alto Wheelsets

We have created a separate section for Alto Wheelsets here because it is unusual for us to sell components specifically designed to be run together.  The hubs and rims can be run separately in ‘hybrid Alto’ sets or as complete sets as ‘Full Alto’ sets.  Hybrid sets can be a way of changing the sets characteristically but generally are used to provide Alto components more economically.

All Alto components come with a 5 year warranty and a 40% crash replacement scheme.  None of them have any rider weight limit and meet the highest possible manufacturing standards, providing the best possible performance and longevity.

If you want to read only about Alto carbon rims, you can jump to that here.

 

Alto road hubs

• Front – 83g
• Rear – 249g
• 576pt freehub engagement
• Bearings – 6802/6902
• R-Symmetric design (improves lateral and torsional stiffness)
• One piece axles
• Made in the USA
• Wide bracing angle.

DCR says:

These hubs were designed to provide exceptionally fast freehub engagement, high lateral stiffness and fantastic rolling resistance even in real world conditions.  Some hubs feel fast in your hand but not out on the road and certainly not on the bends.  Alto are different, decent sized bearings, angular contact design, 15mm axles, careful bearing placement means that the bearings themselves can run well when being subjected to both vertical and lateral loading.

The R-Symmetric design does three key thing things, it shortens the spoke length, allows a radial pattern and it increase the bracing angle.  High-low designs are not unusual, but one that is this high are very unusual.  The high flange essentially acts as if the spoke is initially traveling vertically, then dives in towards the rim.  Having the option of running radial lacing also increases stiffness, it has always been the stiffest pattern, a shorter spoke has less spoke stretch and being able to lace radially with heads in is remarkable, it really does deliver the widest angle you can achieve in a hub.  Wider angles improve comfort as well as stiffness.  The front is a wide angled front as well to accompany this rear.

Freehub engagement is a fixation that many people have on the trails, but not so often on the road.  It nevertheless provides an appreciable real world difference.  It makes the power delivery feel more immediate.

You can feel that these hubs are made with the precision that Alto are proud of.  The weight of the set of hubs is not chart topping, however you can see that the split is disproportionate front/rear.  The rear is where the extra weight as and that weight is in that drive side flange.  Weight in a wheelset is best carried in the hubs and given the other features the design offers, it should not be a concern for a rider looking to lay down power.

You can read more about how Alto hubs compare with other high end hubs here.

Alto disc hubs

Alto say:

Alto hubs are made in the USA and offer the absolute best performance and durability of any hub on the market, period.  Our patented R-Symmetric design and bearing closure system, coupled with genuine NSK bearings, will save you precious watts and provide the smoothest ride quality you’ve ever felt!

Borrowing from the success of the Alto rim brake hubs, they now have a range of disc brake hubs as well which are available in a range of colours and axle interfaces.  They also now offer Boost hubs as well.

The weights for their hubs are as follows:

Front disc – 115g

Rear disc – 271g

Front Boost – 125g

Rear Boost – 281g

Each can be provided with Shimano, Campagnolo and Sram XD freehubs.

Alto rims

We only offer Alto’s carbon rims.  For an Alto hubbed alloy wheelset, we recommend selecting the Aforce Al33, a high end, aero, tubeless compatible rim which can be built up with internal or external nipples.

Alto carbon rim brake road rims are:

• EPS molded system
• Filament wound
• UCI approved
• Modern wide aerodynamic profiles
• Proprietary layup
• Ultra high temperature resins
• 3d angled spoke holes
• Semi-UD finish
• Designed for 25c tyres
• 40mm, 52mm and 86mm depth

Alto CC40

The CC40 is the lightest rim brake rim in their range.  Not a ‘climbing’ rim; partly because it is still 40mm deep and partly because it is 480g.  It is the rim in their range which could be used in the broadest range of applications.  It is the most stable on windy days yet provides a greater aero benefit than any aluminium rim. 

Alto are particular with their carbon layup because they know the difference it makes.  They have a different front/rear layup and a different layup for the drive side and non-drive side.  They have completely different layup systems and different carbon and resin for their disc brake rims. 

Alto do this to produce some of the most sophisticated composite rims available.  They are tubeless compatible.  They are best suited to 25c tyres but can be run with other widths.  They are wide and slightly pointy profiles that produce lower drag with wider tyres and also delivery high levels of comfort and stability. 

Alto have done a heat resistance comparison test for their rims verses a number of alternatives which you can view here.

Alto have always worked hard to eliminate the issue of heat failure on carbon.  Despite being our ‘go to’ carbon rim for even the largest of riders on carbon and recommending them for all conditions.  Since transitioning to filament winding, their rims now provide even great heat resistance.  I am going to resist the temptation to wade in too deep with what the results of this test do show.  The intention of this test was to take the rims to their limits – how close you would get to those limits in real life is not something Alto are trying to advise here.  They are not trying to say that other manufacturers wheels are unsafe, but the results are interesting nevertheless.  From my perspective, points of interest are:

• Alto were the only rims to progress to phase 2 of testing which they still saw no issue with.  The extent to which Alto out-performed rims in this test is stark as well.  We are not talking about a few percent here, we are talking about all other rims being destroyed fairly rapidly and Alto withstanding the temperature indefinitely.  I feel I should also point out that this is the sort of internal testing rig that rim manufacturers would use when developing their rims to see how heat spikes and at what point their rims would fail.  A failure against this sort of test is absolutely commonplace.  So the Alto result is certainly remarkable.
• What the results show that is also quite interesting is how rims handle prolonged heat exposure.  A lot of rims can handle a heat spike; it is generally prolonged braking, even with comparatively little force which seems to present issues with temperature.  It is why Alto’s recovery time is important but also why the duration they can tolerate temperature for is important.  Rims which handle heat better and keep within their comfort zone during braking will last longer as well as keep you safer.
• ENVE rims performed best out of the rest despite ENVE’s insistence that the Swissstop Black Prince pads not be used with their rims.  I think that demonstrates how resilient ENVE have now made their rims and we have seen no issues with their NBT either with their pads.  Nevertheless, in the test, the ENVE rims were still a long way from Alto.
• I think that the performance of the Knight rims is particularly disappointing here.  They are a high end rim, they reportedly use one of the highest temperature tolerant resins, they too use a modern, sophisticated, EPS layup and they are also allowed to be used with Swissstop Black Prince pads.  The scale of the failure is also catastrophic.  Seeing the results here though have made me question the wisdom of their application in hillier terrain for larger riders.
• When rims get hot, they also wear faster.  So a rim which is taken out of its comfort zone with heat will last less time than a rim which remains relaxed about its temperature.  So Alto rims should last longer than other rims here on test.  There are of course other factors at play and in our experience, we know of no-one who has managed to wear one of these rims out yet anyway.
• A major reason why at least some manufacturers would choose to avoid using the resins Alto use in their rims is the difficult of applying them (they require filament winding) and also their cost to procure.  There may be other factors at play here but the cost of Alto rims to produce is extremely high, making their RRP extremely competitive. 
• Impact resistance was questioned with these resins and manufacturers of carbon rims did experiment with phenolic resins to achieve maximum temperature resistance but the rims suffered with brittleness.  This resin is not phenolic and Alto have done an impact test to demonstrate this here.

Thank you very much Spark Wheel Works for you assistance here in testing all these rims.

Alto CC52

The Alto CC52 is the most popular of the three rim brake depths.  When buying a carbon aero wheelset, it is worth having a truly aero wheelset.  Historically a rim this deep would be a handful and heavy; neither is the case on the CC52.  It adds 50g/rim to the CC40. In the real world that means that the CC52’s depth will make it faster nearly all of the time.  You would have to be climbing a steep hill at low speeds for the CC52 to be slower and even in hilly terrain, we come down as well as climb where the CC52 would be faster.

CC52 weights translate into approximately 1530g/pair with Tune Mig70/Mag170 hubs.  By comparison – Chris King R45 hubs on the ENVE 4.5 rims would allow for a similar depth, and a weight saving of only 20g overall, making the Alto/Tune option exceptionally good value by comparison.  That set isalso lighter and deeper than Zipp 303s.  They are made with the same resin system that goes into the CC40 as well, so you can feel reassured even with the heaviest braking.

 

Alto CC86

 

86mm is deep.  At this depth, you are less likely to be concerned about heat build up and braking and more about out and out speed.  As with all of their rims, Alto do not release tunnel data on these rims – but feedback suggest they certainly are fast and stable.  As with all Alto rims they are made to a superlative standard.  At 672g the weight is good but less relevant given their area of application.  Tubeless compatibility is a really nice feature to have on this.  Joe Skipper on CC86 rims set the British Ironman record.  Crucially too they are a comfortable setup, which makes them a sound choice for endurance events.

Alto CT40/CT52/CT86

Each of the key profiles has a tubular equivalent.  The tubular rims provide a significant weight saving over their clincher counterparts but are far less popular owing to their comparative impracticality.  The tubular rims nevertheless are nicely executed, still EPS moulded and possess similar profiles to their clincher counterparts.  Weights for each are as follows:

CT40 – 365g

CT52 – 420g

CT86 – 550g

As with all Alto components.  There is no rider weight limit on these rims.

 

Alto CC311/CT311 – prices subject to exchange rate.