Knight Composites All Road / Gravel Carbon Wheelset Review: Light & Durable

“At Knight, we build wheels, with 3 simple goals in mind: compliance, durability, and speed. Other manufacturers will tell you wheel design is a game of trade-offs, that you must sacrifice one thing to gain something else. We don’t believe in sacrificing anything. Our wheels give you everything you expect. The Knight design is based on superior engineering and manufacturing technology, to eliminate sacrifices. We create wheels around our proprietary T.E.A.M. shape, and cutting edge EPS manufacturing techniques, to optimize your ride to be as smooth, fast and maintenance-free as possible.” – KnightComposites.com

Knight Composites All Road / Gravel Wheelset

“Constructed using our EPS molding process, the Gravel/All Road is 30% more laterally stiff and twice the vertical compliance to its nearest competitor. And the 25mm spoke bed and hookless bead hold up to a 2.35″ giving you plenty of cushion for the pushing, while still coming in 80g lighter than those other guys.”

knight all road gravel wheelset review — Our review set was built with DT Swiss 240S hubs

Wheelset Options

Wheel Diameter – 700c or 650b
Hub Type – Knight Cascade, DT240, Chris King R45, and Chris King R45 Ceramic
Freehub – Shimano / SRAM 11-speed, SRAM XD, and Campagnolo

Specifications

Material: EPS Molded Carbon Fiber
Rim Depth: 25mm
External Width: 28mm
Internal Width: 22.5mm
ERD: 595
Spoke Count: 28/28
Tire Size: 700c x 2.0-2.35
Rim Weight: 370g (assuming 700c)
Wheel Set Weight: 1380g (DT 240s)

Knight EPS Construction & Molding

“Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) molding is the standard for creating carbon frames and forks for the best race bikes in the world. At Knight, we use this same process to create our products.”

“Most carbon fiber rims look smooth and seamless on the outside, but what’s inside is equally as important. Making a carbon fiber rim involves compressing layers of carbon weave and epoxy resin into a mold to get the desired shape. Traditionally, inflatable bladders are used inside the rim to force the material into the mold, but because the shape of a bladder can’t be finely controlled there can sometimes be wrinkles or inconsistent thickness in the finished rim. These irregularities can lead to delamination or premature stress fractures — every fold, every wrinkle a potential point of failure.”

Read more about the EPS Construction & Molding Process at this link.