Reviewed: Ron Wheels Aeron V6

Ron Wheels Aeron V6

$1,290, 1730g, available in rim or disk, tubeless compatible
65mm deep, 25.6mm external width, 18.3mm internal width
ronwheels.com

If you’ve never heard of Ron wheels, expect to see more and more of them in your local transition racks as this small Polish brand is getting a lot of attention. Ron wheels was founded by a young triathlete and his father with a vision of making a wheel that could compete against the best for a fraction of the price. Ron wheels first focused on rear disc wheels, which received glowing reviews, and they now offer a variety of wheels in many shapes and configurations. The Aeron V6s are laced to basic alloy hubs that are packed with Ceramic bearings from Enduro which make for a long life and low friction—a very nice touch in a $1,200 wheelset.

The Aeron V6 wheelset packs some other very interesting features: This setup is based on a 65mm-deep aero rim that certainly looks to have a very similar aero profile to other wheels in this category; the finish quality of the carbon is excellent considering they come from such a small manufacturer. That said, the Aeron V6 looks a lot like a deep carbon aero wheelset from a number of different brands.

Ron has introduced “VortHex” generators which serve the same purpose as the dimples found on Zipp’s wheels to improve overall aerodynamics by creating a more stable boundary layer.  While Zipp created impressions in their wheels, Ron has added small bumps to the wheel itself. While we can’t tell you which approach is more effective, this technique of reducing drag has proven results in other engineering applications (think golf balls, race cars, airplanes, etc.). Ron has taken the hexagon theme all the way to the edge of the rim with a hexagonal laser engraved brake track.

Out of the box, these wheels come with tubeless tape and tubeless valves installed. We chose to test them with inner tubes to keep things a little simpler and found it very easy to install our test set of Hutchinson tubeless-compatible tires even without tire levers. Out on the road we noticed that these wheels accelerated easily, and while we weren’t really prepared to measure just how aero the wheels are, they felt plenty fast. The braking performance from these wheels was very good in dry conditions but was reduced slightly when wet. The wheels soaked up bumps pretty well but not as well as some of the higher-end options, which is to be expected. For the money, these Ron wheels are super hard to beat and pack some really great features so definitely consider them if you are looking to upgrade your rig for next season.

Read the complete wheels roundup here.