When I was building Tatjana’s Orbea Ora Tri Bike, I looked at a number of wheel sets and decided to go with the Pro-Lite Gavia P-59-MT (50mm Front/90mm Rear, Full Carbon Tubular).

Pro-Lite http://www.pro-lite.net/ produces a full product line of frames, wheels and components using the very latest technology and materials for road, track and time-trial/triathlon. They offer everything from road and time trial frames to stems, handlebars, saddles, forks, cranksets and wheels. All of Pro-Lite's wheels are hand built at their facility where“each spoke is checked six times for tension during the building process” and they apparently “soak the nipples in oil for 2 weeks before building.” They offer a full line of tubular and clincher wheels for every type of riding.

Pro-Lite’s wheelsets are built around their exclusive “Balzano” hub. Pro-Lite’s website explains “The Pro-Lite Bolzano hub is designed to provide maximum power to output ratios, while offering superior wheels stability and structure. When coupled with the unique Pro-Lite spoke made from Swedish Stainless Steel, you have a combination that is everything the rider needs. During tests using several Pro riders, we used a power meter set at 300 watts of power over 50km and the results were amazing. The result was an average faster time over 50km of 89.2 seconds.”

The wheels come supplied with Brunico carbon/ titanium skewers and wheel bags to keep them safe when you're not using them or transporting them to races, as well as extra spokes and carbon brake pads.

When you ride these wheels, the first thing that becomes apparent is the high level of stiffness. The 50mm front and 90mm rear combination is very aero (you can also get the Gavia wheelset in a 50/50 or 90/90 combination), and I think this profile is well suited to all but the windiest time trials. They are a little heavy for a full carbon wheel (758g Front and 1070g Rear).

Wow, I can’t believe I’m writing that! Just a few years ago, I would have been afraid to ride on a wheelset that weighed around 1800g. Anyway, this is 2009, and they weigh about a hundred grams more than the Zipp 404 Clydesdales that I am currently riding. Pro-Lite explains that their wheels weigh more because “lighter wheels flex far too much under maximum load by the rider and weight saving does have its disadvantages, that being the wheel flexes far too much causing the rider to waste far more power to maintain the same speed and therefore a Pro-Lite wheel allows the rider to maximize the power output and actually go faster using the same amount of power. In plain English the power transfer on a Pro-Lite wheel is far superior to that of other wheels on the market.”

Since most triathlon courses, with a few exceptions, are relatively flat, I think power transfer would be more important than a hundred grams or so. The early results from Tatjana’s training and racing seem to bear that out. She indicates that the wheels “feel fast” (and they look fast too) and she is faster, but we have changed quite a few things since last season (bike, positioning, training).

The quality is good and the wheelset has held up well so far, and we have no complaints. The best part is the price. We picked up Tatjana’s wheelset for about $800 new on e-bay. I see they are currently on sale for $1099, which is still about $500 less than a new Zipp 404 wheelset from last year on sale. I’d have to say that the Pro-Lites are providing us with the best bang for our buck.