When Parcours called their new affordable carbon FKT wheelset the “first truly aero-optimized gravel wheelset” I immediately wanted to review them. Much of my gravel riding is spent on my own in the wind, and while I don’t hit average speeds nearly as high as serious pro gravel racers, I so appreciate the aero gains when they don’t compromise on weight, rider quality, or stability in variable wind conditions. The FKTs are quite light, have the comfort benefit of large-volume tires, and make solid all-rounder performance promises…
Parcours FKT all-rounder aero carbon gravel bike wheels
Deep & aero enough for racing but not so affected by crosswinds to still be versatile for everyday rides. Wide inside at 27mm hookless internal, and much wider outside to deliver smooth aerodynamics for 35-45mm gravel tires. Yet still as light or lighter than most other aero gravel wheels, even those that cost a lot more. And yes, just $1600 / 1560€. They aren’t cheap but fall clearly in the more affordable spectrum for carbon gravel wheels.
Sure, these are wheels designed for gravel racing. But really without any real downsides for slower riders, they seemed like solid all-rounders, too.
Now, what about those aerodynamic claims?
For almost the last decade, we’ve seen an explosion of aerodynamic bike wheel design. And that trend can mostly be described as wide blunt-nosed aero rims that mimic a truncated NACA airfoil design, where the rim ends near the widest point of the airfoil and the tire takes over at that point. It’s a pretty solid-performing design – working as the wind hits either the tire or rim as the leading edge – but seemingly best up to a ~30mm road tire, lest the rim gets crazy wide AND heavy.
Unique aero rim profile
Parcours did something very different with the FKT. They call it a “hybrid truncated virtual foil design“. And it’s what they say makes these “truly aero-optimized” for gravel.
Instead of making the widest point of the rim at the bead, the FKT’s widest point is at the midpoint of the rim section itself. I measured the 40mm wide external widest point to be 25mm from the tire, closer to the spokes. The rim is 32mm wide outside where it meets the tire. And the rims and tire sections are quite similar in both size and shape – see my rough sketch, above. This creates a depressed area (red, in my doodle) where air doesn’t seem to move around much. And that means the air flowing past the wheel (blue) kind of just doesn’t touch the wheel there. In theory, that airflow patterning is what makes these wheels fast.
Real-world gravel aerodynamics
Moment of full disclosure here. Parcours didn’t actually show me this. Though, they kind of described it to me. And then I drew that sketch after seeing how the wheels looked after riding them on duty gravel. You see, only the wider blunt nose of the rim gets dirty. The areas in red on my sketch don’t come in contact with the dust kicked up as you ride, so it seems like there could be real physical evidence of how the wind hits these aero gravel wheels.
Now, Parcours aren’t the only ones to do this. DT Swiss & Swiss Side’s latest 50mm deep aero gravel wheels angle back in almost 2cm below the bead. But the Parcours FKT that I review here seem to most closely match the rim to its optimal tire profile for the smoothest aerodynamics at both the front and rear edges of the rim pedaling into the wind.
So, how did they feel?
Riding Review: Parcours FKT impressions on road & gravel
They are quick, for sure. Combined with the new 40mm wide Panaracer GravelKing X1 tires (at a real 446g apiece) that these wheels were optimized for, the Parcours FKT wheels roll fast over all sorts of hard gravel surfaces and still feel quick on tarmac, and they don’t seem uncomfortably stiff. A decent amount of that credit does go to the tires and their fast-rolling GKX1 tread design with continuous blocky centerline tread. And the rest can be split between smooth spinning sealed EXO stainless bearings and wheel aerodynamics.
Without objective wind tunnel testing for our review, evaluating the new Parcours FKT gravel wheels comes down to subjective feel. Yes, they made an already quick bike feel quick. And I did set a few new personal best times on gravel segments that I’ve ridden on several different wheel + bike + tire combos. In fact, I set 8 Strava PRs on one midsummer ride alone, including both a 7.5km descent and an 8km/500m climb.
Real Weight & Value
Much of what I think makes these aero gravel wheels a solid all-rounder upgrade option is their combination of aerodynamic performance claims, lightweight, and affordability. It’s quite easy to find a set of carbon gravel bike wheels these days that excel in one or two of those categories. But nailing all three is still rare.
I always feel like I need to take aero claims with a pinch of salt vs. real-world performance. But as silly as it sounds, the dust pattern that accumulated on these Parcours FKT wheels is really what convinced me, and probably forms the basis for this review. You can simply see how the air flows over the wheels, validating Parcours’ claims.
Weight-wise, these aero gravel Parcours FKT wheels weighed a real 1561g on our scale (725g front / 835g rear) with rim tape, valves & centerlock rotor lockrings already installed. Average rim tape for each wheel in my experience weighs about 10-15g, long alloy valves weigh about 5g apiece, and alloy lockrings about 8g each. So let’s say that’s 50g of extras, making these pretty close to spot on Parcours’ claimed wheelset weight of 1500g. There are lighter mid-depth aero wheels out there, and lighter non-aero gravel wheels. But very few that do both at 1500g.
Affordability is the icing on the cake. Surely not cheap, they’re much more affordable than the latest top-tier wide aero gravel wheels from DT Swiss or Zipp, both of which are also heavier. And mostly on par price-wise with less aero-optimized gravel wheels from other affordable carbon wheel companies.
Key Tech Details
I didn’t get into the core tech details of Parcours’ new FKT gravel wheels beyond their aero rim shape, because I already did that in detail back at the start of July. Read on here for more info. It is worth touching on some key points again, though.
Importantly, Parcours lays up the carbon in this rim with the same IMPACT+ tech from their Alta all-road & gravel wheels. This construction uses an extra flexible proprietary resin to reinforce the carbon fiber at the hookless bead to “increase durability and impact resistance”.
They then lace up the new aero gravel rim to their same road disc alloy hubset with straight-pull bladed Sapim CX-Ray spokes (2-cross, 24 spokes per wheel) with external alloy nipples. Those hubs feature a 6-pawl freehub with two offset engagement points per pawl to a 44T ring for 88 POE at 4° fast hub engagement.
The wheels come standard with a Shimano HG freehub, but can be switched out for a SRAM XDR body like our test wheels when you order. There’s even the option to get a Classified hubshell build that is ready to drop in your Powershift rear hub internals. But, getting a Campagnolo N3W or Shimano MicroSpline freehub requires a custom wheelbuild.
Final Thoughts
We’ve been riding the £1200 / $1600 / 1560€ 47mm deep aerodynamic carbon Parcours FKT gravel wheels since the start of the summer on a Canyon Grail. And summing up my wheel review, I can comfortably say that I’ve actually set some fastest known times… well, at least the fastest for me. These wheels hit a sweet spot of visible aero performance, light-enough weight, and reasonable enough affordability and I think they make a great all-rounder upgrade for most riders looking to get more out of their gravel bike.
While other wheelsets might have more flashy appeal, these FKTs are ones that I’m a little sad to ship back to Parcours for the next gravel biker to ride.
