Syncros Capital SL Aero wheels

Owen Rogers reviews bling carbon wheels with a price tag to match

£3,830 | 1.29kg

The Syncros Capital SL Aero wheels, with their curious carbon monocoque design, are at the cutting edge of wheel development, a superlight solution for riders prepared to invest heavily in their quest for speed.

They’re a distant descendant of Syncros’s Silverton mtb wheels, the Scott-owned brand’s first one-piece carbon-fibre wheelset launched back in 2018. Those off-road hoops were ridden to victory by Tom Pidcock at the Tokyo Olympics, and carried Nino Schurter to multiple World Cup victories, so the Capitals come with a fine pedigree.

Essentially, each wheel – rims, hubs, spokes and all – is cleverly constructed as a single unit, a technique Syncros says produces a “one-piece carbon wheel system that is lighter, stronger and more responsive”. We’ll see.

Construction

Syncros’s designers’ priorities began with low weight and inertia, moving on to aerodynamics before concentrating on handling, feel and rolling resistance.