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The Scribe Aero Wide 50 rim brake wheelset feels fast, has a lowish weight of just under 1,500g and a U-shaped aero profile, but it’s quite easy to get the brakes to rub if you ride out of the saddle.
We’ve now reviewed a few sets of Scribe wheels at Cyclist, including the Aero Wide+ 50-D and the Aero Wide+ 32-D wheelsets, and have been impressed with the quality, particularly given the £870 cost of all Scribe’s Core range.
The Scribe Aero Wide 50 wheelset, as the name suggests, comes with a 50mm deep carbon rim front and rear. Although designated Wide, the internal rim width is 19mm, with an external width of 26mm.
While that's absolutely fine for typical road bike tyres, it's on the conservative side for a modern wheelset, with many now having an internal rim width that’s 4 or 5mm greater.
It’s enough to puff out a set of 28mm tyres to around 30mm, while still providing the clearance needed for a Shimano rim brake caliper.
Scribe’s disc brake wheels do go wider, with the Wide+ wheels having a 21mm internal width.
The rim profile is the typical rounded U-shape which Scribe says provides aero benefits without edginess.
The rims use a High TG resin that’s designed to cope with higher temperatures which can be generated by prolonged braking, but as with any rim brake carbon wheels, it’s a good idea to avoid dragging the brakes on longer descents to give the rims the chance to cool off.
Gone are the days when rim braking on carbon wheels was a troubling experience as you were never sure how soon and how well the brakes would bite.
The Scribe Aero Wide 50 wheels brake reliably with the supplied pads and even in the wet the braking efficiency is the match for all but the best alloy wheels.
It’s still not as good as disc brakes, however. Having predominantly ridden on disc brake wheels recently I was aware of just how much difference there is in absolute performance.
Another benefit of disc brakes is the absence of brake rub. Even modest out-of-saddle efforts could provoke marked rub on the rims of the Scribe Aero Wide 50 wheels.
If you’re a heavier or more powerful rider you might find this irksome, but Scribe also makes the Aero Wide 50 HD, which has a higher spoke count and might remedy this.
Scribe’s hubs are nicely made too. They use straight pull spokes, with the drive side rear flange being a bit larger than the non-drive side and the drive side spokes laced three-cross while the left side spokes are radial. There’s also 2:1 spoking right to left at the rear for more even left-right tensions.
The wheels have cartridge bearings and you can choose either Endurance units, which are sealed, or Race, which aren’t sealed and lower friction a little, although that’s also likely to lower their durability and weathertightness.
Scribe uses its own patented ratchet freehub (a similar system to DT Swiss), which it says offers great durability. It’s pretty noisy too.
The freehub body comes in Shimano 11-speed, SRAM XD-R or Campagnolo options, so all road drivetrain alternatives are served.
There’s now an anti-gouge plate fitted to the Shimano freehub – an upgrade from when we tested the Scribe Aero Wide 32 Carbon Disc wheels a few months ago.
I weighed the Scribe Aero Wide 50 wheelset at 662g front, 830g rear, for a wheelset weight with rim tape of 1,492g. That’s pretty good considering the wheels’ depth and price.
You can add 10g to that for the supplied pair of tubeless valves and 72 g for the two quick release skewers, but it’s still modest compared to similar competitors. The wheels come pre-taped and were easy to set up tubeless with a track pump; there are spare spokes in the box too.
Although mid-section carbon wheels used to be a pricey upgrade, there’s now a significant amount of competition at the sub-£1,000 mark from the likes of Hunt Bike Wheels although wheels from longer-established players like Mavic tend to be pricier. Take a look at our pick of rim brake carbon wheels for inspiration.
The Scribe Aero Wide 50 wheels stand up well against the competition though and are an option you should shortlist if you’re after a new rim brake wheelset.
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