ENVE

I've went through many brands of bar tape on my bikes, but after having tried this ENVE 3mm tape I won't try anything else.

This is probably the easiest tape I've wrapped. The tape stretches and contours to the bar, but if you need to redo a section it's easy.

The included finishing tape isn't your ordinary electrical or vinyl tape. It's a stretchy textured strip with adhesive. It makes the final product look and feel premium.

Finally, the overall feel and grippiness of the tape during rides is great. The 3mm thickness provides excellent damping.

Durability over time is still in the air as I had only installed it a couple months, but so far so good.

The thing is, enve consistently produces quality products, so I expected these to be quite good and honestly they really are. Hookless has been nothing but reliable to me for years now and in my opinion I think most people who have had hookless issues are not the problem with the wheels but user error, either pumping too much air, using incompatible tires, using too narrow of tires.

As far as cross wind stability, they are pretty good. Expect to feel them on windy days, though for this depth that is fairly normal of a problem to deal with. They spin up pretty well on most climbs, only really starts to get difficult around 8% gradient and beyond. They are not the lightest wheelset but not the heaviest either. I think in this day and age many brands are going carbon spokes, so I think in this day and age mid 2025 it is lacking weight wise compared to the likes of vision, specialized and some other brands when it comes to weight for 50-60mm deep wheels but i have to imagine enve has a carbon spoke version in development.

The build quality is exceptional. Enve products always are built really well and consistently well however enve wheels compared to other brands have always felt much nicer to the touch. I don't know if its the physical build of the carbon, I don't know if it is the paint finish they use but whatever it is, when you hold these in your hands they feel incredibly well built. I recommend the ses line, regardless of which wheel depth you choose. I own the 4.5 and the 2.3 and both are built incredibly well and would happy recommend any of them.

When it comes to wheels, there are few brands that actually produce a QUALITY wheelset where when you say the brand name, nothing else needs to be said and Enve is truly one of them. Are they pricy, yes. Are they quality, definitely yes. They are hookless, keep that in mind, however most tires that are coming out these days are all hookless compatible so finding compatible tires really is not a problem anymore.

They are very responsive wheels, and I have this set and a set of 4.5 SES and to be honest, I mostly use the 2.3s on a day to day basis. Yes, the 4.5s are faster, you can feel it on the flats and the downhills however with the 2.3s you never really have to worry about fighting the bike in crosswinds so from a day to day perspective it is a lot more realistic of a wheelset to use.

I've always wanted to try these however I've heard from shop mechanics that these tires are an absolute menace to mount depending on the wheels you are trying to put them on. I mounted these onto the ses 2.3 and 4.5 and they are noticeably more difficult to mount than say the gp5000 str however not impossible.

These tires are durable. Yes, compared to the gp5000 str or p-zero race tlr you are sacrificing some rolling resistance, however having the layer of puncture protection is very mind calming. Every time I rode the str or p-zero there was always some worry every time I went over some rocks, sticks, this that on the rides of roads or in trails however with the ses tires, I never worry about a puncture issue. These tires are very much in between a proper race tire with minimal puncture protection and an all season road tire like the gp5000 astr.

You will always be faster in a race not having to deal with a puncture than to deal with a puncture. These tires are realistically the kinds of tires most people on the road should be using.