IN BRIEF
Columbus, the Milanese tubing maker that has supplied framebuilders since 1919, is adding carbon wheels to its catalogue: BikeBiz headlines that the brand “enters the wheel category”. Four road wheelsets arrive at once, in three families — Cento for aero, Gara for endurance, Spirit as the lightweight flagship. On its own shop, Columbus lists them at €1,599 for both Cento wheelsets, €2,399 for the Gara 50 co-developed with DT Swiss, and €3,990 for the Spirit, nine euros below the €3,999 quoted by the trade press. Another discrepancy: according to the official spec sheet checked on 3 September, the weights differ from those in the press release.
| Prices (official shop) | €1,599 (Cento 50 and 62), €2,399 (Gara 50), €3,990 (Spirit 50) |
| Weights (official spec sheet) | Cento 50C 1475 g, Cento 62C 1465 g, Gara 1298 g, Spirit 1279 g, rim tape and valve included |
| Hubs | 6061 T6 CNC aluminium (Cento), DT Swiss 240 CS (Gara), integrated carbon/aluminium (Spirit) |
There are brands whose name you know without ever having bought the product. Columbus is one of them: from Milan, it supplies tubing to framebuilders, and its sticker on a down tube long said all there was to say about what a bike was made of. On 2 September, it went where nobody expected it: Columbus carbon road wheels.
Three families of Columbus carbon wheels, four wheelsets
The Cento family goes after speed, in two rim depths, 50 and 62 mm, at the same €1,599 price on the brand’s shop. Both share an in-house CNC-machined 6061 T6 aluminium hub and 21 VONOA carbon spokes. According to the official spec sheet, the Cento 50C weighs 1475 g and the Cento 62C 1465 g: the deeper one is given as the lighter, and the same sheet credits them with rims in different materials, T700 and T700-T800.
The Gara 50, at €2,399, is meant to go the distance. According to the official spec sheet, it is the only one of the four to get a hub from another brand, the DT Swiss 240 CS and its Ratchet EXP system; BikeBiz writes that it was developed with DT Swiss. Its 24 VONOA SLR carbon spokes are held by titanium nipples, and its bearings are steel where the other three run on ceramic. The sheet lists it at 1298 g.
The Spirit 50C, a hub and spokes in a single piece
The showpiece is called Spirit, at €3,990. What sets it apart is its construction: the spec sheet describes an “integrated carbon/alu” hub and “Spirit Aero carbon, integrated” spokes. Columbus, quoted by road.cc, describes a monobloc moulded in a single piece, whose 18 carbon spokes are fused to the hub flanges. The spokes are therefore not built onto the hub, they are part of it, and road.cc draws the consequence: “you can’t replace one yourself if it gets damaged”.
Two sets of weights that do not match
The point applies to the whole range. Coverage of the press release announces 1,249 g for the Spirit, 1,315 g for the Gara 50, 1,440 g for the Cento 50 and 1,470 g for the Cento 62; the Columbus spec sheet shows 1279, 1298, 1475 and 1465 g, which on these two readings makes differences of 5 to 35 g, in both directions.
The sheet gives part of the explanation, in a footnote to the table: “Measured weights include rim tape and valve. Weight tolerance: ±5%”, that is, weights measured with rim tape and valve, to within 5%. That covers the two wheelsets the catalogue announces as heavier, the Spirit and the Cento 50, but not the other two, which it announces as lighter. This article uses the manufacturer’s figures.
A rim sized for 28 to 30 mm tyres
The profile shared by the four rims, 23 mm internal and 30 mm external, is optimised, according to road.cc, around tyres of 28 to 30 mm. BikeBiz reports, from Columbus, development through CFD analysis, wind tunnel and laboratory; road.cc adds two years of development work, final assembly in Italy, and all-road and gravel versions expected for 2027. Victor Luis, chairman of the board of Columbus, says: “For over a century Columbus has been a champion of Italian engineering and quality.”
