Just Riding Along Monitor Carbon wheels

Just Riding Along's Monitor Carbon wheelset is unbelievably light and impressively robust, and all for less than a grand. Performance-wise the wheels can't be faulted, and with a 27mm inner rim width they work well with even the widest gravel tyres.

The Monitors are excellent, but check out the guide to the best gravel wheelsets on off.road.cc for more options.

> Buy now: Monitor Carbon wheelset for £879 from Just Riding Along

For something to be strong and reliable there is always a conception that it needs to be overbuilt and heavy, or to offset that, be very expensive. I know that's the reason why I still wince every time I hit a pothole or protruding rock with carbon fibre wheels when out on the trails.

At just 1,360g (including rim tape), the Monitors easily dispel that myth, not just on the durability front, but also when it comes down to price.

I've been switching these Just Riding Along (JRA) wheels around between different gravel bikes for the last eight weeks or so, and they've been taking plenty of abuse as I've been trying to relearn where all the divots, potholes and lines are on my local gravel routes after a very wet tail end to the winter.

I've hit the edges of rocky potholes at speed, clipped tree roots at the wrong angles, and generally thrown everything I can at these wheels, and they have come out completely unscathed, running just as true as they were when they arrived.

It's a very strong and impressive build.

We don't see many road wheels this light, so for the very wide rim, and the extra spokes required for strength, the weight is impressive, and so is the performance.

As you'd expect, it's when climbing or accelerating that the lack of weight shows up the most, and the undulating terrain of most gravel routes means that makes up a lot of the ride.

When getting the power down there is no feeling of flex at all, with the whole build feeling very tight.

The hubs run incredibly smoothly, and after many hours of wet rides on my favourite gravel loop there looks to be no water ingress, or issues with mud or grit getting inside.

Build options

As for the build, JRA offers plenty of configuration options at the point of ordering, with JRA building them by hand in around 10 days.

The base price for a set of Monitors is £845, and as you make your choices on the website the price will increase if there is a charge for certain parts.

There is a choice of various hubs, including having the front one set up for a dynamo, and you can choose 24, 28 or 32 holes to accept either j-bend or straight-pull spokes.

The hubs are from Bitex, which JRA says it has used since 2014 with proven reliability.

Six-bolt or Center Lock rotor fitment is also available, and depending on your selection, there are various anodised colours available.

There is a full choice of freehubs on offer, from Shimano 11-speed (plus 9 and 10-speed with spacer), Shimano Microspline, SRAM XDR, and Campagnolo, both standard and the 13-speed N3W required for Ekar.

Various hub end caps will allow you to make your wheels compatible with pretty much any frame and fork.

Our build has straight-pull hubs with Center Lock disc mounting, 24 CX-Ray spokes (standard on the Monitor builds) and Sapim secure-lock nipples, anodised blue to match the hub colour. All this adds up to a cost of £879.

The carbon fibre rim is 25mm deep, with an external width of 32mm and 27mm internal, and weighs around 370g. The rim bed is offset for the spokes, which reduces dishing and therefore increases strength in the build.

JRA has gone for hookless rims which will only work safely with tubeless-compatible tyres; as you really only want to be running tubeless tyres for gravel riding it makes a lot of sense. The rims are ideally suited to tyres from 38mm to 57mm wide, and I found that fitting was quick and easy, although I did use an Airshot inflation system to get the boost of air required to pop the tyres onto the rim.

JRA offers a three-year warranty on build quality and components, with a five-year warranty on hub shells. It also only recommends a weight limit on 24-spoke wheels, of 85kg; from 28 spokes and above there is no limit.

Value

Competition-wise, Scribe's Gravel Wide++ 700 CD Disc – which looks to be very much the same as the Carbon Gravel Wide++ 700 Disc our colleagues over at off.road.cc reviewed a little while back – have a claimed weight of 1,316g, and come in a touch narrower and shallower than the JRAs. The price is slightly lower at £799, but they do have a combined weight limit of 115kg. You don't get the customisation of the JRAs either.

I reviewed the Reynolds G700 wheelset back in 2022 and, overall, I was pretty impressed. They are of a similar build style, although they were heavier than the JRAs by quite a margin at 1,520g, and cost £1,350.

You can go cheaper with the Prime Orra 700C carbon gravel wheelset at just £599.99, though they are heavier at 1,610g and don't have the handbuilt kudos of the JRAs.

I tested those last month and they are great for those with a minimal budget, but if you want a set of wheels with handbuilt personalisation then the JRAs are worth the extra cash easily.

Conclusion

Superlight and great value for money, the Monitors ride unbelievably well, making them one of the best gravel wheelsets out there, boosted by the fact that there is so much customisation ability. You can literally build the wheels you want. There are cheaper and lighter wheelsets out there, but as a package the JRAs can barely be criticised.

Verdict

Durable, light, stiff and good value – the Monitors prove that you can have it all