First Ride: Token Ventous Disc Wheelset

TOKEN VENTOUS DISC

The Token Ventous Disc is a 36mm deep carbon wheel with hook bead. The rim has a 28mm external width with a tubeless-ready 20mm internal width. The wheels come pre-taped for tubeless applications, along with valves leaving you to choose your favorite tire.

The wheels are built with 24 Pillar Wing 21 straight-pull spokes front and rear matched with alloy nipples. This is laced to a CNC machined alloy Token hub that uses steel cartridge bearings for long life and smooth-rolling. The disc rotor mounts on the center lock platform and Shimano/SRAM or SRAM XDR hub body options are available. The rear hub offers 27 points of engagement thanks to four pawls and 27 ratchet teeth, this means a very secure retention.

THE RIDE

Mounting and setting up the Ventous wheels was quick and easy. We tested both tube tires and tubeless, both went on by hand and with a floor pump. At 20mm wide the rims are not “wide by today’s standards but pair perfectly with tires between 25-30mm but larger will work well too.

The center lock rotor position seems to be spot on, and as we swapped them between bikes there was no need to adjust the caliper position. First impressions were good and the hub engagement is smooth but a bit louder than we like. The wheels have a noticeable damper quality that we didn’t expect to get from a wheel at the $1300 price point. 

Lateral stiffness is good and was a defiant improvement over most alloy wheels and on par for carbon. At 1530 grams the weight is also on par for a nearly 40mm modern tubeless wheelset. Crosswinds delivered a bit of deflection as expected but overall the rim profile deflects the air around the rim efficiently.

Cornering and fast descents is where the wheels really felt their best. The slight damper effect aided the tubeless tires in absorbing road imperfections while the lateral stiffness held the desired line. We found ourselves trusting the system more than normal even in less than ideal road conditions. 

STATS

Price: $1300
Weight: 675/855 (1530)
www.tokenproducts.com