Cyclist
Oquo launches premium LTD wheelset range with updated profiles and its own lightweight hubs
Orbea’s spin-off wheel brand, Oquo, has launched a second generation range of road bike wheels using, for the first time, its own hubs. Labelled LTD, the new wheelsets sit above the current Team and Pro wheelsets and include 80mm, 57mm and 35mm deep road options with 23mm internal width and a 50mm deep, 25mm wide gravel/cobbled race wheelset.
The Oquo LTD wheelsets are priced at €2,399.
Who are Oquo?
Oquo was launched as a stand-alone wheelset brand by Orbea in October 2022. It initially offered MTB wheels before extending its range to its first generation road wheels in June 2023. It’s already launched a second generation of MTB wheels and is now extending its road wheelset range with a new LTD premium tier.
For the first time, Oquo is producing its own hubs for the LTD wheels, having used Zipp hubs in its first generation road bike wheels.
It’s based in the Basque Country in Spain close to Orbea’s factory and employs around 100 people, with a capacity of 1,500 wheelsets a day. It says its aim is to produce the best wheels on the market, while it uses local sourcing to cut down the length of its supply chain and offer local employment.
New LTD wheels
The new LTD wheels, launched today, sit at the top of Oquo’s range, above its existing Team and Pro wheelset ranges, which will continue to be sold.
It’s redesigned the rim profiles for the LTD wheels, increasing internal width from 21mm in its previous generation wheels to 23mm in the new wheels, with one new gravel option with 25mm width.
The new profiles are the result of whole-bike CFD analysis, followed by wind tunnel testing and pro rider use and feedback from training and races.
All the rims adopt a mini-hook design, as Oquo says that this provides compatibility with a greater range of tyres than a hookless rim. Additionally, the rims are asymmetric and reinforced at the spoke holes, which are angled to ensure a more even force distribution and a stiffer build.
Oquo is offering its new rims in 80mm, 57mm and 35mm depths for road use and a 50mm depth geared to use on gravel and in cobbled races.
One benefit Oquo claims for the wider rims is compatibility with the ever-wider tyres that are fitted on road bikes. Another is the ability to provide greater crosswind stability than with a narrower section.
Tool-free hubs
Oquo is most proud of its new Q10 hubs. These have no threaded parts, so they can be disassembled without tools. They have a 104g front, 175g rear hub weight, for a claimed 279g total hubset weight.
That compares favourably to Zipp’s 303g claimed weight for its latest ZR1 SL hubset fitted in its recently updated NSW wheels and DT Swiss’s 272g claimed weight for its top spec 180 hubset with an XDR freehub.
Oquo claims that its single-piece CNC machined alloy shells are made with the precision of components in wrist watches, using high-end 7075 – T6 aluminium alloy, which is ceramic coated for durability.
While the hubs are ceramic-coated, Oquo has opted for custom stainless steel bearings, which it says offer lower friction than many ceramic bearings and are more durable. It’s paid special attention to the hub seals, aiming to reduce friction while still keeping the bearings contamination-free.
There’s even a specially formulated low friction grease used, which Oquo says has high resistance to water uptake and is stable down to -50C.
The Oquo-designed Shark Ratchet in the freehub has 45 teeth for 8° engagement, There’s a wave spring that has interlinked counter-wound helices, which Oquo says offers more symmetric ratchet engagement than the single wound helical springs typically used in ratchet freehubs.
The hubs are straight-pull and laced to the rims with 24 Sapim CX-Ray aero steel spokes front and rear.
As with the rest of the Oquo wheel range, the components for the new LTD wheels are locally sourced.
LTD wheel depths, specs and weights
The Oquo LTD wheelsets have already seen action with the Lotto men’s and Ceratizit women’s pro teams, who rode the LTD wheels in the spring classics. Meanwhile, the brand’s four sponsored gravel pros raced The Traka and Unbound on the 50 LTD gravel wheels.
The four new RA (signifying Road Aero) and RP (Road Performance) LTD wheelsets are:
Oquo RA80LTD
- Depth: 80mm
- Internal width: 23mm
- Spokes: F 24 / R 24
- Claimed weight: 1,626g
Oquo RA57LTD
- Depth: 57mm
- Internal width: 23mm
- Spokes: F 24 / R 24
- Claimed weight: 1,460g
Oquo RP50LTD
The RP50LTD wheelset is designed principally to support wider tyres for gravel and cobble use.
- Depth: 50mm
- Internal width: 25mm
- Spokes: F 24 / R 24
- Claimed weight: 1,421g
Oquo RP35LTD
The RP35LTD wheelset is a climbing wheel, which uses the same rim profile as Oquo’s first generation wheels. Oquo says that it’s the stiffest LTD wheelset. It’s kept the narrower 21mm rim to preserve compatibility with narrower tyres, which it says pro riders often prefer as an additional weight-lowering choice for mountain stages.
- Depth: 35mm
- Internal width: 21mm
- Spokes: F 24 / R 24
- Claimed weight: 1,244g
Oquo LTD wheelset prices and availability
Oquo’s new premium LTD wheels are available later this month, with all depths priced at €2,399. At launch, there are HG11, XDR and Micro Spline freehub options, with Campagnolo N3W freehubs to follow.
Oquo offers a lifetime warranty on the LTD and Team wheelsets, as well as three year crash replacement.
You can buy the wheels direct via Orbea’s site or via selected retailers. When ordering the wheels direct, customisation options include logo colours and graphics. They’re supplied with wheel bags, valves and sealant in recyclable packaging.
Oquo’s new LTD wheels will also be fitted as standard to some specs of Orbea’s road bikes and e-road bikes and available as an upgrade to other standard configurations via the MyO bike configurator.
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