PWB VENTUS 45CDW CARBON DISC BRAKE RIM

Design and construction

Forty-five millimeters is the depth that balances aero, weight and crosswind manners for most road riders, and the Ventus 45CD is shaped the modern way: wide at the bead so a 28mm tire flows into the rim, rounded through the section so the airflow stays attached in a gust, and tubeless-ready with a hooked bead that works with tubes, tubeless-ready tires and ordinary clinchers at normal pressures. The disc version has no brake track and saves weight; the 45C is the rim-brake version with a textured carbon brake track; the 45CDW is the wider disc version. External nipples, standard J-bend spokes.

How it rides

A Ventus 45CDW wheelset is the all-road version of the 45CD: as fast on the flat, calm in a crosswind, and with a 30 or 32mm tubeless tire more comfortable and more capable on rough tarmac and light gravel. It is the rim we suggest for endurance and all-road bikes that want one carbon wheelset for everything. For narrower tires the 45CD is a touch lighter; for gravel the Terra i22 is wider still.

Specifications

This listing

This is the 29in listing of the Ventus 45CDW, 24h, about 460g, 22mm inside, 45mm deep, disc. Pick the size that matches your frame; the profile and construction are the same across the range.

The disc version of the Ventus 45CDW has no brake track, so the sidewall is a plain extrusion that saves a little weight and never wears; it is the one to choose for any disc-brake frame. The rim-brake version, listed separately, has a machined sidewall.

Sizes, fit and compatibility

The PWB Ventus 45CDW Carbon Disc Brake Rim comes in the drillings listed on this page. It is a disc-brake road rim. We build the Ventus 45CDW on DT Swiss 350 and 240, Bitex BX 106, Industry Nine 1/1 and SOLiX, White Industries CLD, Hope RS4 and Chris King R45 hubs, usually with Sapim CX-Ray or CX-Sprint spokes or DT Aerolite, and brass or alloy nipples.

Tire range on the Ventus 45CDW is 28 to 35mm. Give the configurator your bike type and weight; it picks a sensible spoke count and lacing pattern, which you can override.

Building it at ProWheelBuilder

PWB makes the Ventus 45CDW; ProWheelBuilder is an independent wheel builder in Georgia, not the manufacturer. Every Ventus 45CDW wheel we build gets spokes cut from the rim's measured ERD, is tensioned in stages with a gauge, stress-relieved and trued before it ships. Tubeless tape and a valve are fitted on request.

In the configurator you will only see parts that fit this drilling; combinations that are not made are struck through, and the price updates as you pick.

Material, weight and value

A carbon fiber rim, listed by PWB at 460g in 700c/29in. Rim weight is rotating weight at the outside of the wheel, so it is felt more than the same grams on the frame. A 22mm inner width suits road and gravel tires that want a rounder profile.

Every PWB rim we sell is built into a wheel here: we cut spokes to the measured ERD of the exact size, lace it to the hub you choose, tension and true it by hand and stand behind the build. The current per-size price is always shown live in the configurator.

Build it into a wheel

This rim is live in our Custom Wheel Program for gravel and road disc and touring builds. Start a build with the PWB Ventus 45Cdw Carbon Disc Brake Rim and the configurator opens with this exact rim pinned at the top of the PWB list — you choose the rest of the parts and it validates every combination as you go.

Spoke head is decided by the hub, not the rim: this rim builds equally well with J-bend or straight-pull spokes, and the configurator only offers the spokes that match the hub you pick.