Hambini - Magene’s Wide Wheels Are INSANE – Hidden Nipples, Carbon Spokes & Zero Flex

I’ve been riding and pulling apart the Magene EXAR Ultra DB508 2025 wheels, and frankly, they’re a bit of a surprise. You’d be forgiven for thinking these were just another set of generic Far East wheels with some flashy branding stuck on. But they’re not. These have been engineered with a level of detail that’s actually worth talking about.

Let’s start with the basics. The rear rim is 30 mm wide externally, the front’s a touch narrower. Depths are around 58 mm rear and just under 50 mm front. That staggered profile helps reduce drag and improve crosswind stability, particularly if you’re running a 28 or 30 mm tyre. The internal width gives you a nice round tyre shape rather than the lightbulb effect you get on some older, narrower rims.

Spokes are full carbon, made by a company called Vonda. They’re around 5 mm deep and 0.8 mm thick, with a decent flared metal insert where they anchor into the rim. That should reduce the chance of any pull-through or debonding under load. At the nipple end, they’re completely hidden. So if you want to adjust spoke tension, you’ll be peeling off your rim tape and digging inside. A bit of a pain, yes, but aero is aero.

Hubs are fairly conventional in layout but nicely done. Bearings are 15267 on both sides of the front. Rotor engagement is full spline rather than the half-baked versions you sometimes get. The rear hub uses a ratchet system with rectangular profile springs rather than round ones, which gives it a firmer, more positive engagement. It’s not as refined as something like DT Swiss, but it's better than a lot of the generic stuff from the region. One thing to note — the freehub body isn’t hard anodised, so you will get bite marks from your cassette over time. If you’re running SRAM or anything with a thin steel carrier, that could be worth bearing in mind.

Sound-wise, the freehub is pretty quiet. Not dead silent, but nowhere near the angry bee sound you get from a lot of wheels. The carbon spokes do give off that distinct swooshing noise when you’re on the move, especially over 30 kph.

Now, onto ride quality. In a word: firm. These wheels are not forgiving. They’re very stiff laterally and vertically, so if you’re expecting plushness, you’re in the wrong aisle. I rode them on reasonably smooth roads and they felt direct, fast, and planted. Take them over anything rough and you’ll know about it. For crit racing, TTs, or flat-out efforts, they make sense. For an all-day club ride on pothole-strewn British roads, maybe not.

That said, the build quality is decent. There’s no visible runout, spoke tension is even, and the finish is tidy. Delivery to the UK took less than a week, which is better than some “premium” Western brands I could name.

If you want a deep section, carbon-spoked, wide-profile wheelset that doesn’t cost £2,500 and you’re not afraid of a bit of DIY if a spoke goes out of whack, these are definitely worth a look. You’re getting a lot of spec for the money, and if you’re happy to live with the stiffness, they’re properly quick.

📷 Full teardown photos, measurements, and extra commentary are up on Patreon
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Link to Magene's website for these wheels https://uk.magene.com/gb/exar/194-exar-carbon-fiber-wheelset-ultra-series-2025.html

Review with extra photos etc is here https://www.hambini.com/magene-exar-ultra-db508-2025-wheelset-review/