Enve SES 4.5 Pro Wheelset
Enve SES 4.5 Pro Wheelset
ENVE SES 4.5 PRO — When “Fast” Isn’t Specific Enough.
The new ENVE SES 4.5 PRO isn’t simply a lighter 4.5. It’s a purpose-built WorldTour race wheel developed with direct input from Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, designed around one objective: retain the aerodynamic advantage of the legendary SES 4.5 while taking a serious chunk out of its rotating mass.
And ENVE got seriously technical.
⚙️ 1,295 grams for the wheelset
That’s roughly 155 grams lighter than the current SES 4.5, with much of the reduction occurring exactly where you want it — at the rims. ENVE developed a new laminate using higher-modulus, lower-areal-weight carbon, allowing thinner sidewalls and a lighter rim channel without simply sacrificing the structure that makes an SES wheel an SES wheel. The rims come in at just 369g front / 383g rear.
💨 49mm FRONT / 55mm REAR
SES has always treated the front and rear wheel as two different aerodynamic problems. The front is responsible for stability and clean airflow in changing yaw angles, while the deeper rear is designed to maximize drag reduction as airflow moves through the bike. The PRO retains the core SES 4.5 aerodynamic philosophy while shaving depth and mass.
📐 23.5mm INTERNAL / 30.8mm EXTERNAL
Unlike the standard 4.5's wider 25mm internal profile, the PRO goes to 23.5mm, specifically targeting 27–28mm tiresand the smooth, fast conditions encountered in WorldTour racing. This isn't ENVE trying to make one wheel do everything — it's optimization.
🛞 28MM IS THE TARGET
The rim profile is aerodynamically optimized around 27–28mm tires, while maintaining tire volume and rolling-efficiency characteristics. The minimum labeled tire size is 28mm, with ENVE's own 27mm tire also approved.
🔩 INNERDRIVE PRO HUBS
This is another big part of the story. The ultralight INNERDRIVE PRO straight-pull hubset weighs just 281 grams — 87g front and 194g rear. Inside is ENVE's lightweight 40-tooth PRO ratchet, a lighter-action spring designed to reduce drivetrain drag, and PRO ceramic bearings. The hubset alone saves approximately 60 grams versus ENVE's Premium INNERDRIVE system.
🧵 ALPINA ULTRALITE AERO R5 SPOKES
24 front. 24 rear. Straight-pull construction with lightweight Alpina Nylock alloy nipples and 120kgf spoke tension. Even the spoke system was selected around reducing weight while maintaining the stiffness and precision expected from a WorldTour race wheel.
🧪 A NEW CARBON LAMINATE
This may be the coolest part. ENVE removed roughly 50 grams PER RIM compared with the standard SES 4.5 through a combination of reduced depth and width, strategic material removal, higher-performance carbon and a new rim-channel manufacturing process. Even the rim graphics were redesigned to save weight.
🇺🇸 DESIGNED. DEVELOPED. MANUFACTURED IN OGDEN, UTAH.
The result?
587g front.
708g rear.
1,295g complete.
49/55mm deep.
And still brutally aerodynamic.
This is what makes the SES 4.5 PRO so interesting. Plenty of companies can build a 1,300-gram climbing wheel. Plenty can build a deep aero wheel.
Building a 1,295-gram wheelset with genuine 49/55mm aero profiles is a very different engineering problem.
The SES 4.5 PRO isn't really an “all-around” wheel.
It's what happens when ENVE takes arguably its most successful race-wheel platform and asks:
How much faster can we make it if compromise is no longer part of the design brief?
Yeah…we want a set.
Mad Duck Cyclery 🦆
For riders who understand that 1,295 grams and 55mm deep belong in the same sentence.