The beginners guide to chinese carbon wheels

gaddster

http://dengfubikes.com/

where I got mine from, very good service and great wheels..

mroli

@skippy - if you email carbonzone direct through ebay (search for his name), he will give you prices and stats for clinchers. Also you can google yishunstefano and check his webpage out.

My clinchers (from carbonzone) have been sent to Coventry(!) so are v close! Tubs are still showing as being in China - but I guess they aren't far behind!

That's 11 days since order which is pretty good (esp as both guys said that the wheels would take 5-7 days to post out).

gmb

philhul wrote:

GMB - Thanks! I've just ordered my replacement seatpost and decided that the stem can go right down without any spacers so once the steerer tube is cut it will look even better! More pics to follow when it's done.

Look forward to the pics!

mroli

Carbon clinchers arrived today - under 12 days from purchase to delivery - well done Carbonzone, impressive stuff. First impressions is that they look bloody smart - I will try and put pictures up tomorrow. Weight was a little more than expected - with skewers front wheel is 800g, rear wheel is 930g. Came with carbon brake pads, skewers, well packed/boxed.

Checked my scales against a pack of 1.5kg flour and they are reading 50g over.

Can't wait to go out and have a spin! For my new bike, but it is being built, so may have to put on old bike for time being!

mroli

Went out on this this evening. Front wheel rattled for the first 7 miles or so, but then seemed to settle in and was as good as gold as that.

Wheels felt v stiff, the two parts where they seemed to excel were in getting up to speed quick and holding it there. They were great accelerating - out of the saddle and giving it some, power seemed to turn to speed a lot better.

Seemed to take road hits fairly well. V happy with performance - am riding stronger than last year, but even so, I managed to lower my RP 3 lap time by well over a minute - despite being held up by traffic.

Only down side I think is that rear brake track is too low for Rival calipers (pad is half on, half off) and also, a fine white powder seems to be coming off brake track or pads. will clean both up tomorrow and have another look.

PhilofCas

mroli wrote:

Checked my scales against a pack of 1.5kg flour and they are reading 50g over.

don't forget that the flour at 1.5kg is a net weight, and usually flour is in those double skinned paper bags too so the bag may be a reasonable weight (obviously only talking small amounts, but hope you get my point).

PhilofCas

double post

Fogliettaz

I have been running a pair of 38mm clinchers from Yishun for the last 3 months and am very happy with them. I am doing the Etape on Monday and am wondering whether to change back to my alloy rims mainly for descent off the Galibier, as I am worried about heavy braking and heat build up, does anyone have any experience of big descents on these rims? as I would really like to climb with them.

okgo

I've been speaking to Carbonzon about 50mm clinchers, apparently the ones they have are now NESS branded...and weigh 1600 ish... Still not bad for £330

Anyone heard of that brand?

Skippy2309

can anyone compare these to the RS80's i am seriously tempted..... only problem i can see is changing pads around.

the post above answers my question on stiffness :P cant have a flexy wheel.

So the debate is on between 50mm clinchers or the RS80's........

twotyred

I have been running a pair of 38mm clinchers from Yishun for the last 3 months and am very happy with them. I am doing the Etape on Monday and am wondering whether to change back to my alloy rims mainly for descent off the Galibier, as I am worried about heavy braking and heat build up, does anyone have any experience of big descents on these rims? as I would really like to climb with them.

I'd be worried about heat build up as well. Last weekend going down Alpe d'Huez to the start of the Marmotte lots of people were puncturing before the event had even started and most from what I could see were on carbon rims. What you also need on the Galibier is strong, reliable progressive breaking. If the braking with your carbon rims is at all "snatchy" I'd go with alloy. On a course like Etape I there's no advantage to carbon rims so why take the chance of dodgy braking and heat build up- just use alloys

daniel_b

Hello all,

thaknyou to kfinlay for pointing me in the direction of tihs thread, I have just fired off 4 e-mails to Dengfu, Xiamen, Carbonzone and Yishun asking for qoutes on either 50mm front and rear, or 50mm Front, and 60mm Rear.

From reading the threads, would it be fair to say that Cabonzone are possibly the cheapest and heaviest (?) and that the other three are comparable on price.

Dunce questions here, but am I also right to say that if you opt for a fully built wheel set, it will come with hubs, spokes AND a shimano or campag compatible freewheel?
So you just need to bolt on a cassette for it to be a fully functional wheel?

Hopefully lastly, what is the deal with the finish on the wheels, is the braking area always matt, and have some people gone for matt as opposed to gloss finish just so it all blends in?
What do those with respective gloss and or matt finished make of their wheels now?

Cheers

Dan

mroli

Daniel - yes they are fully built, I took mine out of the packing, bunged on rim tape, inners, tyres and a cassette and started riding. Came wiith brake pads and skewers. You need to tell them if you want campag or shim/sram. You can also chose colour of hub and nipples I think and if you ask they will send spare skewers.

my wheels seem to have a kind of braking track on them and the wheels are gloss.

daniel_b

mroli wrote:

Daniel - yes they are fully built, I took mine out of the packing, bunged on rim tape, inners, tyres and a cassette and started riding. Came wiith brake pads and skewers. You need to tell them if you want campag or shim/sram. You can also chose colour of hub and nipples I think and if you ask they will send spare skewers.

my wheels seem to have a kind of braking track on them and the wheels are gloss.

Thankyou mroli

Any chance of some pictures of the wheels?

mroli

As attached to bike here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100hillsfo ... hotostream

ex-pat scot

Nice wheels!

daniel_b

For the people that have bought from Carbonzone from ebay, do you have a contact name and e-mail address you can PM me please?

I have sent them two polite and comprehensive requests for qoutes for two different wheel combinations through ebay but have had no reply :-(

Cheers

Dan

gmb

carbon_msnu3126ljog@members.ebay.com.hk

My contact there was Echo.

Cheers

Pseudonym

Skippy2309 wrote:

So the debate is on between 50mm clinchers or the RS80's........

this might help, it might not. I race on either a set of PX 50mm carbon tub wheels, or my Dura Ace C24s (same rim as the RS80). The 50mm rims are great at holding speed (a slightly higher speed than the C24s in fact) for the same effort, but my feeling is that the C24s corner better, and probably accelerate better too.

I tend to use the C24s for crit circuits and the PXs for longer road races, where their ability to hold speed is more useful than their ability to accelerate.

In other words, you will probably find there is nothing much to choose between them and it will probably come down to which ones you like the look of...

P_Tucker

Pseudonym wrote:

Skippy2309 wrote:

So the debate is on between 50mm clinchers or the RS80's........

this might help, it might not. I race on either a set of PX 50mm carbon tub wheels, or my Dura Ace C24s (same rim as the RS80). The 50mm rims are great at holding speed (a slightly higher speed than the C24s in fact) for the same effort, but my feeling is that the C24s corner better, and probably accelerate better too.

I tend to use the C24s for crit circuits and the PXs for longer road races, where their ability to hold speed is more useful than their ability to accelerate.

In other words, you will probably find there is nothing much to choose between them and it will probably come down to which ones you like the look of...

Good last paragraph, the rest of it is bolleaux

daniel_b

GMB wrote:

carbon_msnu3126ljog@members.ebay.com.hk

My contact there was Echo.

Cheers

Nice one GMB, just mailed them, fingers crossed!

EDIT: Mail bounced back :?

Pseudonym

P_Tucker wrote:

Pseudonym wrote:

Skippy2309 wrote:

So the debate is on between 50mm clinchers or the RS80's........

this might help, it might not. I race on either a set of PX 50mm carbon tub wheels, or my Dura Ace C24s (same rim as the RS80). The 50mm rims are great at holding speed (a slightly higher speed than the C24s in fact) for the same effort, but my feeling is that the C24s corner better, and probably accelerate better too.

I tend to use the C24s for crit circuits and the PXs for longer road races, where their ability to hold speed is more useful than their ability to accelerate.

In other words, you will probably find there is nothing much to choose between them and it will probably come down to which ones you like the look of...

Good last paragraph, the rest of it is bolleaux

Disappointing response...

'The rest' is my opinion, fella - based on racing with both sets of wheels. You could always add your own experiences, if you actually have any. Now run along and troll somewhere else, laughing boy....

bobinski

mroli wrote:

As attached to bike here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100hillsfo ... hotostream

I LOVE that purple finish on the Condor

what frame is it?

mroli

Its the Diamante (basically the 2009 Leggero with an ISP I think). Carbon wheels make it look lovely too!

daniel_b

Well I have just sent my third e-mail off to Carbonzone through ebay, I just chose a tubular wheelset, and sent a question to seller, and in that message explained what I was looking for - is that how everyone else did it?

Has anyone else had recent contact with them??

I'm beginning to get paranoid, I sent the same polite comprehensive e-mail to them, and three other companies mentioned in this thread, and not a single one has got back to me

I'm wondering if they are too overwhelmed with work to bother with queries and are just dealing with hard orders from people.

I am not sure what I want wheelwise, other than it is at least defo 50mm front, and either 50/60mm rear, so need a qoute of the differing prices, but of course I can't order until I know the costs :?

I'm suffering the same issue at the moment trying to get someone to fix the multipoint lock on the back door of the house, I send mail after mail, and leave mesage after message but get naff all response :evil:

I really hope Carbonzone get back to me as I REALLy want to buy the damned things!

joeyhalloran

Have you checked your junk mail box?

daniel_b

Got a reply this morning, with an apology for the delay!

I am tempted by an 88 rear - bad idea?
Will they be heavier than the 50/60mm equivalents? - I don't have any weights yet.

joeyhalloran

Yeah, an 88 will be heavier...but probably more aero.

Im tempted by this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/56-88mm-700C- ... 918wt_1157)

at the moment. The problem is I don't really NEED them, I just want them because they look like a very good product at a very good price...its more just for the smile on the face feeling when flying along and hearing the wheels cut through the air. (plus price of tubs are expensive )

Pseudonym

Daniel B wrote:

I am tempted by an 88 rear - bad idea?
Will they be heavier than the 50/60mm equivalents?

of course it will be heavier....

not a good idea for general road riding though..

joeyhalloran

Pseudonym wrote:

not a good idea for general road riding though..

Why not?