Pacenti tesla ultralight

broona

Would these be much of an upgrade from DT Swiss X470 with SRAM X9 hubs? Would they be much lighter? Getting a new bike that comes fitted with them, and tempted to upgrade it already, lol!

Gibbo GTI

My wheels have been dispatched only ordered them yesterday

Front Row Joe

Bumped. I am looking at investing in a set of tesla / pacenti Tl28's from superstar. How is everyone getting on with theirs? Any complaints at all? Cheers. Joe.

milko9000

I think I've only done about 60km on mine but nothing to complain about so far, still silent and yet to fall off or anything. Have given them a little more gnar to deal with too now, still building up to anything truly impressive but high-speed low-finesse battering down rocky step-like features and pretty small drops hasn't been a problem.

Front Row Joe

Good to hear. I don't do anything too gnarly but would like a bit more strength and width than an xc rim so they fit the bill perfectly. Anyone else with any more opinions? Cheers.

Greer_

Just to put it out there, Superstar's customer service is quite lacking. Although I got my problem sorted, it took over 3 weeks. Issue was with the wheels not being built properly, and they never refunded the money it cost me for the return postage.

Neal_

To counter that my wheels (not Pacenti tesla ultralight) have been back to them twice to be unbent after a couple of pretty big offs and they were fixed and back with me a week later both times. As it was my fault I didn't asked for postage to be refunded though and probably would expect it to be for new wheels.

swod1

i was looking at these wheels to improve my bike and was wondering how strong the tl28s are because i'm a not a small unit and will want some that will roll quicker and are as strong if not better than my current stock wheels on my trek.

b45her

i've had my first few rides on a set of teslas with the TL28 rim, initial impressions are that they are very light very stiff and very well built wheels.
certainly stiffer and more solid feeling than the sun ringle charger expert wheels they are replacing almost 350grams lighter too.

hard-rider

I'm tempted by the Pacenti TL28 for my wheel build but have read on the US forums that they are quite soft and dent easily especially from rock strikes hitting the inside of the rim. They also say to stay above ~25psi otherwise you're likely to dent or flatten the rim edge.

Otherwise the reviews and general opinion is very positive. They are, according to the riders there, also stiffer than an Arch EX. That along with them having eyelets I guess what's not to like.

One last thing that has come up with the US riders is that their rims rattle. A small alloy block is used to guide the two ends of the rim together when they weld it into a circle. It rattles around because the punch-divot was not deep enough. I don't know if the latest production runs have fixed that. It would be interesting to here from those that are riding these rims.

milko9000

I've not noticed any dents or rattles so far... they've 'just worked' for me. I don't run below 25psi though anyway.

benpinnick

Both my weld sinks have come loose. Will be sending them back to SS. 6 weeks in, both wheels rattle and both seriously need straightening. Not massively impressed!

hard-rider

Unfortunately, I think they all rattle eventually going by the US forums. They were dripping some superglue or lock tight into the holes under the tape either side of the weld and flowing it into the joint. Someone squirted a little expanding foam in to stop the rattle. It means they you'd have to re-tape the rim if you're running tubeless. I see that the rattle was reported as far back as early 2012 so either Pacenti haven't fixed the problem or SS may have old stock.

More concerning is the fact that they need straightening already. Are these 26" or 29" wheels? The wheels are supposed to be really stiff so perhaps the build wasn't done that well which isn't comforting either.

I was really set on these rims but I'm not sure now.

benpinnick

They were 650s. Both rattling is enough for me. Pacenti are now off the cards.

benpinnick

Ps before these I had crests on teslas built by me that lasted a year (until sold) without touching them so I don't think it's the rider or riding.

hard-rider

I'd be interested what SS have to say when you return them.

Northwind

Rattling's not just a pacenti thing, some Mavics do it- my 819s did, but I fixed it with a big 'ammer- just got a centrepunch and tapped the indent a bit bigger. If you can't fix it with an 'ammer, it's not properly broken.

EH_Rob

I've got Pacentis on order, albeit DL31s. Will let you know how I get on.

peter413

My Nukeproof (rebadged MTX 29) also started rattling at some point, was easy to fix by just jamming some paper or something to stop the block (I'm assuming that's what everyone's on about?) rattling about.

hard-rider

From what I can gather it's still a great rim only let down by the rattle. A shame that they don't fix the issue properly during production as it's been a known problem for over a year. Probably still worth having the rims and then fixing the rattle when it occurs using the various methods previously discussed.

My concern is the sometimes questionable quality of builds I read about coming out of SS. It would be a major inconvenience to have to send wheels back from here. Any other places selling / building Pacenti rim builds?

EH_Rob

Dunno, but I've prepared for the eventuality by buying the correct adapters for my other wheelset so I can switch between bikes if required. They bang out so many wheelsets that some are bound to need a retension.

Perhaps worth contacting them to see if they'd be able to arrange for a retension somewhere more local to you if it is required before buying?

Gibbo GTI

Thought I'd do a little update on the Pacenti TL28 wheels. For riding around smooth trail centre type stuff they are very good, lightweight and fairly stiff. When things get a little rougher though my opinion changes. I descended Snowdon via the Rangers path and then the Telegraph path back to Llanberis which resulted in a very battered rear rim that is probably beyond repair to continue running tubeless. I'm not a heavy rider and I don't have a lust for catching air, in fact anything over a few inches has me twitching lol.

Link to my descent (quick rough edit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGoRqNzjoR8

Pics of rim to follow

Northwind

Probably might benefit from a little more air to be fair but yeah, that's not too surprising for such a light rim... You can add strength with clever manufacturing but you can't really add that sort of durability, a light rim wall's a thin rim wall.

Gibbo GTI

Yeah I was hoping they would be as strong as the Mavic XM719's with a little less weight.

Gibbo GTI

Couple of pics

Northwind

Mmm, looks like wee stress marks too there... I'd have a crack at it with the big adjustable spanner but there's a chance that'd end up with it having a crack at it.

719s, for all they're skinny and lardy, are hard- not sure about strong, I cracked mine, but very dent resistant. Maybe not unconnected, sometimes hard = brittle, and soft things can bend without breaking.

Gibbo GTI

I was thinking about trying to bend back into shape with adjustables but didn't think I'd be able to get it good enough for tubeless. Not sure what rims to try next as I don't want to have wheel rebuilt after a few rides but then don't want a silly heavy wheel either.