Carbon wheel, are these any good?

punker

Hi

i have a pair of 50mm planetX carbon tubular wheels and i'm considering changing to carbon clinchers. I have found a couple listed below. Has anyone got a pair of either and if so are they any good?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330849654165? ... 1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251243874010? ... 1438.l2649

They look similar in quality to my PX wheels.

thanks
Ben

foggymike

Hi Ben, if you do a search on here or weight weenies you'll find a painful amount of information about chinese or similar carbon wheels and peoples experience of buying/owning them. Failing that type chinese carbon clinchers into google. Happy reading!

smidsy

Carbon clincher will weigh more than a carbon tub and is a downgrade in terms of ride.

Also Planet X wheels are far eastern components - just built up by PX.

VTech

You could try farsports.com I purchased a set and they were affordable and very high quality.

sloppyschleckonds

smidsy wrote:

Carbon clincher will weigh more than a carbon tub and is a downgrade in terms of ride.

Also Planet X wheels are far eastern components - just built up by PX.

This.

ugo.santalucia

I have now had the chance to have a look at three of these carbon clinchers sets from the far east... the build is CONSTANTLY less than impressive, with randon tensions and constantly very low for a durable wheel.

They do seem good value, but they are cheap wheels, badly assembled with cheap components, which I struggle to believe will improve your riding, unless there is something seriously wrong with what you currently have.
My advice, avoid them...

punker

ok thanks guys for you comments. i want to change from tubs as i find them more expensive and more of a pain, i purposefully don't ride those wheel much (only in races) as (having used them now) i don't like tubs. if i change to clinchers i will be happier to use them more often as maintaining them is easier and cheaper.

ugo.santalucia

punker wrote:

ok thanks guys for you comments. i want to change from tubs as i find them more expensive and more of a pain, i purposefully don't ride those wheel much (only in races) as (having used them now) i don't like tubs. if i change to clinchers i will be happier to use them more often as maintaining them is easier and cheaper.

The downside is that a set of carbon clinchers won't give you any improvement whatsoever over conventional wheels, especially if they are badly built... unless you really believe that because you have a deeper rim, you will then go faster.
The brake track on these chinese rims is as good as a piece of soap in the wet... you really need at least Gigantex rims with some surface ceramic particle treatment. Remember rims can be wet even if it doesn't rain

VTech

totally off topic, but Ugo, do you offer a rim build service for imported wheels ?

ugo.santalucia

VTech wrote:

totally off topic, but Ugo, do you offer a rim build service for imported wheels ?

No,

people come over with their latest Chinese purchases asking me to have a look. I have a look for curiosity and generally don't do anything, unless they cannot be ridden as they are not true. I have no idea what tension tolerance those rims have and won't run the risk of cracking the rim to bring it up to a decent tension they might not tolerate. Often I have no tension calibration curve for spokes with no name on and I can only estimate the tension with a + or - 20% accuracy. Even allowing for error, the tension is often too low for a decent wheel. Typically the front is built at around 50 KgF and the rear Drive side is typically 70 KgF... the non drive side is below detection, so under 40 KgF, all very inconsistent.