superstar am carbon wheelset.

mike hunts alpine

Any body tried ss carbon wheel sets? Opinions please.

poah

don't seem to be any real benefit over current alu wheels.

better off importing light bicycle rims and building up

rockmonkeysc

They're supposed to be stiffer than aluminium rims.
Not tried them myself but people I know who have them like them.

granny_ring

Never buying from them again, had issues with previous wheels from them. After sales are a joke even with warranty.

njee20

+1 for Light Bicycle. Why pay 4 times as much for the same thing?!

The Northern Monkey

Because they speaka da inglish?

I priced up a light bicycle set, cant remember then being any cheaper...Weights appear very optimistic too..

njee20

How wonderfully racist, LB speak English too, and reply far more quickly the Superstar!

I priced up a light bicycle set, cant remember then being any cheaper...Weights appear very optimistic too..

You did it wrong, SS charge £400 a rim, LB charge £120. My rims were claimed 375+- 15g, actual was 365 and 366g. I'll take that.

Chunkers1980

But SS's retail price is £300. LB also has postage :-/

njee20

Apologies, thought it was £400.

My LB rims were £248 for a pair shipped, and I paid £27 fees on top of that.

poah

njee20 wrote:

How wonderfully racist, LB speak English too, and reply far more quickly the Superstar!

I priced up a light bicycle set, cant remember then being any cheaper...Weights appear very optimistic too..

You did it wrong, SS charge £400 a rim, LB charge £120. My rims were claimed 375+- 15g, actual was 365 and 366g. I'll take that.

SS are £400 for a wheel set for their AM & Switch hubs at the moment

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=812

mike hunts alpine

What is lb?

Chunkers1980

Did you read the thread and use your Google fu?

SuperstarComponents.com

Hello its Neil from superstar, I don’t normally comment much on forums but I thought I would set a few things straight. Have a look at the review in this issue of WMB, they are not the usual ebay special quality part so please dont compare them with that. I spent a long time working with some of the best in the industry, opened my own exclusive design mould at huge expense, then got Bath university and GKN aerospace composites experts to scientifically prove they were far superior than alloy or cheap Chinese rims. Then our products are CE tested in the UK to prove again that they are of sufficient quality.

The AM carbon is 400g for 650b (coming in 6 weeks), so its 35% lighter than an alloy rim of the same size and many times stiffer. With the beads broken in safety testing from a huge impact they are 400% stronger than a stans Flow EX!

If you get a problem with overseas suppliers most of the time they charge you to ship you a replacement and you get stung with customs charges for a second time. Do the sums and they arent as cheap as they look on the surface. As for quality if it looks nice on the outside, well that means nada. Until you chop sections through them you will have no idea how well built they are inside. The external layer is just cosmetic and carefully laid into the mould before the perform (the structural bit) goes in, I know this as ive been in far too many factories where they are made.

We stand by our product and offer a UK warranty and crash rebuild prices at £150 per wheel (carbon is half RRP on the rim). For that you get a new rim, spokes, nipples, labour and postage. Ask other people to offer that and see what they say, oh yes that’s for life on both of them!

If you compare like with like you can have with cheap Chinese spokes and light bicycle rims for $564 plus postage so that’s pretty much £400 once you have done card fees and postage. Then you will probably get stung for a £40-100 in customs fees as a wheelset is hard to sneak past customs.

Or you can have the same hubs (novatech manufactured), high quality European made Sapim spokes, our (for our tests) superior quality rims for £399.99. With a warranty, in the UK, delivered next day, spares for everything available for years to come, free truing for life, crash replacement prices, assembled by UK workers etc etc etc. Or for £50 quid more you can have our tesla hubs with 60 engagements and SKF bearings….

Take your pick, its your choice but please stop comparing or AM carbon rims with cheap chinese rims!

Any questions please let me know, Neil (Superstar)

poah

pretty hostile reply given that no one is rubbishing the SS wheels.

the customer service from LB has been nothing but good from the searches I've done as I'm interested in getting a set of carbon rims. You won't pay any taxes on warranty items either.

brucie45

POAH wrote:

pretty hostile reply given that no one is rubbishing the SS wheels.

the customer service from LB has been nothing but good from the searches I've done as I'm interested in getting a set of carbon rims. You won't pay any taxes on warranty items either.

Agreed, it does come accross as hostile and I'm sure as a retailer that's not the kind of impression you want to give. :shock:

However, it has given you the chance to set a few things straight so fair play!

mike hunts alpine

SuperstarComponents.com wrote:

Hello its Neil from superstar, I don’t normally comment much on forums but I thought I would set a few things straight. Have a look at the review in this issue of WMB, they are not the usual ebay special quality part so please dont compare them with that. I spent a long time working with some of the best in the industry, opened my own exclusive design mould at huge expense, then got Bath university and GKN aerospace composites experts to scientifically prove they were far superior than alloy or cheap Chinese rims. Then our products are CE tested in the UK to prove again that they are of sufficient quality.

The AM carbon is 400g for 650b (coming in 6 weeks), so its 35% lighter than an alloy rim of the same size and many times stiffer. With the beads broken in safety testing from a huge impact they are 400% stronger than a stans Flow EX!

If you get a problem with overseas suppliers most of the time they charge you to ship you a replacement and you get stung with customs charges for a second time. Do the sums and they arent as cheap as they look on the surface. As for quality if it looks nice on the outside, well that means nada. Until you chop sections through them you will have no idea how well built they are inside. The external layer is just cosmetic and carefully laid into the mould before the perform (the structural bit) goes in, I know this as ive been in far too many factories where they are made.

We stand by our product and offer a UK warranty and crash rebuild prices at £150 per wheel (carbon is half RRP on the rim). For that you get a new rim, spokes, nipples, labour and postage. Ask other people to offer that and see what they say, oh yes that’s for life on both of them!

If you compare like with like you can have with cheap Chinese spokes and light bicycle rims for $564 plus postage so that’s pretty much £400 once you have done card fees and postage. Then you will probably get stung for a £40-100 in customs fees as a wheelset is hard to sneak past customs.

Or you can have the same hubs (novatech manufactured), high quality European made Sapim spokes, our (for our tests) superior quality rims for £399.99. With a warranty, in the UK, delivered next day, spares for everything available for years to come, free truing for life, crash replacement prices, assembled by UK workers etc etc etc. Or for £50 quid more you can have our tesla hubs with 60 engagements and SKF bearings….

Take your pick, its your choice but please stop comparing or AM carbon rims with cheap chinese rims!

Any questions please let me know, Neil (Superstar)

Cawt to the point no bs reply

Chunkers1980

Where did you pick that saying up from? Does help if it's in caps.

mike hunts alpine

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Where did you pick that saying up from? Does help if it's in caps.

Might have been on here somewhere.....

mike hunts alpine

What's the pros and cons though carbon v allu other than price?
Two sets I've got in mind are mavic crossmax enduro wts and the ss carbon am ones.

poah

mike hunts alpine wrote:

What's the pros and cons though carbon v allu other than price?
Two sets I've got in mind are mavic crossmax enduro wts and the ss carbon am ones.

carbon should be stiffer and lighter per se than alu rims

crossmax enduro are £630 about 1660g and yellow

SS carbons are £400 with switch hubs 1750g

LB carbons are approx £400 delivered incl tax. 1425g with the QR hubs (15mm +$8 & +25g)


crossmax are ture UST rims, no faffing with tape - my crosstrails were piss easy to set up. SS carbons are heavier than the crossmax but use standard spokes and compared to the LB carbon obviously have UK backup but are heavier. mavic do a crash replacement thing called MP3 but it costs about £35 however you don't get charged for the replacement. if you take carbon out the question then arch ex on hope are about £330 and about the same weight as the mavic's.

The Northern Monkey

Different rims though, comparing chalk and cheese here.

Arch ex are thin but strong xc rims (imo), only have 21mm internal width. (Flow would be a better comparison).

Lb are ?? rims, 360g with 23mm internal width.

Superstar carbon are a 400g strong/burly rim with a 25mm internal rim

For the sake of 80g and the assurance of a uk based company, the ss carbon are a no brainer imo.

I'm actually not sure how lb get to their claimed weights...

minley1

POAH wrote:

pretty hostile reply given that no one is rubbishing the SS wheels.

the customer service from LB has been nothing but good from the searches I've done as I'm interested in getting a set of carbon rims. You won't pay any taxes on warranty items either.

Got to be honest, I didn't think it was hostile at all, the guy seems passionate about his product, fair play, as it happens I have some LB rims on the way (currently at customs), weight was my main focus, plenty of good feedback on them across the USA and Europe.
The Superstar rims do look like good value, just a bit heavy for my needs, plenty of products from Superstar over the years and no issues, so I'm sure their rims will be good.
Looking forward to getting mine built up, if there are any issues I will deal with them, fortunate to be keeping the existing rims as a spare, so sending them back although a pain will not be the end of the world, let's be honest everyone expects everything Instantly these days, I still remember sending of a cheque to the USA for a Girvin FlexStem from an advert in the back of Mountain Biking Uk, it took months to turn up.

mike hunts alpine

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Different rims though, comparing chalk and cheese here.

Arch ex are thin but strong xc rims (imo), only have 21mm internal width. (Flow would be a better comparison).

Lb are ?? rims, 360g with 23mm internal width.

Superstar carbon are a 400g strong/burly rim with a 25mm internal rim

For the sake of 80g and the assurance of a uk based company, the ss carbon are a no brainer imo.

I'm actually not sure how lb get to their claimed weights...

Tbh the lb's didn't even cross my mind too cheap and half a world away must be cutting corners somewhere at that price I'd say. Plus ordered plenty from ss and they've been excellent every time. And I'd like something that would easily be returnable if there were any problems without costing a small fortune. Plus carbon rims as long as I look after them well, touch wood will have longer life span than the mavics won't they?

mike hunts alpine

Ss standard spokes as in Not carbon so not as good?

Dick Scruttock

mike hunts alpine wrote:

Tbh the lb's didn't even cross my mind too cheap and half a world away must be cutting corners somewhere at that price I'd say.

I really don't know where to begin with how wrong that statement is :shock:

poah

mike hunts alpine wrote:

Tbh the lb's didn't even cross my mind too cheap and half a world away must be cutting corners somewhere at that price I'd say. Plus ordered plenty from ss and they've been excellent every time. And I'd like something that would easily be returnable if there were any problems without costing a small fortune. Plus carbon rims as long as I look after them well, touch wood will have longer life span than the mavics won't they?

why must they be cutting corners?

plenty of user reviews on LB rims out there. Enve charge so much because they are US made, LB are made by LB and sold by LB so no middle man. Most bikes are made out in the far east (alu and CF) including most of SS, uberbike, CC cycles components. Carbon fibre isn't really that expensive.

cooldad

I'm not an expert on wheels, but I do like Haribo. So if SS sell stuff, I'll buy it.

mike hunts alpine

Just hazarding a guess to be honest rather pay the little bit extra for the guarantees and easy returnability.

poah

Rick Draper wrote:

mike hunts alpine wrote:

Tbh the lb's didn't even cross my mind too cheap and half a world away must be cutting corners somewhere at that price I'd say.

I really don't know where to begin with how wrong that statement is :shock:

TBF he owns an orange high cost = high quality

mike hunts alpine

Not really wanting to get into that possible can of worms tbh just wanted to know pros and cons of ss and the mavics and if anybody had tried either.

poah

mike hunts alpine wrote:

Just hazarding a guess to be honest rather pay the little bit extra for the guarantees and easy returnability.

well if you think about it = LB = £400 straight from manufacturer to your door which is the same cost as SS. that suggests that the SS are cheaper since they are not straight from manufacturer.

I'd go for the mavics over the SS carbon wheels