superstar am carbon wheelset.

mike hunts alpine

POAH wrote:

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

Here we go again my point being the cheaper something is it may be because there will be a greater chance of not being as good or strictness of quality will be a bit more relaxed. However that doesnt apply to everything just going from general experience.

njee20

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

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest they put them on a pair of scales :roll:

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

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

brucie45 wrote:

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.

Couldn't disagree more. Didn't come across in the least bit as hostile. Just a plain speaking attempt to put the record straight and explain why not all wheels are equal. Good on him for the no-nonsense reply.

poah

Angus Young wrote:

Couldn't disagree more. Didn't come across in the least bit as hostile. Just a plain speaking attempt to put the record straight and explain why not all wheels are equal. Good on him for the no-nonsense reply.

"to scientifically prove they were far superior than alloy or cheap Chinese rims"

not LB rims (Stren Cycle rim apparently) and crest rims the document is no longer on the site


"cheap Chinese spokes "

Pillar Aero X-TRA 1420 aren't el cheapo and are from reading just as strong as similar DT or sapim spokes (I could be reading it wrong).

online reviews are good for the LB carbon rims and that's people using them on proper DH runs not being a pussy like me


cost of the wheels are roughly the same from what I've seen people pay incl taxes and although they are UK based they have had issues with customer services (from personal experience and others online).

I'm just playing devils advocate

rockmonkeysc

Carbon rims are getting more popular in downhill for their stiffness and weight.
The Superstar rims seem quite popular because of their price. Never seen a broken one and never heard any complaints about them. Seen a few broken Enve catbon dh rims though.

The Northern Monkey

njee20 wrote:

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

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest they put them on a pair of scales :roll:

And I'm going to call bollorx on that. Reading vwsurfbums overview, they came in a fair bit heavier than quoted iirc.

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

Couldn't disagree more. Didn't come across in the least bit as hostile. Just a plain speaking attempt to put the record straight and explain why not all wheels are equal. Good on him for the no-nonsense reply.

"to scientifically prove they were far superior than alloy or cheap Chinese rims"

not LB rims (Stren Cycle rim apparently) and crest rims the document is no longer on the site


"cheap Chinese spokes "

Pillar Aero X-TRA 1420 aren't el cheapo and are from reading just as strong as similar DT or sapim spokes (I could be reading it wrong).

online reviews are good for the LB carbon rims and that's people using them on proper DH runs not being a pussy like me


cost of the wheels are roughly the same from what I've seen people pay incl taxes and although they are UK based they have had issues with customer services (from personal experience and others online).

I'm just playing devils advocate

All that may be true but it didn't come across as hostile.

SuperstarComponents.com

I would be very surprised is the LB wheels get anywhere near 1425g for AM strength wheels? The QR only hubs (most wheels we sell are 15mm/142mm now anyway) would save about 80g the pair and the spokes 100g (which you can have on our 1600g tesla build) but where has the other near 200g dissappeared from? unless the rims are 300g in real life i think they are using a bit of artistic licence on weights...

Our weights are on an actual pair on some scales rather than estimated (or in my opinion blatently fudged), so not really comparing like for like.

Anyone actually got a pair to weigh?

The pros of carbon are huge increase in stiffness to weight ratio so you can make a 400g AM rim perform like a 600g alloy DH rim. Im building a machine to give impartial and scientifically repeatable data on the stiffness to weight ratio of any rim, it will be published so anyone can replicate the test so there will be no bias or fudging. It will be interesting for me to have propper figures rather than manufacturers marketing rubbish. (its early in the morning so im feeling cynical!)

Regards, Neil (superstar)

brucie45

Angus Young wrote:

POAH wrote:

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

brucie45 wrote:

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.

Couldn't disagree more. Didn't come across in the least bit as hostile. Just a plain speaking attempt to put the record straight and explain why not all wheels are equal. Good on him for the no-nonsense reply.

It is still hostile in MY opinion and obviously others. I did however, say fair play to him for getting his point across. A point you failed to quote.

njee20

And I'm going to call bollorx on that. Reading vwsurfbums overview, they came in a fair bit heavier than quoted iirc.

To be fair, I'm talking rim weights, no idea about complete builds. That said...

I would be very surprised is the LB wheels get anywhere near 1425g for AM strength wheels? The QR only hubs (most wheels we sell are 15mm/142mm now anyway) would save about 80g the pair and the spokes 100g (which you can have on our 1600g tesla build) but where has the other near 200g dissappeared from? unless the rims are 300g in real life i think they are using a bit of artistic licence on weights...

Which wheels are you comparing to? The AM Carbon Switch Special Edition @1750g?

The weights you claim don't really stack up anyway, and aren't light:
Front hub: 195g
Rear hub: 299g
Spokes: 273g (you say "those spokes" are only on the Tesla wheels, but the website disagrees?)
Rims: 800g

That comes to 1567g. So you've got 180g unaccounted for in nipples and what not. Ok those hub weights are probably QR only (as you've said up there ^^), and perhaps the site is wrong and they're not actually Lasers, but even so.

The 1425g for the LB ones is QR only I imagine, as the D711/712 are QR hubs, but they're 139g/273g, so 412g for the pair, so that's nearly 100g up on the claimed weight of the SS hubs in QR format alone, before you've accounted for the additional weight of the adapters. The 811/882 hubs are QR15/142x12, and would add 150g.

Nothing in it in the spokes, if you actually use Lasers, if you don't then theirs are lighter.

Their rims are 360g claimed, and IME are absolutely spot on. So that's at least 80g.

I'm struggling to see how it's difficult to work out why theirs are lighter!? Yes the AM moniker is possibly a little off when they come with QR hubs as standard, but even so, it seems very obvious how they manage it. :?

iwilldoit

Forgive me for asking who is LB ?

Chunkers1980

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Did you read the thread and use your Google fu?

poah

The Northern Monkey wrote:

njee20 wrote:

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

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest they put them on a pair of scales :roll:

And I'm going to call bollorx on that. Reading vwsurfbums overview, they came in a fair bit heavier than quoted iirc.

from the weights I've seen online for their rims they are spot on

poah

Easton havens are 1450g

njee20

from the weights I've seen online for their rims they are spot on

Yep - mine were advertised as 375+- 15g - I emailed and said "can I have some light ones please?", they replied and said "we can do a pair at 365g, is that ok?", then about 10 days later said "one rim has come out at 366g, is that ok, or do you want to wait for another one at 365g?"

Can't really argue with that service IMO, my scales agreed with theirs.

Angus Young

brucie45 wrote:

I did however, say fair play to him for getting his point across. A point you failed to quote.

I didn't quote that because I didn't have an issue with that. It would have been redundant.

brucie45

Angus Young wrote:

brucie45 wrote:

I did however, say fair play to him for getting his point across. A point you failed to quote.

I didn't quote that because I didn't have an issue with that. It would have been redundant.

Yes ok Angus, calm down!

Angus Young

brucie45 wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

brucie45 wrote:

I did however, say fair play to him for getting his point across. A point you failed to quote.

I didn't quote that because I didn't have an issue with that. It would have been redundant.

Yes ok Angus, calm down!

From that you get that I'm not calm? Really? No wonder you thought his response hostile if you're that sensitive.

mike hunts alpine

Seems every topic I start defends into rage and a slagging match haha picking touchy subjects ... Being provocative...

brucie45

Angus Young wrote:

brucie45 wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

brucie45 wrote:

I did however, say fair play to him for getting his point across. A point you failed to quote.

I didn't quote that because I didn't have an issue with that. It would have been redundant.

Yes ok Angus, calm down!

From that you get that I'm not calm? Really? No wonder you thought his response hostile if you're that sensitive.

Yes ok Angus, this is becoming rather boring. :roll:

Angus Young

brucie45 wrote:

Yes ok Angus, this is becoming rather boring. :roll:

Then stop.

jonnyashworth

I would definitely go down the superstar route!! every order I have ever placed with them has arrived promptly and their customer service has been outstanding when I have needed it. I don't think that Neil came across as anything but fair and possibly slightly frustrated.... But then I think I might get a bit frustrated if I started a company that saves MTBers money and sells good quality products only to have it constantly bashed by trolls online every time someone asks a question about it's products.
Personally I wouldn't buy carbon wheels from an unbranded Chinese company anymore than I would buy a "genuine" giant frame from Taiwan on ebay!
I have had a good look at the Superstar carbon rims recently on a blokes bike at a trail centre and they looked really really good for the money and he was super happy with them.

njee20

Woah woah woah, Wind your neck in love. No one bashed SSs products, just observed that at full price they're still expensive compared to other options, and that there are indeed other options.

Good for you that you wouldn't buy from China, thousands have - a lot more than have bought Superstar wheels, the warranty back up is good, yes lead times are a little longer, but you pays your money and makes your choice. The 'genuine Giant' comment is irrelevant, these aren't replicas/fakes/knock offs, they're just open mould products sold direct. We're not talking unbranded either (whatever that means), it's a bricks and mortar company with a proven track record, just in another continent. What makes them any less legitimate?

None of that detracts from what SS are doing.

But let's not let facts get in the way of your ignorance eh?

jonnyashworth

Ignorance is Bliss

jonnyashworth

In all fairness from reading your posts you seem very biased towards LB carbon wheels (which you own)
Have you ridden / seen the superstar AM carbon rims??? You must have as you were so quick to compare them.
You also stated that the superstar wheels were 4 times the price!!!
Perhaps there is a little case of the pot calling the kettle black here???
who should wind their neck in???
who is ignorant????
The thread originally asked for information on the Superstar wheels and very quickly got derailed onto the virtues of Light Bike wheels!

njee20

The rims are getting on for that, this wheelset is far better value, showing the margins. Their crash replacement rebuild is the same price as a new rim can be obtained from other suppliers. I have seen some yep, not used them, not my bag. I mentioned LB as an alternative, and wasn't the first to do so. You're calling me ignorant when you have no clue about a product you're dismissing, with entirely wrong information. Ok.

Anyway, I'm out. The Superstar wheels I'm sure will be fine, particularly once the bearings have been replaced and the tension checked, as is a common complaint. I'll stick to my choice on the back of actually knowing there is one and first hand experience.

poah

jonnyashworth wrote:

Personally I wouldn't buy carbon wheels from an unbranded Chinese company anymore than I would buy a "genuine" giant frame from Taiwan on ebay!
I have had a good look at the Superstar carbon rims recently on a blokes bike at a trail centre and they looked really really good for the money and he was super happy with them.

LB aren't unbranded they are made by LB, SS get theirs from the far east as well so what makes theirs different?

I'd rather have a set of arch EX than SS carbons. arch EX are lighter, cheaper to buy and cheaper to replace. No one is bashing SS, people have just stated there are other wheels out there

The Northern Monkey

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 to the SS carbon rims).

poah

The Northern Monkey wrote:

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 to the SS carbon rims).

note how I said I would have - arch ex are AM rims according to stans. the width doesn't matter you can run 2.4 inch tyres on 21mm rims. not likely to run anything bigger. Flows are DH rims, chalk and cheese to quote yourself compared to an AM rim

njee20

Internal width isn't the only measure though is it. It's not a totally unrealistic comparison as said.