Magnesium wheels.. Gimmick or quality?

snakey_75

Hi guys, as the title suggests, magnesium wheels for mtb, are they a gimmick or is it a good idea? My mtb is mainly uses for commuting to work and back with the odd trail, nothing heavy duty. Reading write-ups, they are supposed to be stronger and lighter than ally and carbon, is this true? Found some real nice pairs for around the £120 mark on an auction website, can these be good quality or not? Cheers for any info!!

JGTR

Considering the price I very much doubt they are any good at all. In addition there must be a reason that no decent manufacturer uses magnesium wheels.

cooldad

Nasty heavy gimmicks.

Like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pair-of-26-26 ... u1q_iU9Cwg

3kg+ for wheels, might as well use lead.

As used on nasty Chinese BSOs.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pair-of-26-26 ... u1q_iU9Cwg

You have to laugh though. That one has a "Dental plate: 3 Location tooth plate 24 * 34 * 42 × 170L"

And a "Flywheel: 7 Location flywheel"

rockmonkeysc

Magnesium alloy is cheaper than the aluminium alloys used in proper quality wheels and it's very soft.

vanamees

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Magnesium alloy is cheaper than the aluminium alloys used in proper quality wheels and it's very soft.

Exactly the opposite. Airplanes are mostly built of this "cheap and soft" alloy, high end bike frames. most suspension forks, aso...

cooldad

Whatever, those wheels are still cr4p.

philcubed

Don't go for a ride when it's raining or you'll be riding a couple of Catherine wheels! https://youtu.be/YKN2-B5kblw

The Rookie

vanamees wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Magnesium alloy is cheaper than the aluminium alloys used in proper quality wheels and it's very soft.

Exactly the opposite. Airplanes are mostly built of this "cheap and soft" alloy, high end bike frames. most suspension forks, aso...

Erm no, RMSC is making the point that the cheap magnesium alloys used in these cast wheels will be cheaper than the expensive aluminium alloys used in decent extruded rims from the likes of Stans, Mavic etc which is much harder and knock resistant. You can't compare a casting to a formed product.

snakey_75

Cheers guys, that answers that then... I'm ashamed to say I liked these --

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272511587285? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I know it's a cheap cassette but that is easily replaced..

cooldad

I have wheels sets that weigh less than one of those. Including fat DH wheels.

Just nasty.

The Rookie

My current wheelset weighs only a little more than that front, my old set are lighter than the rear and I had a set of Deemax DH wheels that was just on 2Kg the pair. Even stock Carrera wheels are only just over 2Kg.

Like the looks of you want but accept they are crap for their job!

mattyfez

Interesting, magnisium alloy has been popular in rally car wheels for strength and light weight, but the term magnisium alloy by itself does not mean much.

How much magnisium, how much 'other' random metals are in the mix.

They must be magnisium alloy as if they were pure magnisium they would be very soft and they'd catch fire when they got wet.

The term 'alloy' simply means a mixture of two or more metals.

The Rookie

The problem is that the massively thick 'spokes' and rim are so much thicker than with conventional wheels they weigh more despite being mag' alloy not steel spokes.

Had a set of Group2 magnesium alloys on my old Escort.