Wheelsmith Aero 50's

[Dizeee]

So after copious amounts of research these seem to tick all the boxes. Aero... light... handbuilt and at a good price. I'm not convinced by some of the factory offerings at this price point. Campag and Fulcrums decals alone put me right off.

Anyone have these or any experience of them? Everything I have seen so far points to them being awesome however I have read that their customer service is iffy in the event of problems.

[tonto1]

I've got a set of the tubular versions and really quite like them. Light, fast, don't seem to flex much, do squeal a bit when braking, but overall I like them.

I also have found that 'Wheelsmith' are very helpful and friendly and have done work on other wheels of mine and always do a good job and charge very little.

[Matt_N]

Not sure of the aero'ness of them, seems little information about the rim profile but a few posters on this thread on BR seem happy with them:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40...

What hubs are you thinking?

Novatec wouldn't be my choice.

[anonymous-user]

Wheelsmith dont use Novatec anymore, most likely Bitex or Chosen who are the big hub manufacturers in Taiwan. I have Novatec on my Chinese carbon clinchers and they seem fine but they havent seen that much use but I'd spend the extra and go for Hope hubs. You can always replace the bearings as they are fairly standard bearing races and come in many different flavours.

They still use Gigantex rims though which are hugely popular and have a good reputation. A lot of the early ebay Far East carbon clinchers used Gigantex rims but they dont appear to do so anymore, I guess because the Chinese carbon rims are cheaper and took the market share. Gigantex are Taiwanese and make rims for lots of brands so the people they are well versed in carbon manufacture. Have a look at bikehubstore.com and you can get a good price for the rims, add the Hope hubs and some Sapim spokes and the Wheelsmith price is, well, a lot, but thats the price you pay for a UK supplier these days.

I wouldnt worry about customer service horror stories, having worked in retail its amazing what people expect you to do if a product fails. There are always two sides to a story and in most circumstances, you only hear the grumpy cyclist venting their spleen on a forum!...

You know decals can be removed right!

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 24th February 21:35

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 24th February 21:37

[Dizeee]

Was thinking of the standard hubs to be honest, would the Hope or DT Swiss hubs make that much difference?

[anonymous-user]

Without knowing what their own brand hubs are its hard to say but their biggest competitors in the UK are probably Strad who use Bitex. I have Hope Pro 3 hubs on my mtb and they are just superb, easy to regrease the bearings and they really do roll. The freehub is really noisy though, like REALLY NOISY although it does encourage you to keep pedalling.

[Dowks]

I have some Wheelsmith tubulars on King hubs. They have been superb, no issues whatsoever. Only selling them now to make way for my Bora 50's

[okgo]

Dizeee said:

So after copious amounts of research these seem to tick all the boxes. =.

Isn't that what you start ALL your threads with?

As we told you in the last thread, these will be fine, as will the Boras that apparently were 'jawdropping' or whatever you said, the zipps will be fine, these will be fine.

They make so little difference between each other, hence various teams swap wheel sponsors every year because they know at a certain level its much for muchness.

Edited by okgo on Wednesday 25th February 14:06

[Rocksteadyeddie]

okgo said:

Dizeee said:

So after copious amounts of research these seem to tick all the boxes. =.

Isn't that what you start ALL your threads with?

As we told you in the last thread, these will be fine, as will the Boras that apparently were 'jawdropping' or whatever you said, the zipps will be fine, these will be fine.

They make so little difference between each other, hence various teams swap wheel sponsors every year because they know at a certain level its much for muchness.

Edited by okgo on Wednesday 25th February 14:06

The pros don't need as much help as Dizeee though.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

okgo said:

Dizeee said:

So after copious amounts of research these seem to tick all the boxes. =.

Isn't that what you start ALL your threads with?

As we told you in the last thread, these will be fine, as will the Boras that apparently were 'jawdropping' or whatever you said, the zipps will be fine, these will be fine.

They make so little difference between each other, hence various teams swap wheel sponsors every year because they know at a certain level its much for muchness.

Edited by okgo on Wednesday 25th February 14:06

The pros don't need as much help as Dizeee though.

[anonymous-user]

The funny thing is the pro teams dont even hide the fact that they badge up wheels and tyres from one brand to the next. If Wiggo wants Mavic rims and Vittoria tyres for the Classics, but Sky are sponsored by Shimano and Continental, they just get the marker pens out or remove the stickers!

[jamiebae]

I think one of the pro teams is sponsored by Campag, but running Dura-Ace direct mount brakes with the branding removed as they're the only ones which fit the frame they're using!

[okgo]

pablo said:

The funny thing is the pro teams dont even hide the fact that they badge up wheels and tyres from one brand to the next. If Wiggo wants Mavic rims and Vittoria tyres for the Classics, but Sky are sponsored by Shimano and Continental, they just get the marker pens out or remove the stickers!

I was talking about lower down level teams who swap often.

But Sky do only really use Shimano wheels (or Pro for discs) and they don't have a tyre sponsor by design so they can keep their options open, though they use Veloflex for nearly all of the road stuff though.

[Dizeee]

Dowks said:

I have some Wheelsmith tubulars on King hubs. They have been superb, no issues whatsoever. Only selling them now to make way for my Bora 50's

That's interesting as the Bora's are also on my radar although they are not available in clincher version until March. Do you see the Bora's as an upgrade from the Wheelsmith wheels?

[JEA1K]

I have a pair of Aero 38's which I bought last summer. They've probably done 3000 miles and show no signs of wear ... they roll well and are comfortable for longer rides, although I'm running 25mm tyres. The rear spokes could do with tightening as when under full load I'm getting some flex (currently 78.5kg so no bloater!)

For the cost of a brand new wheel I think they're good value. The aero 38 is clearly a compromise (slightly less weight and less aero than the 50's) from a weight/aero point of view ... if you want lots of sets of wheels for all conditions then fine but of you ONLY have two sets of wheels a standard clincher and a set of 50's for racing would seem like the best option. I'm temped by a set of 50's for racing so need to convince myself if I'll hold onto the 38's or not ...

[okgo]

For the sake of looks and performance and that March is 3 days away, what is the issue with waiting till then for the Bora wheels?

[Magic919]

There's a bike at work with some Dura Ace C75s on it. They look great.

[Matt_N]

okgo said:

For the sake of looks and performance and that March is 3 days away, what is the issue with waiting till then for the Bora wheels?

This is like Yellowjack talking about getting a new bike, it's never going to happen!

Dizzee, also take a look at Flo, proper aero wheels even in their 30mm aluminium clincher, but you've just missed the latest order so you'd have to wait a while.

[Dowks]

Dizeee said:

That's interesting as the Bora's are also on my radar although they are not available in clincher version until March. Do you see the Bora's as an upgrade from the Wheelsmith wheels?

Boras a gift from Mrs Dowks, who was blissfully unaware of the presence of the Wheelsmith set which are now being discretely moved on

[okgo]

Matt_N said:

This is like Yellowjack talking about getting a new bike, it's never going to happen!

Dizzee, also take a look at Flo, proper aero wheels even in their 30mm aluminium clincher, but you've just missed the latest order so you'd have to wait a while.

The amusing thing to me is that even a brake cable has had 'copious amounts of research' behind it yet still the questions are like he doesn't know behind from elbow!

The boras looks nice, I would get those in a week or two.