Open mold wide profile carbon wheels

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steviemidnight
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:44 am

by steviemidnight

but from the site it would appear they only do 45mm U shaped Rims only not complete wheels

however in the reviews they state the weight differences between the 50mm so i'm unclear as to what they do. I'll contact them and see what options they have

by Weenie


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jepd1973
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:09 pm

by jepd1973

Just ordered fully built U shaped 45 mm wheels :)

sspring
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:06 pm

by sspring

steviemidnight wrote:but from the site it would appear they only do 45mm U shaped Rims only not complete wheels

however in the reviews they state the weight differences between the 50mm so i'm unclear as to what they do. I'll contact them and see what options they have


I have a wheelset with 45mm rims on order. I went with super light Bitex/ed hubs with ceramic bearings.

They do complete wheels built just like any of their other wheelsets. Browse through the build options on the other wheels cause its exactly the same.

Contact them and explain what you want.

tharmor
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

sspring wrote:
I have a wheelset with 45mm rims on order. I went with super light Bitex/ed hubs with ceramic bearings.

They do complete wheels built just like any of their other wheelsets. Browse through the build options on the other wheels cause its exactly the same.

Contact them and explain what you want.



jepd1973 wrote:Just ordered fully built U shaped 45 mm wheels :)



Would the two of you mind sharing the cost breakdowns of your specific purchases?

sspring
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:06 pm

by sspring

I think the price of the 45mm wheelset from Light-Bicycle is $570 USD.

tharmor
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

sspring wrote:I think the price of the 45mm wheelset from Light-Bicycle is $570 USD.


Does that include the ceramic upgrade you opted for? And what have they quoted for shipping?

Bellcurve
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 01, 2009 5:20 pm

by Bellcurve

After a bit of research, including the really useful comments in this thread, I'm down to two choices for a Chinese carbon clincher: the Light-Bicycle 45mm U-shape rim with CXrays and a light weight hub (e.g., Novatec 291/482) for about $660 delivered to the US, or the now ubiquitous 25mm wide 50mm deep clinchers (Bontrager-like profile) on Ebay that weigh about 200 grams more per set (roughly 100 from spokes, 60 from hubs [Novatec 271/384] and 50 from rims) and cost about $200 less.

The hub weight difference is of no importance to me, the rim weight is slightly important, but the CX-Rays vs heavy/less aero Pillars seems significant. Ultimately overriding these issues is whether there is a big aero/watt difference between the two rims, which we won't even have a hint of until there are a lot of ride reports in, and probably not even then.

I guess I have a slight preference for the Light-Bicycle wheels, and if I was comparing, say, new cars a $200 difference wouldn't effect the decision at all, but here it's a 44% premium for the 45mm wheel, which may have a few watts advantage at some yaw angles and whose weight savings may have some small effect in some of the riding I'll do with these wheels (crits, road races, fast group rides).

Anyone else get stuck at roughly this same point then have an a clear vision of which way to go?

chazmtb
Posts: 231
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:08 am

by chazmtb

@Bellcurve

I am in the same boat. I have requested an invoice for a set of 45mm U profile rims in UD matte finish with the bitex RAF10/RAR9 (ED?) 11spd shimano hubs. Shipped it would be 660. How did you switch to the CX Rays? Did they have it available? How much more than the pillar?

I have a set of Reynolds V type 46 clincher rims on DT hubs, and will see if there are any difference when between the two.

Bellcurve
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri May 01, 2009 5:20 pm

by Bellcurve

Sorry, so many vendors, so many options...the spokes from Light-Bicycle were in fact 4.2 gram Pillars, not CX-Rays. I'm OK with them. The 6.7 gram Pillars on the 25mm Ebay 50mm deep wheels give me pause though. I asked Farsports for a quote on the 25/50 wheels built with CX-Rays but they haven't replied yet.

My main motivation for getting one of these sets is to try out a wider rim. If I can't tell the difference between a 24.5 or 25 mm rim and the standard ones I'm now running I'd be happier if I spent $200 less on the experiment.

tharmor
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

Bellcurve wrote:Sorry, so many vendors, so many options...the spokes from Light-Bicycle were in fact 4.2 gram Pillars, not CX-Rays. I'm OK with them. The 6.7 gram Pillars on the 25mm Ebay 50mm deep wheels give me pause though. I asked Farsports for a quote on the 25/50 wheels built with CX-Rays but they haven't replied yet.

My main motivation for getting one of these sets is to try out a wider rim. If I can't tell the difference between a 24.5 or 25 mm rim and the standard ones I'm now running I'd be happier if I spent $200 less on the experiment.


Using this wheelbuilding tool from Farsports' e commerce page,MIT would appear that you're looking at around $550 + ~$70 shipping depending on where you are. Here's the web site ::

http://wheelsfar.com/wide-50x25mm-clinc ... s9avj84n27

chazmtb
Posts: 231
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:08 am

by chazmtb

Bellcurve wrote:My main motivation for getting one of these sets is to try out a wider rim. If I can't tell the difference between a 24.5 or 25 mm rim and the standard ones I'm now running I'd be happier if I spent $200 less on the experiment.


I'm there with you. I wanted to try wide rim technology too, but don't want to spend 4-5x more for the zipps or others. To me, the other brands, such as Williams and Neuvations, ect, are just acting as middle men to the Chinese rims and hub market, and their stuff may or may not be better than the direct market stuff. I am taking the risk upon myself but saving more than 50% going with either Light-Bicycle or Farsport. I just like the profile of the 45mm U, which Berk sold me on when he posted the cross section that mimics a 303 profile. I'll see how this goes, and may get a 90mm U rear for a triathlon rig.

JN2Wheels
Posts: 219
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 3:03 am
Location: Maryland

by JN2Wheels

NovemberDave wrote:Thanks all.
JN2 we are rolling it out one piece at a time but we are evaluating selling stand alone rims. It's not a business we love and seeing some of the prices that people are paying for rims from China, well, we won't be priced anything like that. Tubular is the next product we want to do but molds and initial runs are very very far from cheap. We have to chew what's in our mouths a bit first.....


And Boom! NovemberDave has launched the program. Details went out in an e-mail, but the copy is available here.. http://mad.ly/73ccf3?pact=516478538403755836&fe=1

Not china-cheap, but may be worth a look for those of you interested in the middle ground, who appreciate having an energetic company behind the rims, and who have a desire to support the little guys who happen to frequent and participate here at WW.

tharmor
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:20 am

by tharmor

JN2Wheels wrote:Not china-cheap, but may be worth a look for those of you interested in the middle ground, who appreciate having an energetic company behind the rims, and who have a desire to support the little guys who happen to frequent and participate here at WW.


I'm confused now. Buying a built wheelset from November is $1285, but to buy them individually as rims costs $600 each? I guess at doesn't add up right in my head. What am I missing?

**edit**

Saw this on their Facebook page in the comments section ::

"Yeah it's wack, right? 2 reasons for this. 1) We made the decision to offer rims principally for the LBS and custom wheelbuilder channel. The only way to do that is with enough margin built in that it's worthwhile for them (they pay less than $1200 for a set of rims). So we started with the price that made sense for dealers and also for us, and then had to mark up the rims when sold direct to consumers. If we didn't and we offered consumers the same rims at the same price as dealers, everyone would buy from us and then take the rims to the dealers, making them hate the direct channel even more. So while the rims a la carte are not the direct-to-consumer value that everything else we sell is, we still sell our standard build set that's an exceptional value. And B) The $1285 price is our go-to-market price. Because of the cost of R&D and the proprietary mold, that price doesn't generate the margin that our other carbon wheels did and will creep up eventually. So the delta between the two will rise."

chazmtb
Posts: 231
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:08 am

by chazmtb

Anyone got their U shaped carbon wheels from light-bicycle yet? Curious of how long it took when you order to when it arrived, the quality of the rims, and what your impressions were.

Berg
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Denmark

by Berg

Nope, still waiting for a set of the 45mm U, drilled for internal nipps. Can post pics, as soon as I get them..

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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