Knight Composites - 'fastest carbon wheels ever'

[Nefarious86]

That looks mean...

[cajer]

How is the braking on them

[Tinea Pedis]

Braking not an issue at all. Haven't had to grab a massive hand full, but so far perfect modulation and not a single shudder or squeal.

Rode them for 100km yesterday in winds ranging from 25-40km/h, very impressed with their handling given their depth. Nationals on them this Sunday should be a good test.

[climbandpunishment]

It's a bit disappointing to see those stickers on the wheels at this level of price/performance. I would expect them to have a noticeable effect (possibly good or bad) on the aerodynamics, and from the description on their website it doesn't seem like their design process accounted for those effects in any way.

[CAFERACER]

I suppose my main cringe here though is with the writing of the BikeRadar article.

-"Game Changer"; Check and cringe!
- Paraphrases the marketing banter from the product they are talking about for 3 paragraphs, then go on to give their 'impressions' based on having ridden it up the road for a bit, and not done any real testing, which ALWAYS goes like, "First impressions are it is very stiff and responsive, and you can feel the lightness / speed / etc etc". Yawn.

This is the best post I have ever read on WW. I had a similar gripe with a cyclingtips power meter review recently, basically was along the lines of
"I haven't used a power meter before, however the numbers seemed accurate"

The quality of reviews in the bike industry are laughable. However if they had any smarts these "authors" would be working in other industries making decent money not blogging about bike parts.

[WMW]

However if they had any smarts these "authors" would be working in other industries making decent money not blogging about bike parts.

There are a few. There are even some companies that take the time to do actual testing and present the data in a transparent way. Knight Composites isn't one of them. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And their prices are Enve and Zipp level for made in Taiwan or China wheels.

[Tinea Pedis]

I had a similar gripe with a cyclingtips power meter review recently, basically was along the lines of
"I haven't used a power meter before, however the numbers seemed accurate"

Difference, of course, being that the wheel reviewer has of course ridden other wheels before. Reviewed other wheels before. And generally has a much more vast wealth of knowledge on which to base his comparison of the wheels, compared to the power meter review.

Leaving the simple fact they're both a 'review' about something in the world of cycling about the only thing the two have in common.

The quality of reviews in the bike industry are laughable. However if they had any smarts these "authors" would be working in other industries making decent money not blogging about bike parts.

I see your "best post ever on WW" and raise you this one being possibly one of the "most ignorant".

[dadoflam08]

Looking forward to hearing the feedback squeak - they certainly seem to be going down the Enve style of wheel design which I personally really like.

Well, the article does say, "Knight Composites is a small team of just three people: Beverly Lucas, Jim Pfeil and Kevin Quan." If this is entirely accurate, one would assume that either these three are designing, arranging, marketing, liaising, buying, selling, doing payroll, doing tax, and also rolling their sleeves up on a daily basis and laying the carbon and epoxy with their own hands... or they are subcontracting the manufacture somewhere. Let's have a guess where that might be!!

Yawn - presumably somewhere they believe will provide the level of quality they require to offer a high performance premium product that they are willing to stake their reputations and money on in a competitive, unforgiving and discerning marketplace - something these three people would seem to have enough experience to know.
There are lots of options for them in the global marketplace - some uber-level products from high profile North American and German boutique brands with reputations for highest levels of quality and innovation are now being made in Cambodia for example.

[mdeth1313]

Jim was with Neilpryde for awhile. Wasn't he with reynolds too?

[TheDarkInstall]

This is just yet another Farsports rim company, who emailed Kyle and said 'how much to put our stickers on your rims"

Add it to the massive list already out there doing exactly the same thing and trying to charge loads of money for what can be bought direct from Farsports for a fraction of the cost.

Curve Wheels
Tokyo Wheels
Knight Composites

etc etc etc.

They all do it. I am astounded that people still fall for this crap.

[mashiehood]

What dark install said....

[mashiehood]

It's also worth noting that some of the German bike websites are importing LB rims and selling under a generic banner, for example r2 bikes have the LB rims and quoting full build of 1500 euros!

[MarkTwain]

They all do it. I am astounded that people still fall for this crap.

And your proof of this?

Curve are nothing like these wheels. Nor are Tokyo.


Cheap snipes are cheap.

[TheDarkInstall]

LOLOL!!!

Come OFF it mate.

Just look at the rims. They are identical, and all offered in the 24 / 38 / 50mm depths that Farsports offer.

[phazr]

Except that they are offered in 35, 65, and 95mm depths....

New to post here, but have been lurking in the shadows for some time. I have a bit of experience with Knight wheels and I personally feel they are not the same rebranded wheels. (no I don't work for, nor am I affiliated with them) For one, their carbon fiber is just about the top quality you can get, same supplier that companies like Beoing, Lockheed Martin, and the NASA use. They are also formed differently, they adopted the same process that frame manufacturers use which differs from what carbon rim manufacturers have been using, but I won't get into that.

The 3 that started the company have experience with Enve, Cervelo, and Reynolds to name a few.

The slight difference in their rims profile takes the entire frame into consideration as far as aerodynamics go, so they haven't just set the rim in a wind tunnel and called it a day. Testing showed a 32 second decrease in time over 40km @ a constant 30mph. That's a lot of wattage saved in a long race.. that's roughly 6 watts of power saved while keeping the same speed.


I understand that the bike industry has become inundated with so many components and brands that it is head spinning, every day there is a new product that is the latest and greatest. But they look similar because they're a carbon rim with aerodynamic properties.. what did you expect it to look like?

Rant over, sorry for revitalizing an old topic.