960 gram Bontrager XXX wheels & Bontrager Hed/Aeros

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by Weenie


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C a s r a n
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by C a s r a n

Give it a search... These Bontrager superlight OCLV55 wheels were mentioned on this forum before, as well as the others, the Aeolus wheels.

See pictures here: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-548494.html
About the Aeolus: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-521025.html
About the 900gr wheels: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-497691.html
(thx to Adrien for his website) :wink:
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Trek OCLV
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by Trek OCLV

yeah armstrong didn't like the carbon hub he said
Trek OCLV

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Skyleth
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by Skyleth

I just saw the Bontrager Aeolus 6.5 in the shop today, it's a full carbon rim and the spokes go straight thru the fairing to the rim. The fairing is similar to that of the Cosmic Carbone where it's kinda flexy when you pinch it between your fingers. Of course I weighed it... the front + skewer w/ no tire or glue: 766g and the rear + skewer w/ no tire, glue, or cassette: 934g, so the pair w/ skewers comes in at exactly 1700g! It's not using a XXX lite carbon hub, it's some aluminum job w/ high flanges. Not like the hub on the X Lite either. The fairing also bubbles out a bit after the braking surface similar to the shape of the Zipp 404. Definetly a sexy wheel, but for a MSRP of $2400 USD... I'd want something lighter... just thought I'd share.
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Adrien
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by Adrien

Thanks for refering to my website.

there's also this article: http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-1202858.html

By the way, all has already been announced a long time ago. Almost one year unofficially and already 2 months officially on bonty website.

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Skyleth
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by Skyleth

yeah, but it's different to hold it in your hand than to read about it on the official website... I've never seen the wheels in person (or even heard about shops that had them in stock) until yesterday, and the original post is about 5 months old...
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Adrien
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by Adrien

Sure, having an Aeolus wheelset in hand is totally different than reading its description on a website.

Any pictures?

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pk0r
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by pk0r

As I once already mentioned the Triathlon wheel test, it has also been including Bontrager's Aelos.
..track test of the current issue of a German triathlon mag.
Featured wheels were (ordered by results):
-Vuelta Carbon Pro
-Xentis Mark 1 HM
-Zipp 808
-Bontrager Aeolus
-Zipp 999
-Ritchey Carbon
-Easton Tempest II Carbon
-Lightweight TT
-Mavic Cosmic Carbon
-Corima 3 Spoke & disc
-Corima 3 Spoke
-Lightweight 12/20
-Corima Aero
-Tune Olympic Gold
-Nimble Crosswind

It is to be argued if a SRM'ed track test is good enough to test wheels for aerodynamics and especially road racing, but yet again every test in the world is subject to its premises and model.
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roleur21
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by roleur21

Our Trek rep brought some of these in a few weeks ago, all I can say is how can they expect us to sell a ghetto-ass product at that weight and price. I'm sure that the Discovery/Lance connection will get some people ordering them, but when the wheel is in hand you realize that it is a seriously lame fairing bonded to the very nice Trek XXX rim with what looks like bathroom caulking. I understand that Lance wants to see his good friend Steve Hed succeed, but in my opinion this wheelset gives the really smart guys at Trek a black eye as the finished wheel has all of the bad stuff of the really cheap Hed products and all of the nice Trek stuff is hidden.

They also really have to rationalize the fairing as their shape copies the Zipp patent for a bulging rim, so the fairing gets around that by not having the nipples locate in the fairing so that it is 'non-structural' But they then claim that the fairing is structural since fairings are illegal so their argument is that it is both non-structural and structural at the same time. Either way, they expect us to put those wheels on the shelf between a 1185 gram 404 wheelset that costs $1700 and a 1350 gram Campy Bora wheelset that costs $2700 (but is dead sexy!), and expect the aura of Lance to blind people into overlooking the flimsy fairing and bad caulking job AND the extra 400-500 grams. Good Luck!

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by JTC

Our Trek rep brought some of these in a few weeks ago, all I can say is how can they expect us to sell a ghetto-ass product at that weight and price. I'm sure that the Discovery/Lance connection will get some people ordering them, but when the wheel is in hand you realize that it is a seriously lame fairing bonded to the very nice Trek XXX rim with what looks like bathroom caulking. I understand that Lance wants to see his good friend Steve Hed succeed, but in my opinion this wheelset gives the really smart guys at Trek a black eye as the finished wheel has all of the bad stuff of the really cheap Hed products and all of the nice Trek stuff is hidden.

They also really have to rationalize the fairing as their shape copies the Zipp patent for a bulging rim, so the fairing gets around that by not having the nipples locate in the fairing so that it is 'non-structural' But they then claim that the fairing is structural since fairings are illegal so their argument is that it is both non-structural and structural at the same time. Either way, they expect us to put those wheels on the shelf between a 1185 gram 404 wheelset that costs $1700 and a 1350 gram Campy Bora wheelset that costs $2700 (but is dead sexy!), and expect the aura of Lance to blind people into overlooking the flimsy fairing and bad caulking job AND the extra 400-500 grams. Good Luck!


Ha!!! Hilarious!!! I checked those wheels out the other day at the LBS and thought the same thing. A fairing......you've got to be kidding me!

roleur21
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by roleur21

More hilarious was our mechanics suggestion of our new shop T-shirt to promote the Aeolus and it's not so sexy bondline:

GOT CAULK?

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by C a s r a n

Oh well, I understand the critism very well, but I had these wheels in my hands a few months ago and think they are nice.

As for the critics concerning its weight: it was never Bontragers intention to make a light wheel, on the contrary, riders asked for a bit heavier wheel with more momentum. Thus a non-structural rim doesn't bother me; after all lots of riders preferred the heavy Mavic Cosmic Carbone for it's rolling capacities, maybe due to its weight in outer part of the wheel, the rim. :wink:

As for the prices: hmm... Bontragers problem, but for that price you do have a Hed ànd a Bontrager wheelset! :lol: I would have wanted a carbon hub for this amount of money. But ok, prices, what to say about Zipps Z-serie! After all, I'm not planning to buy a set. :D
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roleur21
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by roleur21

I think that the 'higher weight for better rolling' argument is a bit of an attempt to justify a design that missed the mark. I've never heard of anybody wanting heavier wheels, even if they do roll nicely, almost no course is going to be flat enough to warrant increasing wheel weight. Furthermore, we know that mavic sponsored riders are on magnesium wheels for key events like the tour, and because of that their cosmic carbones are much lighter and nicer than the ones we can buy, so that whole 'rolls better' justification seems a bit far fetched to me.

Also with the non-structural rim, you have serious water intrusion problems when riding in the rain and difficulty truing etc, as well as aerodynamics that are compromised since the spokes go into the side of the fairing...it's a very hard sell for me. I think the Z4 seems like a much better idea and value with very aero rims, some of the nicest hubs going, and real ceramic bearings, not the chinese ABEC1 ceramics that everybody is all about pushing these days. Plus the real Z series weights generally run about 1040 fro Z3 and 1160 for Z4 (lighter than claimed) from the two sets we've seen in the shop, so you're nearly in Lightweight territory for weight, but with better aerodynamics and significantly nicer hubs for about the same money.

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jerk
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by jerk

roleur21 wrote:I think that the 'higher weight for better rolling' argument is a bit of an attempt to justify a design that missed the mark. I've never heard of anybody wanting heavier wheels, even if they do roll nicely, almost no course is going to be flat enough to warrant increasing wheel weight. Furthermore, we know that mavic sponsored riders are on magnesium wheels for key events like the tour, and because of that their cosmic carbones are much lighter and nicer than the ones we can buy, so that whole 'rolls better' justification seems a bit far fetched to me.

Also with the non-structural rim, you have serious water intrusion problems when riding in the rain and difficulty truing etc, as well as aerodynamics that are compromised since the spokes go into the side of the fairing...it's a very hard sell for me. I think the Z4 seems like a much better idea and value with very aero rims, some of the nicest hubs going, and real ceramic bearings, not the chinese ABEC1 ceramics that everybody is all about pushing these days. Plus the real Z series weights generally run about 1040 fro Z3 and 1160 for Z4 (lighter than claimed) from the two sets we've seen in the shop, so you're nearly in Lightweight territory for weight, but with better aerodynamics and significantly nicer hubs for about the same money.


well you're wrong. discovery wanted heavier wheels. lighter isn't always better...especially when one is pushing along at high speeds on flatish or false flatish terrain. you have clearly never raced. momentum plays a role as does "feel" particularly when there are not rapid changes in tempo and that tempo is high. these are not the wheels for an uphill time trial, but the weight is ideal for their intended use.

everything isn't a hill climb.

jerk
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by C a s r a n

jerk wrote:well you're wrong. discovery wanted heavier wheels. lighter isn't always better...especially when one is pushing along at high speeds on flatish or false flatish terrain. you have clearly never raced. momentum plays a role as does "feel" particularly when there are not rapid changes in tempo and that tempo is high. these are not the wheels for an uphill time trial, but the weight is ideal for their intended use.

everything isn't a hill climb.

jerk



I was the more surprised riders like Bettini and Garzelli opted for Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels in the hilly Liege-Bastogne-Liege (2002) where they finished 1st and 2nd.

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by Weenie


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