Lots of discussion on whether or not we'd buy a Chinese carbon clincher aero wheelset. What would you use them for? Time to put it to a poll / test.

IF you were in the market for an aero set of clincher wheels today AND you bought a set, what would you use them for?

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My sub-5.7kg / 12.53lb Addict R1

WTB: Challenge latex tubes, 700c x 60mm - NEW only

Oops - double tap.

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My sub-5.7kg / 12.53lb Addict R1

WTB: Challenge latex tubes, 700c x 60mm - NEW only

I would

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

These are $400-500 more than they should be. There is much discussion about a seller on RBR who's offering the pretty much product for under $600, shipped.

I bought sourced rims and hubs from China and Taiwan and had my local mechanic put together a very nice set of tubulars with them for around $600 total, w/Sapim CX-Ray spokes. I could have done the same with clinchers. Have you considered that route?

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www.bikehubstore.com

It's amazing how everyone knocks the stuff from China. I cant wait till Edge moves there production overseas and it will be all peaches and cream. Ive seen everything break it does not matter the name or the origins of the product. I think some people just like the fancy logos and big price tag that goes along with the image of having the best. Yes there is bad stuff made its just made everywhere. Even in the beloved Country of U.S and Italy and insert any other for that matter. I know I will here all the problems and horror stories from all the people that got burned from product that was bad. Buy them use them for what ever you want to and enjoy your new rims. Let the arrows fly.

Nobody is knocking anything because it's 'from China'. Some of the best bike parts in the world come from China, some of the worst crap in the world does too.

The problem is with unbranded parts coming from unverifiable sources. Is it a reliable component that has been designed to do the intended job, QC'd and warrantied by a legally established company? Or is it a guy who found a factory who makes things in the shape people want, out of the material people want and is selling them for a great mark-up on the internet?

A wheel made by Easton is a very different product than a wheel than 'a wheel that was made in the same factory as Easton'. One of those is verifiable, the other, not at all.

There's just no way to know what you're going to get. When you're going down a hill at 50 mph, it's nice to know that your equipment is up to the job.

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Attack!
www.PDXWheels.com
www.twitter.com/PDXWheels

PDX you're mostly right...

The shape people want is usually the case. The material however is very frequently not. The nock off and no-name direct stuff very frequently isnt made from the same grade carbon (and for wheels, the proper resin is even more critical).

Short cut material quality, drop proper layup and cure time and temp and pressure and you drop cost... and bingo- HUGE SAVINGS.




Nobody said anything about the high quality eastern manufactured products that are produced for responsible companies with a lot of time, history and money invested in their brand... Those products are designed and tested to meet the safety and performance standards over time.

It's the garbage from companies with little or nothing to lose that get the negative posts. Reject runs, under spec material, molds / hardware that have been used too much and no longer produce acceptable parts for manufacturers who require a quality product...

That's not always the case, but it also is the case.

And you have no recourse against failure and you have no idea how many different people have been harmed because the brands either have no name and or change names like the wind... And or the people that made the mistake are VERY frequently too chickensh!t to admit they made a mistake after harping about how great something is...

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Oh, man. Do you have *any* evidence or first hand experience to back up *any* of your assertions? So the generic "they" cheap out on materials, process, service, and quality control. And the buyers of said products are chickenshits, who won't speak up when the item in question breaks. This is a bit too much.

I would agree that there are some shady sellers on eBay and the like. I will agree that con artists will take seconds and rejected parts and sell them as brand name. I will agree that some manufacturers design and build questionable items.

I will also assert that this is not a Chinese problem. All these issues occur anywhere items are designed, made and sold. Unless you think Paul Lew operated out of Shanghai? Unless you think some greedy Americans/Canadians/Italians/Finns would never try to scam gullible cyclists by selling shoddy parts?

PezTech, I don't know what it is lately but I have been finding your posts to be rather xenophobic in content and tone. Maybe it's just me? If so, I'll admit it. I'm just telling you what I see. From anecdotal evidence, I wouldn't think that products from a company like Hong-Fu suffer worse defect rates than Zipp. Absent any hard numbers or forum postings/threads I can't imagine how you could say otherwise.

John Swanson

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www.bikephysics.com
www.lanternart.com

I think it would be fair to say that companies like Gigantex, Zipp, Easton, Enve, Reynolds, etc... have full time engineers on staff who are presumably experts in the carbon fiber wheel business. But even with that, they still see occasional failures. I am not sure how many engineers are employed by these "direct retailers" that have been popping up lately, or what their level of expertise is, but until I can verify for myself that their designs are as rigorous as those by the aforementioned reputable companies, I personally don't want to take any more chances than I already am by purchasing carbon fiber wheels, especially in clincher format. Well for me I avoid this problem by not buying carbon wheels, but you get the point.

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Sorry, but speak to anyone who has had real dealings with manufacturing in China (design engineers or quality personnel) and you will find out that factories must have a constant thumb on them to do anything without cutting a corner or stealthily giving you the shaft. Take any kind of corruption here and then add salt and a well compensated communist party representative. The have a recipe for corruption you never could have ever dreamed about. It permeates like a fungus. Forget xenophobia, it is just cold hard reality.

Quality can come from China and it does, but it requires a decent size of organization to kick a large size boot, good procedures, and quality control.