Equinox RT 33+

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willboslice
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:46 am

by willboslice

Hi all,

Have been looking at going tubular for a while now and have finally saved enough pennies to buy myself a set of carbon tubulars. I've got about £700 to spend roughly. On new wheels only. Have only ever bought second hand before and quite like the idea of owning a set of wheels with perfect bearings and trueness!

So, anyway, I live in a fairly hilly area of North Devon so I'm opting for a lightweight wheel over aero, I'm currently running some 1650g 50mm Carbon Clinchers which I feel slow me up a lot on my rides because of the amount of inconsistent (gradient) climbs I do. They're also pretty cheap and nasty with far too much lateral flex for my liking.

The wheels I'm looking at are the (as in the title) Equinox RT 33+'s 2011 model. I've can get a set for £650ish (rrp£1700), they weigh in at 1300g for the set, have Japanese EZO bearings and nice stiff looking carbon spokes (12/16). The rims are made by Gigantex and I think the hubs are own brand too however I am not certain. My question is/questions are ;); will these wheels perform well considering the price? Or will they be similar to any other Gigantex rimmed wheel with normal spokes and hubs. Could I get a lighter set of brand new wheels for a similar price? Any thoughts on these wheels would be nice before I drop the hammer.

Oh, heres some photos of the wheels, and a cheeky one of my current set-up.
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Thanks in advance for any responses! :beerchug:

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mrfish
Posts: 1749
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: Near Horgen, Switzerland

by mrfish

Well they look really good... But they aren't that light, probably less aero than normal spokes, and then you're very limited if you ever want to change anything, e.g. new hub or body for shimano 11 speed. Unclear whether they're stiff or not, but in general carbon spokes and special fixings make the drive side spacing narrower so less stiff than steel spokes.

I would personally stick with what you have got as they objectively these new wheels won't be faster, and go instead for a deeper rim than those as the aero is beneficial down to quite low speeds. Also Devon involves lots of undulations, so an extra couple of mph downhill will definitely help on the next uphill. Also current mid aero tubulars are lighter than these, so really you're not losing anything.

One options would be to get the off the shelf Gigantex rims and build them with normal spokes and some of the lighter / stiffer hubs. That would give a race-worthy wheel at bargain price. Or you might look at the second hand market - some 2011 Zipps 303, 404 or maybe Mavic CCUs would be nice, and these are available for only a little more than you have in the budget.

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