Deep section carbon wheels on a budget?

Rule of 105 is real but it’s a 2ndary effect…and only really that at yaw angles in the 10% to 20% range. If you experience yaw primarily in the 0% to 10% range (which most of us do most of the time) then it’s not a big deal. Even at it’s worst you’re looking at 30g to 40g excess drag at world tour speeds…and more typically sub 20g. So that’s gonna be way less than the difference between a round-spoked alloy rim vs an aero-spoked 46mm deep carbon rim.

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Having had many brands I would agree with the camp to buy used, especially since you’ll find a ton of rim brake now that discs have come into play. I would also suggest buying a GOOD set as opposed to no brand. You do realize that integrity in the wheel is pretty important, and many just don’t offer either build quality or engineering quality. See a bit and but quality, or rent when racing to try a few brands. I’d not buy Zipp, Flo, or any no name. Reynolds make awesome wheels for the money but I’d still go DT Swiis, or Enve. You’ll be so damn glad you did.

I came across these Winspace Hyper 50’s a few months back, and they seem to receiving quite a bit of praise. Good contender IMO to displace some of Light’s market share.

Notable mentions;

  • Spokes are carbon bladed, but replaceable (Not bonded)
  • Ceramic bearings
  • From an aerodynamic perspective, these appear to come at a huge advantage (see videos below …)
  • 1400g give or take for $1,100…

Some great deep-dives available;

I’ll be receiving my set likely sometime December/January, and happy to begin providing a bit of feedback on their build quality and longevity then.

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Just out of curiosity, why do you say to avoid buying Zipp. I’ve only ever heard good things and had no complaints the couple of times that I’ve ridden them.

My experience, as I have had a few sets over the years and acknowledged by a few others, they are not very stable and seem to push while hard cornering. In addition to the many recalls I would not go there. They pretty much are amazing at marketing, but the wheels just do not stand up to the hype. I also find it odd that many of their “innovations” such as dimples has not been duplicated by anyone else. Perhaps telling? As I said, marketing with not a ton of facts to back them up. Having just picked up a set of DT Swiss, I am truly amazed at how much better they are.

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Hmm interesting. I do tend to agree with the innovations like firecrest and the dimples and how no other manufacturer has seemed to pick them up. Though maybe that’s a cost of manufacturing vs benefit calculation and not just purely that there is no benefit.

Also, any aftermarket wheels will probably feel good compared to my stock DT DB470 wheels so it’s always interesting to hear experience from people that have ridden more and better wheels.

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Hmm. Hambini is on nandralone? Wonder what the story is there. If I was going to pick a performance enhancing drug…it wouldn’t be nor-testosterone. That’s a hollywood drug.

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I will put in another vote for Farsports wheels. I got a set of their “classic” wheels last year (50mm, 25mm wide, DTSwiss 350, cxray) for around $600 shipped when they had a sale. They around $700 now.

I’ve got 5000 miles on them and they have been flawless.

Farsports and Light Bicycle wheels are very well reviewed on other forums and are a “name brand” Chinese wheels. Sure, there is risk buying direct from China but they are half the price of comparable wheels.

I’m just not comfortable with no-name, zero warranty, zero accountability aliexpress wheels.

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Not advocating for or against the dimple concept, but it was patent protected for quite awhile. My guess would be that had it not had a patent, you would have quickly seen others adopt it, regardless of efficacy.

Zipp usually does a pretty good job of protecting their product concepts / designs via patents.

@AJS914 where are you getting your farsports wheels from? aliexpress?. Thank you

Directly from Farsports’ web site. One can order off their Ali page, or order directly with one of their sales people but I found their web site the easiest.

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You will find the contact of Sandy on their website. She (?!) is super responsive. Also via Skype chat (found on the website as well). I’m super happy with my Farsports Feder 45mm hooked rims (got them 3-4month ago). I ordered them with their in house hub (I think it’s called D300).

Sandy and the team behind her (incl. wheel builders) were really helpful when I struggled to change my freehub from Shimano to XDR (ordered both with my initial purchase). We’ve sent videos and pictures back and forth via Skype chat. To me that was more helpful than many customer services of big western brands I’ve experienced with generic responses.

The only downside. They are quite busy as well. Since they build the wheels to your order (rim, spokes, nipples, hub) it takes 4-8 weeks to be build and then depending on the shipment you’ve chosen an other 1-2 weeks. Super secure packing though.

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I switched the wheels after only a short ride but I did loan them out to someone riding a stock Ultimate to test ride. They said that were fast, go where you point them but they are a little harsh on rough roads. While they did noticably change the riding charachteristics of the bike, they personally wanted more comfort.

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I really like Light Bike’s website. It lets you build your wheel bit by bit and gives a running tally of weight and price. Very responsive customer service, and if you need something that’s “not on the menu”, just ask. They can do custom requests for surprisingly cheap. Have a set of 1300g wheels on the way for my Colnago. Less than $1k with shipping

I have Hunt aero wide (alloy) wheels for summer which I swap out for PRIME alloys in winter. For bang for buck I’ve been impressed with the Prime wheels and when my summer Hunt wheels wear out they’ll be replaced by a deep section carbon set of Prime wheels :+1:

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@AJS914 Any thoughts on how to decide what hub to go with. I was thinking the DT swiss 350 but only because I have heard the brand and they are not too expensive. Any pros or cons to the other choices?

This is better publicity than Hunt is getting in the other thread :man_facepalming: :rofl:

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I went with the DT 350 because it’s high quality and was only a $70 or so upcharge. The DT 240 is the same innards and lighter but costs significantly more.

I thought that DT would have better longevity and reliability than any Novatec or Bitex built hub.

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Hunt are Bah Humbug in the other thread.

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For those who have went with Farsports, looking for some assistance/feeback on the options:
-Depth - I was leaning towards 50mm for my everyday wheel set. General road riding, some climbing but not my focus, generally not too windy where I live …
-Finish - other than how they look in a picture, any feedback on how they wear and age?
-Ratchet - the more teeth the better? is it worth the cost? is the sound different when freewheeling
-Freehub - Easy choice as I have an 11 speed
-Nipples - Brass is anti-corrosive but heavier, any other way to choose?
-Brake pads - Will the black pads be noisy and irritating?

I also noticed if I go the “customize” route, you can choose the depth of your front and rear wheel, does anyone go deeper on the rear, 60mm, and more shallow up front, 43mm?