Bike Setup: Trek 5500 dura ace / thompson / and my old velomax wheels ohh no!
Summary: Good wheels overall - dog got in spokes once during a ride in north Ga mountains. That cost me a bit to fix. Other than that they've been pretty good. Only problem is I crashed once and boom, the rims are jacked. $95 / wheel to get them rebuilt. POS. get something with more spokes or something for racing and i'm not big - only 160 lbs.
Strengths: light - accelerate like the wind blows
Weaknesses: WEAK
Similar Products Used: cane creek aerohead, mavic reflex laced to ultegra
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Summary: I have used these wheels for over a year now. While they are generally good performers, I wouldn't recommend them for, say, touring. Like another reviewer, I had a spoke break flush with the front hub. Removing it was a chore involving hub disassembly. Then, I couldn't thread a new one in so had to send it to the factory. Now, my rear wheel has lots of lateral play at the hub, and creaks with every pedal stroke. The hubs essentially rely on the squeeze of the quick-release instead of cones for tightness. Fixing that will require hub dissassembly, removing the bearing assembly, relubing, reinsertion with special loctite. Spokes require their own special loctite. The fact that both the lateral play and flush spoke breakage have specific repair instructions on the website suggests these have happened to more than just a couple people. Still, the wheels are light and fast, spin and corner well, if a bit flexy.
Strengths: Very light, ride well.
Weaknesses: Difficult maintenance, special materials required.
Similar Products Used: Mavic
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Favorite Ride: boston to p-town,ms society ride and training rides with the jagerdogs out of concord center,ma
Bike Setup: pinarello treviso slx,campy athena 9-speed,time carbon fork.
love the steel ride
Summary: i`ve given this a year and 5K+ miles to give my 2cents.chose these wheels over kysrium ssc sl`s.price being the determining factor.cheapest i could find new ssc`s was in the UK at about$550 shipped.a few of the guys i train with ride the ssc`s and are not thrilled by the wheels.so,i looked in another direction.this forum being the place that helped me make a great-to this day-decision.i am a bit larger rider 6'-1",195lbs.and train on the roughed up roads within the 495 belt around Boston,Ma.the biggest thing i noticed day 1 was how nicely they rolled.i have not had any spoke issues yet.the wheels have stayed almost perfectly true,except for a small whip in the rear-that i`ve been able to fix myself.only other little issue i had was using a wheels manufacturing cassette to accomodate my campy setup(the wheelset is shimano splined)not a big thing.its a bit on the heavier side and cost is $100-(reg campy replacement cassette $50-60)
they wheels are sharp looking as well..all in all a good purchase that i`d do again.may upgrade soon to the orion 2`s to easier accomodate my campy setup with the new campy splined hub.
Strengths: strong,smooth,climb well,price,and good looking.reasonbly priced for a blue collar worker
Weaknesses: none really to mention- they can be a bit flexy doing intervals on some small grades.
Similar Products Used: mavic ma40 laced to campy athena hubs,mavic open pro ceramics laced to same.
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Summary: This is the first "boutique" set of road wheels I have purchased. They are much lighter than any previous wheels I have owned. I chose the Orions over the Ascents for hopefully a little more strength. After a few hundred miles I have no complaints. Nothing about the wheelset seems to stand out either negative or positive, they just get the job done. The best feature is the lack of weight and the ease of climbing. The new hubs on the Orion IIs don't look nearly as nice as the polished.
Strengths: Light weigtht, simple and elegent design.
Weaknesses: none so far
Similar Products Used: Several Shimano/Mavic wheelsets.
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Summary: Here's my email to Velomax:
Velomax.com,
I've broken (2 so far) spokes on the drive side of the rear wheel of my Orion set. They are breaking flush with the hub on the cassette side. I have approx. 8,000 miles on this wheel. I'm 185 lbs. and ride in club rides/races. I purchased these wheels because your marketing stated they were stronger than typical wheels with spoke bends at the hub. My experience with the rear wheels is worse than that of a normally laced wheel with the spokes bent at the hub. In addition, they are much more difficult to replace. Please send me a "replacement spoke" set for all spokes in the rear wheel. I will attempt to navigate your three page web treatise on the formerly simple task of spoke replacement and hopefully be prepared when the replacements arrive.
Strengths: Very light and quick.
Weaknesses: Durabilty and difficutly of spoke replacement. Your local wrench will not be able to make a quick fix. Too much technology.
Similar Products Used: I've ridden several wheels for the last 20 years. These seem as light and quick as any.
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