Summary: I have used these tires for about 12 months, they came with the bike, and man are they are tough! I've had a couple of minor get offs including hitting a slotted drain cover at about 40kph. I bounced about a foot into the air and left a heap of skin and flesh on the road but the wheels were fine. They needed very minor panel beating and adjustment of a couple of spokes and good as new. I am happy with the performance and responsiveness but to be honest have never ridden much on other wheels, so maybe I just dont know what I am missing?
Strengths: Strength!
Weaknesses: Maybe weight?
Similar Products Used: none
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Bike Setup: Stock 2007 Cannondale CAAD9 Optimo 3, which means:
CAAD9 frame with FULL 105 setup, and WH-561 wheels.
Summary: I have been thoroughly impressed with these wheels. Before I bought my bike a year ago I read many reviews on this site of the wheels that are common on bikes in the $1-1.5k price range, and many of those reviews were negative, so I did not know what to expect. These have been excellent however.
Best part: Durability! I've hit some mondo potholes...seriously. The roads in Austin, TX are lousy, yet these wheels have held up remarkably.
I suffered the unfortunate experience once of having my frame pump fall out of its place on the downtube and go through the spokes of my front wheel and hit the fork. One spoke is now very slightly bent, and I do notice a minute wobble in the wheel now indicating that it has gone out of true, but that was three months ago and I still have yet to get it fixed because my retailer is 3 hours away and there is no immediate need for repair.
I can't compare this to other wheelsets, so I have no idea how they serve as racing wheels, nor do I know whether these are considered "stiff wheels", but they are as good a stock wheel as I could have asked for.
I am mostly a rec rider but I've recently started doing some CAT5 crits. I don't win, but that surely has nothing to do with these wheels, but rather the bike's engine's lack of speed and stamina.
Strengths: -Durability
-Spoke nipples are on the hub, which ever so slightly reduces the moment of inertia. A neat trick of engineering, but whether or not it makes a non-trivial difference I do not know.
-Stainless steel spokes (only way to go!)
-Nicely machined breaking surface
Similar Products Used: None...being that this C'dale is my first road bike and I am still running these stock wheels, I have nothing to compare it to...so take my vote of 5 as simply a statement of my satisfaction and a complete lack of issues with these wheels.
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Summary: Needed a cheap set of wheels for my trainer. Bought it based on reviews on this site. When I received the wheelset, the rims were so wide and beefy I thought I made a mistake and they were ATB wheels! Nice build quality; very cleanly drilled spoke access holes without sharp edges. Beefy spoke 'knot' at rim end.
Wow! The technology on this wheelset is the same as Shimano's $2,000 deep dish carbon tubulars: low spoke count and nipples at the hub for aerodynamics; this also reduces rotating weight. Rear hub flanges are so wide in diameter spoke length is short. Both are optimum for maintaining wheel stiffness. Radial lacing on the front with radial on the rear on the drive side looks trick.
Strengths: Super technology at a bargain price. Looks to be a very durable, aerodynamic, wheelset. 1790 gms not too bad for this price category.
Weaknesses: Decals can peel off easily. Plain silver so no bling (except high-tech looking hubs). Hubs jumbo-sized so don't look high end.
Bike Setup: Ribble alu, mix of Shimano 105 and Ultegra.
Summary: Purchased for winter training bike after wearing out the rime on Mavic Cosmos (after 5 years). Great set of budget hoops, stayed true over 6 months of abuse and build quality seems high for the price. Stiff, fast and comfy enough for the job
Strengths: Great build quality, Bladed spokes, and smooth rolling bearings for the price. Removed the decals straight away and reckon they look great in just plain silver.
Weaknesses: None for the price. Not the lightest wheels by any stretch but fine for the job.
Similar Products Used: Mavic COSMOS
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