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I just recieved these a couple of days ago from Ligero Wheelworks in Chattanooga, Tn, AKA Bikemesenger. My new wheels are Alex 3.1 Crostini rims laced two across with Black Sapim Cxray spokes, 24 front and 28 rear to Tune 70 and 180 hubs. Why does tune make such a pretty cassette freehub that will be hidden by the cassette? That red is hot. I originally wanted a 24 rear but Troy called me and didn't think it was wise and felt uncomfortable building a 24 rear with such a light rim. If we went with my original build it would have been about, four spokes and nipples, 20 grams less. I can respect Troy advise since he was very concerned about reliability and making the lightest wheel he could. . I opted for the Crostsini 3.1 even though the overall wheelset weight is close, these have a 370 gram rims verses the 400 gram rims of the RD400's, I would rather have less rotataing weight at the rim since weight has more of an effect on the wheel when it is farther from the hub. I also could have save a few grams if I would have had the front laced radial verses the 2 across that I chose for the lacing but every wheel I have is radial on the front and I just wanted something different. They look very sweet and pictures could never do them justice compared to seeing them with your own eyes and feeling the balance of the wheels. The final build weight was 1279 grams with the stickers intack. Pealing those twelve vinyl stickers will drop it down to about 1265 easy but I do like the graphics so they stay for now. Very unusual for a sticker pealer.
Here's the ride report:
First I shoed then with Vittoria Diamante Pro light tires and Maxxis flylight tubes and rime strips and a Cycle-Dynamics 12-23 Campy style cassette. They spin forever. Tire mounting on the Crostini's was pretty easy by hand. No sore thumbs this morning but just enough difficulty that I'm sure the tires are on very secure and I could almost bet the tires won't roll off. Overall I'm very pleased with them so far and they did come in under my Rolf Prima Elan Aeros that wieghed 1308 grams on the same scale. Weightwise they are great for fair weather training wheels.
So I started out to only take a short first ride and wound up turning into a much longer ride than anticipated. Are they stiff? Very and they felt great cornering hard! Do the accelerate quickly, another big YES. Not only are those Tune hubs pretty to look at the ride so damn nice too! The braking is much better than my Rolf Prima Elan Aero's. There is not the brake pulsing that the Rolf's have although you do hear a bit of a thunk on the front rim since they are pinned and not welded. Where I live is pretty flat but the couple of little hills I did encounter had me going up a gear or two lower than I usually ride on them. Maybe it was just one of those days but I really think it was the wheels. They do freewheel pretty loud but pedaling fixes that. I was very happy to get them but now that I have ridden them I'm plenty satisified with them.
Here's the ride report:
First I shoed then with Vittoria Diamante Pro light tires and Maxxis flylight tubes and rime strips and a Cycle-Dynamics 12-23 Campy style cassette. They spin forever. Tire mounting on the Crostini's was pretty easy by hand. No sore thumbs this morning but just enough difficulty that I'm sure the tires are on very secure and I could almost bet the tires won't roll off. Overall I'm very pleased with them so far and they did come in under my Rolf Prima Elan Aeros that wieghed 1308 grams on the same scale. Weightwise they are great for fair weather training wheels.
So I started out to only take a short first ride and wound up turning into a much longer ride than anticipated. Are they stiff? Very and they felt great cornering hard! Do the accelerate quickly, another big YES. Not only are those Tune hubs pretty to look at the ride so damn nice too! The braking is much better than my Rolf Prima Elan Aero's. There is not the brake pulsing that the Rolf's have although you do hear a bit of a thunk on the front rim since they are pinned and not welded. Where I live is pretty flat but the couple of little hills I did encounter had me going up a gear or two lower than I usually ride on them. Maybe it was just one of those days but I really think it was the wheels. They do freewheel pretty loud but pedaling fixes that. I was very happy to get them but now that I have ridden them I'm plenty satisified with them.