I am so embarrassed to have purchased this same product

You should not only return it but get your money back.

So sorry to hear that; I will ask for a exchange or refund. Thanks!

Are you full thoughts on this out there?

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Weston has since got back and explained that it's part of the manufacturing process and not an issue. Thanks all again for your help.

Couldn't have come up with a better name for it?

Nothing screams more "we copy 'Lightweight'", than using their model naming. Unfortunate.

Huh? So you're saying that they are telling you it's supposed to look like that? No way.

I'm confused - does Lightweight offer a wheel named "Gretchen?"

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

I’m going to have to disagree with Weston on this. I’ve got a Dash disc and it’s flawless. Yours does appear damaged from the pics.

He is full of it.

I'd ask for a new wheel or a refund.

As someone who does composites, I seriously doubt those are intentional. That outer layup also looks terrible.

I am no expert to carbon composites and my initial thoughts were to go with what the manufacturer has to say. I have been very pleased with the Dash saddles I am using and am keen to try out the Gretchen disc which I have seen good feedback online so far.

Of course this is a small community and I am thankful to have such responses to my post for a relatively trivial matter. I have gone back to Weston seeking an exchange / return and if he does so with a new flawless piece, I will update the thread to reflect the goodwill.

And destroy the tube if it ever dries out.

i love my dash saddle, but i would abbbbbsolutely not be ok with my $2500 wheel looking like that. no f***ing way.

The braking is just abysmal. This thing stops the bike like a $160 china carbon hoop from Aliexpress. Which is to say, not at all.

The only good things about it are: a) it is tubeless compatible; b) it is beautiful; and c) it is very very light. When not obviously damaged, like the guy's above, it's just such a beautiful thing to behold. I bought it because I wanted a tubeless compatible disc and there are very few options, but I just am beside myself that I spent $2100 on a wheel with brake track quality that is comparable to the cheapest, shittiest most dangerous rims I have ever owned.

In a sense, it's like, who cares? It's a race day wheel, right? Well, sure. I raced it at a completely flat course, and it was fine; in dry conditions on a flatish course you'll seldom need to brake at all, and if your front brake is solid, who cares about the rear. A friend of mine raced Oceanside this year with a single Omega front brake because he had one of his brakes damaged on the plane, and he was totally fine.

But in another sense, what happens when it's raining? What happens when it is raining and you are racing Muskoka 70.3 or Syracuse 70.3? I did race Muskoka this year in the rain, and there was an absolutely terrifying sharp left turn at the bottom of a descent. Since I race with my head in a place where I can't actually see anything, I was late to the brakes on this one and my god, I thought I was going into the guardrail by the time my slick 808s slowed me enough to safely turn. If I had this Dash disc on my bike I very well may not have.

So it doesn't matter until it does. And the fact is that a $2100 wheel needs to stop the bike. That this wheel doesn't is hilarious except that it's really so sad because I bought it.

Besides all of that, I had a shitty experience with Weston. I was very clear, immediately upon placing my order, that I had my last race of the season in four weeks and that I needed the wheel by then. I just didn't want to buy the wheel if it was not going to be made available by then. What followed was the typical cycling industry song and dance -- we will ship on xx/xx date, which is two weeks before your race -- and then unanswered emails (for days), missed deadlines, etc. I hustled this dude hard to get the thing, finally, 48 hours before the race, and it was just such an unnecessary thing for me to have to chase this guy down to honor his word on a $2100 wheel. What is so hard for companies to understand about this? Don't lie to the customer. Don't piss in my face and tell me it's raining. Give him a timeline on delivery that you can meet. Basic stuff, guys.

Additionally, friend of mine ordered the same disc on basically the same day and had the same exchanges with Weston. For whatever reason Weston couldn't put it together that we were doing the same race and needed the wheel for the same reason at the same time. This friend was told by Weston that there were quality control issues they were struggling to work through, and said friend got a little testy about why should he accept a wheel at the 11th hour, if at all, with stated QC issues by the company/owner. Incredibly (and admirably) Weston heard his concerns and extended an $800 discount to this friend and still got him the wheel the day before the race. Meanwhile, I had the same concerns, expressly stated, but I was offered no discount. So I asked for the same discount, and Weston basically suggested that I go pound sand. As if I didn't feel bad enough about spending such a ridiculous sum of money on the 2 watts advantage of this thing, I felt even worse paying $800 more than a customer who ordered at the same time and had the same shitty experience.

They may make great saddles, but they don't make great wheels and they don't have great customer service. I'm not pissed enough to say that I will never buy a saddle from him again, but I would never ever recommend that someone buy this guy's wheel, or buy anything from him in a tight time frame, etc.

Finally, the fact that Wes responded as he did to the above poster, who has a wheel that is so obviously fucked -- Damon Rinard is on this thread stating as much, as well as carbon composites professionals -- is just embarrassing. Someone should send Wes this thread so he doesn't lose any more customers than he already has with this nonsense.

I can't for the life of me understand why a company offers such bad customer service, but even more importantly why do it with arguably the most influential people in the sport of triathlon. I just don't get. Even I use "Kiley" as an opener at times as in "have you seen Kiley's windtunnel test".

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It looks like maybe there was a wrinkle in the layup caused by, as Damon said, the internal support or part of the fixture or something. While sanding this wrinkle down, they sanded all the way through the layer of carbon and the layer underneath is exposed. Just that in and of itself will weaken the wheel. Also it's ugly as sin on one of the most expensive wheels you can buy.

But what happens when water gets between the two layers of carbon?? How bad will it get?

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Careful when you refer to me. Don't put words in my mouth. I offered observations, not opinions. Please edit your reference to me out of your post.

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Damon Rinard
Engineering Manager,
CSG Road Engineering Department
Cannondale & GT Bicycles
(ex-Cervelo, ex-Trek, ex-Velomax, ex-Kestrel)

No Dash Gretchen for me, was a 95% sure bet of getting one to replace my Stinger 9/D but this thread sealed it.

I very likely misappropriated and did not properly capture either the specifics or general sentiment in your post, but said post was about four posts up from mine and I think people can make that assessment for themselves, which they will absolutely make given this back and forth.

As a rule I don’t edit controversial posts for anything except grammar and spelling, I stand behind what I say.

Hey Kiley,

Can I add (d) it has a better hub/internals than many of the high end discs.

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Samuel Arthur Medway
Perth, Western Australia