mauricemaher wrote:
davidalone wrote:
I wouldnt be so quick to knock the winspace wheels. A friend bought a pair to replace a pair of Scope wheels- I', ve seen them in the flesh. They are really well built and very light- saved about 300-400g off his previous wheels.
I would not be surprised if winspace manufactures rims for Hunt at all.
Yea you can get trash out of china or you can grt a good product but based on this example I dont think they fall under the 'crap' category.
Basically with Winspace you are paying an elevated price for a generic re-seller (note not manufacturer) of wheels, I’ll leave the quoted response to “joe” hopefully random internet guy, and not owner of Winspace.
Quote:
Joe, thanks ever so much for your mention and we're always very keen for riders to have the most information possible to make the best wheel buying decisions. As far as I'm aware Winspace do not manufacture any rims, they purchase their rims from other companies. We have never spoken to Winspace, I'm sure they're lovely people trying to do a good job, however we definitely don't buy anything from them. Why would we when the best rim manufacturers are keen to deal with us direct, so we can pass that benefit onto customers. I know Winspace don't produce these rims as those shown in the image are produced using a Whole Wheel Winding technology unique to, and patented by, a specialist carbon rim maker who manufacture for us (they are one of our 4 carbon rim suppliers) and also supplies rims to Cadex (as used by World Tour Team CCC in 2020) and FSA (as used by world tour Team EF in 2020), neither of these are a secret as both of these wheel companies display technology on their wheels that is patented by that particular manufacturer. Thanks again, as complete bike geeks here at HUNT/ TheRiderFirm, it's actually refreshing to be able to openly discuss real information about component supply with people like yourself who have a decent understanding of it. As you can probably guess, as massive pro road race fans, we're very excited to be able to work with riders such as Victor Campenaerts in the wind tunnel developing wheels for him. For Nizzolo and the other fast finishers on the team we will research some specific sprint high-power-transfer+aero wheels, we'll probably work with Limitless Tech (our in-house engineered and patented extra wide aero rim technology) + the UD carbon spokes for that. I know Luisa (MSc Aerospace Engineering) Hunt Head Engineer, is very keen to work with Giacomo as a compatriot of Italy. These are exciting times to serve such a deserving team and to help make better wheels for riders. We're always keen to chat bike and would be delighted if anyone wanted to reach out to us with advice on how we can serve riders better on thechase@huntbikewheels.com +44 (0) 1273 931 428. Thank you again and enjoy your riding, Tom Marchment, Co-Founder HuntBikeWheels
Maurice
The cost for a Venn wheel and a Winspace wheel are within the same ball park - A Venn wheel is about a thousand euros while a Hyper is $1100. The hunt, depending on model- is slightly more expensive. Plus, rim profiles are different. The Hyper gives you carbon spokes, which may/may not be of value to you. which so your assertion that you are 'paying a premium' for a generic reseller is incorrect. Yes, Winspace may be getting Venn to manufacture for them- that's no different from HUNT- but compare the prices and you will see how much value the Winspace is giving.
Do winspace do R&D on their wheels? who knows.
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imswimmer328 wrote:
I know that company, interviewed with them a couple years ago :P the interesting thing to me about what venn does is that they filament wind the bead hooks as well, which is what they mean by the whole wheel winding. Making a rim shape and bonding on bead hooks I totally get, but not how you wind something that shape.
From that email, it sounds like hunt and winspace either both contract the same company to make their designs, or more likely one, or both, of them just buys product and resells it as their own.
I started a thread a week or so ago and got some flak for it, but the winspace aero road bike looks suspiciously like a venge as well, although there are some differences, mostly for ease of manufacturing I suspect. Makes sense though, these companies don't sell things cheaper because they're trying to stand up to the industry. Somewhere they have to cut costs, and eliminating R&D is the first place to do so.
according to their factory tour, it at least LOOKS like they do their own CAD. there are only so many ways you want to make a bike aero, physics is physics - so I don't think a bike resemblance is an instant indicator of copying.
Again, I don't have a dog in this fight- I dont own any winspace products or work for them, but I think it's sort of unfair to knock anything before you have any experience with them.
