I have a few test rides on the Reynolds Assault carbon clincher, not enough to form an informed opinion. The wheels are a 1280 gram tubular (set), 1575 gram all carbon fiber clincher (set) with an MSRP of $1450.00.
Does anyone own a set of these that has trained and raced them? Travelled with them?
I’m curious.
Are you sure about those weights, Tom? I have the Strikes and they are ~1700 per pair. I’m guessing the Assaults are probably 1575 for the complete set.
I wrote those incorrectly- corrected now. Thanks TriBriGuy.
I have a few test rides on the Reynolds Assault carbon clincher, not enough to form an informed opinion. The wheels are a 1280 gram front, 1575 gram rear all carbon fiber clincher with an MSRP of $1450.00.
Does anyone own a set of these that has trained and raced them? Travelled with them?
I’m curious.
Tom, the weights you’re listing are tubular and clincher, for a whole set , respectively. (Source: Reynolds’s Assault page.)
Yes Sir- Merci’
.
Tom,
I have a set of the Assaults. I bought them to use as an everyday wheelset for my light bike when not using the original 25mm KoMs. The rim width is the same, so I don’t have to adjust the brakes or change pads when swapping wheels. That’s convenient.
I have about 1500 miles on them. They’re currently shod with Vittoria EVO CX tires. I never thought I could tell the difference in tires until I tried the Vittorias. I was wrong! I’ve also ridden the wheels with Continental 4000s and PR3s.
The wheels ride fine, are plenty stiff and meet my needs, but I don’t think they have that “special” factor. Easier to handle than my dimpled 808 tubies. My only dislike is the internal nipples. Not really a big deal and I haven’t had to true them, yet.
I do wonder if something like Williams or Planet-X would have been a better value.
hth
that is the key with the assaults. they are good wheels, but wheels like planetx/williams/generic chinese carbon stuff will perform just as well at a lower price.
some of those cheaper options may not have as good of a warranty or longevity though.
I have a set of Reynolds Attack carbon clinchers (bought in 2008), and just got some Strikes (haven’t ridden them yet). Not sure how much of what I’m going to say applies, but I’ll say it anyway in case you find it useful.
I bought the Attacks as an upgrade to my frankenbike - a Cannondale R700 that I slowly but surely converted to a tri bike after swapping out basically everything but the BB and crankset. The wheels were the last thing I changed - and when I did, I bumped my head into the wall a few times for not having done it earlier. I love them! They’re very strong, and I found the braking to be every bit as good as my previous aluminum rims. They stayed true after a few seasons’ worth of training and racing. I’m not sure how a wheel travels poorly (remove from bike, deflate, de-skewer, put in wheelbag, put wheelbag in bike trunk. Reverse process upon arrival) - but they never gave me any travel trouble, in any case.
I had one problem with a hub - the end cap on the rear wheel came loose somehow, and eventually the threads stripped, making the wheel not really stay lined up in the frame. My own fault for not really checking (or, to be fair, wondering why it always seemed like so much work to fit the wheel back in the dropouts).
The wheels came with brake pads, a truing tool (nipples are internal) and valve extenders, which was nice.
In my crash, the wheel took the brunt of the impact. My tire and tube both had pretty severe damage, but I couldn’t see where the car had hit by looking at the rim after dismounting. The wheel was hardly out of true, either. It’s getting rebuilt, partly out of prevention but mostly because the internal nipples are pretty rusty after living/training in coastal towns, with two winter’s worth of NYC for good measure.
For full disclosure, I’ve never really ridden any other deep section carbon wheels. But I’d happily give my opinion if anyone sent me some 
Perfect. Thank you. I wanted to verify these were being bought in the real world and people were using them with passable results.
Thanks Jack. Appreciated.
I love the Assaults on my B10. The carbon breaking surface is a little different to get used to from a aluminum…
Whoa. That’s nice looking.
Hi Tom–
I bought a set in the Spring of 2010, and used them as my training and race wheels all last season on my Tarmac. I love 'em. They’ve been a great set, very light and still with little flex. A friend of mine bought the same set as I did, and he ended up breaking a nipple during a fierce hill ride. That’s when he found out that Reynolds uses proprietary nipples, so neutral support couldn’t help him.
Reynolds was shocked when they were told the story and replaced his wheel. The mechanic at the shop where we bought the wheels some supplied us with some spare nipples to bring with on races in case it ever happens again. The mechanic (Fredo) rolls on this same set of wheels and uses them year-round for his road and cross bikes. According to him he’s only had to re-true his rear wheel once in the past 2 years.
You’ve had problems braking with your Assaults? I’ve locked up both tires (not at the same time!) - and I’m a big dude. I was actually surprised - I was a bit timid at first, having heard stories about carbon wheels and poor braking. Then again, I don’t live in the mountains and have never really had to deal with big descents.
I’ve not had ‘problems’ per se, but they are not as grabby as my handbuilt wheels with aluminum braking surface. The Reynolds are a great wheel though.
Tom,
I’ve had the Assault carbon clinchers as training wheels on my Orca road bike (and my ordu race bike - as training wheels) for a couple of years without an issue. I’ve ridden rough roads, hit a few things and never needed to re-true them. Braking is great and the braking surface has held up over time, even with lot’s of long steep descending. The free-hub splines have become a little notched, making cassette removal a bit tricky, but functioned without fault. Great wheelset.
Excellent. Thank you.
“I’ve ridden rough roads, hit a few things and never needed to re-true them.”
Perfect. Thank you for the input.