Aerospoke wheels?

Triathlon Forum
1

Anyone out there familiar with Aerospoke wheels?

http://www.aerospoke.com/index.html

I’m looking for a nice inexpensive, reliable front race wheel to go with my Renn disk, and these look promising. How do they compare to the more popular front wheels out there?

2

Are you serious?

3

do a google search on them and you will see . . .

4

i had an aerospoke front tubular for a while. same situation as yourself, i was looking for an inexpensive front aero wheel to go with my rear specialized trispoke. now keep in mind, this is my opinion and mine alone, i thought the aerospoke was pretty much just what i said above: an inexpensive front aero wheel. nothing more. it was very heavy (i didn’t actually weigh them, but felt about as heavy as the rear trispoke, which a front wheel really doesn’t need to be). i guess i wasn’t particularly UNhappy with it, but i didn’t like it enough to hold on to it for more than 1 season. i think there are better options out there for just a little more money. if you’re matching it with a renn disk, i would say hold on for a while and keep your eye out for something second hand.

5

one other thing. i once e-mailed them to ask about any aero data they had or if they had ever wind tunnel tested their wheels. i received what i thought was a somewhat snarky reply something to the effect of: we don’t do wind tunnel testing, our wheels are tested in the real world. maybe i was being over sensitive, but that sounded like a canned cop-out answer to me.

6

I just checked the website and they list the weights of the road wheels as such:

700c Clincher:

front- 1274g

rear- 1440g

650c Clincher:

front- 1200g

rear- 1380g

Ok, but I don’t know if that is heavy or not for an aero wheel. Maybe someone can educate me cause this looks like a good option for my 650c tribike. I don’t have the $$ for Hed or Zipp, but I would like a more aero set of wheels than my Rigida DP-18s.

7

Heavy junk. The front wheel weighs as much as an entire set of Zipp 303s. The rear wheel weighs as much as a set of Zipp 404s. Bearings are second rate compared to the rest of the industry. In short, you will not be happy pairing one with a nicely built wheel like the Renn. In this case, you get what you pay for. . .and that’s if you are lucky.

8

Money would be better spent on a Nimble Fly or building a low-spoke count Velocity rim with an ultegra or Dura Ace hub. Just my opinion.

9

Thanks all! I guess I’ll save the money and wait 'til I can afford a Hed3 or Alps. I’ll just race with my Rolf Vector Pro on the front for now.

10

I have a set and I love them . They are BOMB proof, very heavy. I love to use them for my winter riding, I put wide tires on them and ride gravel roads, I use them early spring while I’m getting in shape. You can buy them used very cheap. I bought the set with tires and a dura-ace cassette for $125 no shipping!
When riding them I always have an excuse on the hills " these #%** wheels are soooo heavy"