Chinese 88mm - 60mm wheelset

Triathlon Forum
1

So I’ve just gone ahead a pulled the trigger on some Chinese 88mm rear- 60mm front wheelset. Now I did a little research and well it seems as if a lot of people are quote happy with there wheels after 2007-08.

Now I got a p2c 58cm and I’m riding around 230lbs right now! Yep big fella, 6’3 but yeah I’m a fatty.

So I got them off ebay for $439 shipped off seller: a_baygoods

They are my first real set of big dish wheels and was wanting to know if anyone has had these wheels before or any like them.
I’m a amateur racer, maybe ride 250mile a week with swim and run.
I’m no where near elite.

Let me know what you guys and gals thought of these wheels and post a pic of them if you could

Cheers

2

If you still can, I would cancel your order if they are 20.5 mm wide. There is a deal on Ebay right now from seller: cn*carbon for a set of 25 mm wide 60 mm deep carbon tubulars for $420 shipped.
Even though the rear is only 60 mm, they are almost identical in shape to the zipp 404 FC. Deeper is not always faster. Plus the extra width would aglow you to run wider tires

3

Cheers for the heads up, but I fear tubbie wheels like no tomorrow… I went for a 80mile ride with a buddy who has tubulars and he had a few flats out in the middle of no where and ran out of gue.

I was thinking of running some 25 instead of 23 width tires. Hopefully they fit

4

With your size i’d definitely consider 25mm wide rims and even more spokes.

5

cheap price = cheap quality. I know several people that are a whole lot lighter than you that bought these wheels or wheels like them for close to the same price. They were constantly breaking spokes and the rims cracked. Save your money and buy name brand wheels that you can trust that have a company behind them with a real website and an office based in the USA.

6

I have 88 mm front and back, got them from bay good and I hammered them last summer they are really stiff haven’t broke a spoke yet. And I am 195 lb sprnter, I wish I would have got 60mm because of the wind. I had 404 Zipp and broke spokes on them, so any way good wheels for the price.

7

cheap price = cheap quality. I know several people that are a whole lot lighter than you that bought these wheels or wheels like them for close to the same price. They were constantly breaking spokes and the rims cracked. Save your money and buy name brand wheels that you can trust that have a company behind them with a real website and an office based in the USA.

I’ve seen just the opposite. Now the wheel sets I’m familiar with are locally built but still using Chinese carbon rims. No issues that I’ve heard of as of yet.

This is from the local cyclocross/road scene. They do get some decent abuse.

YMMV

8

ebay seller speedcarbon is now offering the 88/60 clincher set in 20.5, 23, or 25mm widths. still in the $400s for the set. tempting.

9

Hmmm, you are misinformed/behind the times. Sure, compared to Hed, Zipp, and co the customer service maybe more inconvenient…but then if a product does what it is supposed to do reliably then you shouldn’t need it. If you go with the ‘big Chinese guns’ (a search on Velo
obuild, Weightweenies, etc, will soon let you know who those guys are), then the buying experience is really very good and there is a lot of email contact and ample room for customization (esp. for wheels…hub, spokes, nipples, decals, carbon finish, etc). I have a carbon TT frame from that part of the world that I got 4 years a go, and until last year was my training bike as well. Lots of miles, potholes (NYC), a pedestrian and two cars later and it is still going strong (unlike the namebrand wheels from the crashes and SRAM red deraileur, etc. BTW, my TT bike weighs 17.0 lbs with a rear disc and Zipp 404 front and is very stiff (I’m a decent cyclist…top 20 bike time in NYC tri last year, incl pros). For most, weight is not an issue but I go searching for interesting tri races, meaning that they tend to have hilly courses such as Savageman (where I ran the above setup…this year I’ll drop the rear disc to save some more weight and try to get closer to 16 Ibs (I’m a skinny dude, so don’t have room in that area)).
Last year, got some carbon clinchers from the far east for my wife and they have proved to be as good a bargain as my TT frame and she used them in Savageman and had no issues with overheating, etc (organizers specifically recommend not using carbon clinchers for the course due to reliability issues arising from the very long, winding downhills).

Anyway, basically, if you go with the reputable Chinese outfits, their products are great and you can build some very cool looking bikes (my TT rig often gets comments).

However, I also completely understand if your main reasoning for your comment is due primarily to wanting people to buy home products (wherever you are from, in your case I’m guessing the USA), however little is actually manufactured within the borders (something is better than nothing).

cheap price = cheap quality. I know several people that are a whole lot lighter than you that bought these wheels or wheels like them for close to the same price. They were constantly breaking spokes and the rims cracked. Save your money and buy name brand wheels that you can trust that have a company behind them with a real website and an office based in the USA.

10

Good for you . Its been my experience with the chinese carbon tubulars that they can have very poor quality. This is what I have seen on the road at events all over the country. All I’m saying is that if you are going to buy Carbon wheels , buy them from a reputable source and manufacturer. We all know who the players are. Some are more expensive than others. Boyd, Amer Classic, Reynolds, HED, Zipp, Ambrosio, FIR, Campagnolo, SRAM, Shimano, Williams, etc. Spend your money wisely, not on the cheapest item on the page.

11

Agree, and the same holds true within the Chinese companies as well…the good, reliable wheels from the established guys tend to be the most expensive from the far east. You can get whole sets now for just over $200 from some companies (haven’t tried those and maybe I am displaying the same bias as you towards them compared to the more established companies).

Good for you . Its been my experience with the chinese carbon tubulars that they can have very poor quality. This is what I have seen on the road at events all over the country. All I’m saying is that if you are going to buy Carbon wheels , buy them from a reputable source and manufacturer. We all know who the players are. Some are more expensive than others. Boyd, Amer Classic, Reynolds, HED, Zipp, Ambrosio, FIR, Campagnolo, SRAM, Shimano, Williams, etc. Spend your money wisely, not on the cheapest item on the page.

12

With your frontal area at your weight/size, it´s absolutely pointless going for an aero wheelset.

The drag savings aren´t worth it, the proportion of total drag (bike plus a big rider) for the wheels alone is far too low to make it worthwhile.

36 spokes, handbuilt wheels on high quality rims with a nice pair of hubs is the way to go for you, my friend.

13

The “always breaking china wheels” are the Sasquatch of biking. Some dude always says “they fall apart” or “have fun risking you life”. Yet there is ZERO proof that their failure rate is any higher then any other wheel brand.

Yet, there is a lot of evidence that shows china wheels work great for lots of people.

http://thespanishprisoner.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/sasquatch.jpg

14

Are you sure about that?? I think the drag savings for him on the wheelset are the same as for anyone else. The fact that he may create more drag from his body than another smaller cyclist doesn’t “negate” the aero effect of the wheels. It simply means that he will likely have greater drag than a smaller cyclist with aero wheels, but will still benefit from aero wheels.

15

I love this discussion. Maybe I should have asked earlier.

Both sides of the fence have fair points.
Brands like zipp, Reynolds etc are all high quality wheels, and yes they have great customer service ie warranty etc.

But the reasoning why I took a gamble on these was the price.
After researching on the buyer and wheels, it really didn’t seem to have any bad reviews on them after a certain date eg: 2006 or so.

Also for amatuer competitor and to be in the most aero postion would require me maybe to get down to 210lbs, and I will get there in time.

Price point tho is probably the biggest reason why i got them. When you have kids as many of you know, no longer spending $2000 on wheels for fun is the way to go. Plus my boss (the wife) would be buying handbags from France if I decided it was ok!

When I get them in the mail I’ll post pictures and a small review of them. If anyone else has chinese wheels please post a picture in the thread just to show everyone what and how they are

16

I agree. I just ordered the 60/88 combo last week on ebay. Being a low rank in the military I don’t have $2k to spend on wheels. I’m always FOP at local races but can’t justify the cost for a name brand set of wheels. I’m excited to get them and try them out and I’ve got my fingers crossed they work out.

17

Gotta love these responses.

Having been in the industry for a while I can tell you most of the $4XX wheel deals actually have a higher profit margin than many proper bike brands, plus they do it without R&D, testing and other normal stuff that comes w/ running a business (incorporation, licenses, fire dept inspection, intellectual property, taxes, labor rights, environmental). Selling a $200 wheelset for $420 is stil a pretty good deal for the seller, if you ask me.

Plus, the rims do break. A lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

18

You are exactly right. In many sectors of the consumer market in the $100 to $5000 range, there always people that say "The cheap chinese/taiwanese/turkish(for guns)/(fill in the blank) wheels,pistols, rifles, motorcycles, bikes, (fill in the blank) are crap and they always break. Those same people are the people that don’t actually own the product and bash it without buying it.

20

I think the drag savings for him on the wheelset are the same as for anyone else. The fact that he may create more drag from his body than another smaller cyclist doesn’t “negate” the aero effect of the wheels. It simply means that he will likely have greater drag than a smaller cyclist with aero wheels, but will still benefit from aero wheels.

The drag savings of an aero wheelset are same for our massive rider, but as his total drag is likely to be so high, the savings are proportionally smaller, therefore the time savings significantly reduced. The aero effect isn´t ´negated´ but the time saving is reduced.

Conversely a smaller rider who presents a reduced frontal profile (Mrs Barchetta, for example) will benefit more from an aero frame and wheelset than a ´standard´ rider. Ergo, Mrs B now gets to ride my nice aero stuff, much to her bemusement.

On a similar and slightly cynical note, all of the wind-tunnel testing of wheelsets seems to disregard the facts that the wind forces acting on the wheel are lower as you approach ground level, and are likely to be less than the published wind speeds, as anemometers are AFAIK generally not installed at 70cm off the ground (the official ´standard´ anemometer height is 10m/33ft)

All of the above is how I understand things, and I am more than willing to be corrected by those more knowledgable.

21

I have 88 mm front and back, got them from bay good and I hammered them last summer they are really stiff haven’t broke a spoke yet. And I am 195 lb sprnter, I wish I would have got 60mm because of the wind. I had 404 Zipp and broke spokes on them, so any way good wheels for the price.

I know this guy and his screen name is true. :smiley: If he doesn’t break them then they are strong. I’ve been riding a pair of 60 mm Chinese wheels for a while now and they haven’t exploded yet, and I ride them on some really rough roads here.