I have been seeing a lot of good reviews on-line of Chinese wheels like Superteam and Yoleo. I must say that the price tag around the $400 mark make these very tempting. They look good and seem to be getting up to good quality standards. I have been in the sport almost 7 years and have never had race wheels because it seems ridiculous to me to drop$1,500 or more for minimal gains when I have sooooo much more that I can get out of better training. That being said a price tag of $400 for very nice looking wheels make it very tempting.
What say you? Aside for marginal aero benefits, which I don’t care about all that much, what should sway me to stay away from these wheels? Anyone have nightmarish experiences? I rely on the altar of the Slowtwitch wisdom (and even your half-assed, half-baked opinions, which are plentiful). Thanks!
There are plenty of threads discussing this, both here and on weight weenies.
The responses are:
Pros-
I ride them every day, no problem.99% of the performance at 25% of the cost.
Cons-
Do you really want to risk one exploding, causing serious injury and thousands of dollars in hospital to save a few hundred bucks?They do not have the same QC, so they may look fine, but you never know.If there are any issues, customer service is non-existent. You are on your own.
Flos and Hed are a nice middle ground between CCC and Zipps. Check those out too.
I have been seeing a lot of good reviews on-line of Chinese wheels like Superteam and Yoleo. I must say that the price tag around the $400 mark make these very tempting. They look good and seem to be getting up to good quality standards. I have been in the sport almost 7 years and have never had race wheels because it seems ridiculous to me to drop$1,500 or more for minimal gains when I have sooooo much more that I can get out of better training. That being said a price tag of $400 for very nice looking wheels make it very tempting.
What say you? Aside for marginal aero benefits, which I don’t care about all that much, what should sway me to stay away from these wheels? Anyone have nightmarish experiences? I rely on the altar of the Slowtwitch wisdom (and even your half-assed, half-baked opinions, which are plentiful). Thanks!
HED JET 6 all the way, chinise carbon are good, but only with DTswiss hubs, and those are in the same price range as HEDs
There are plenty of threads discussing this, both here and on weight weenies.
The responses are:
Pros-
I ride them every day, no problem.99% of the performance at 25% of the cost.
Cons-
Do you really want to risk one exploding, causing serious injury and thousands of dollars in hospital to save a few hundred bucks?They do not have the same QC, so they may look fine, but you never know.If there are any issues, customer service is non-existent. You are on your own.
Flos and Hed are a nice middle ground between CCC and Zipps. Check those out too.
On item #1 of your list of Cons. I have been researching and I haven’t really seen 1st-hand accounts of this happening. Is this still the case or is this remaining folklore from when Chinese wheels first started coming into the market years ago. I have seen one video of a wheel exploding on a dude. The video is at least 5 years old. All the other comments I have seen are “some dude posted…” this and that. Does anyone have any recent experiences or know of someone who has had a safety incident caused by poor quality Chinese wheels?
haha…I actually typed out and deleted something along the lines of: “best to ignore any dire warnings from 5+ years old. Overall their quality and reputation have improved since then”
But then, I really didn’t want to track down any sources for that, so I deleted it.
There is an article somewhere where they tortured and cut up knockoff wheels and bars and compared them to name brand ones. The impression was: perhaps OK, but they could see a difference in the cross-sections.
haha…I actually typed out and deleted something along the lines of: “best to ignore any dire warnings from 5+ years old. Overall their quality and reputation have improved since then”
But then, I really didn’t want to track down any sources for that, so I deleted it.
There is an article somewhere where they tortured and cut up knockoff wheels and bars and compared them to name brand ones. The impression was: perhaps OK, but they could see a difference in the cross-sections.
I have been seeing a lot of good reviews on-line of Chinese wheels like Superteam and Yoleo. I must say that the price tag around the $400 mark make these very tempting. They look good and seem to be getting up to good quality standards. I have been in the sport almost 7 years and have never had race wheels because it seems ridiculous to me to drop$1,500 or more for minimal gains when I have sooooo much more that I can get out of better training. That being said a price tag of $400 for very nice looking wheels make it very tempting.
What say you? Aside for marginal aero benefits, which I don’t care about all that much, what should sway me to stay away from these wheels? Anyone have nightmarish experiences? I rely on the altar of the Slowtwitch wisdom (and even your half-assed, half-baked opinions, which are plentiful). Thanks!
I think your biggest worry is hubs, and then manually inspecting the carbon for defects prior to install.
I purchased some used Oval Concepts off eBay a year ago - 980 Carbon Clinchers for roughly $400. ( These come stock on some Fuji ) They worked alright. I raced with them once before I sold them. I did some research on the Oval Concepts and they had a hub recall on certain model hubs from a select date range.
I currently ride some old rebuilt Zipps circa 2010 pics in another thread here. These were also purchased second hand from eBay, Zipp is no stranger to hub recalls. You can find some solid deals on used Zipp wheels.
Regarding the customer service comment above, this is half true some sellers will make you jump through hoops. Amazon/eBay both have you covered as a buyer (and seller). If you ever have issues on eBay customer service side with the seller or eBay you’re welcome to reach out.
I had a set of Superteam wheels and the bearing tolerance in them was poor so you could wobble them side to side. I contacted them and they sent me a video of removing the bearing and scoring the aluminium housing with a knife creating burrs to make the bearing tolerance tighter. Say no more… If you just ride slow and easy then maybe they are for you and generally the spoke tensions in them are very low. I prefer a more responsive wheel that feels lively to ride so I won’t be buying a set again. For $900 at the moment how can you not just get a set oh Hed Jet 6. I personally will never buy a set of carbon rimmed clinchers again as as they brake like shit especially cheap carbon wheels and and I am sure we all be riding disc brakes soon enough.
I have a friend who had a wheel delaminate on him. Turns out there were glass fibers under the carbon. Secondly, those videos where people section chinese carbon show that the parts may have the same shape as a zipp, etc, but there is no actual layup. It’s just carbon thrown into a mold. To top it off, there are so many ways that carbon manufacturing can go wrong, the general lower quality control makes it definitely a no-go IMO. If budget is an issue, buy hed or flo. Actually, I’d say just buy from them regardless. Still cheap and actually proven to be fast (and less likely to kill you)
If you’re not in a rush to get a set, which it does’t sound like you are, just keep an eye out on the classifieds here and in the Facebook groups. You can find a set of used Flo’s for 400-500 bucks. I picked up a set of Rolf ARES 6 off a forum for $300.
If you’re not in a rush to get a set, which it does’t sound like you are, just keep an eye out on the classifieds here and in the Facebook groups. You can find a set of used Flo’s for 400-500 bucks. I picked up a set of Rolf ARES 6 off a forum for $300.
I have 2 sets of yoeleo carbon clinchers . Use 60 mm for road bike and 88mm for tri bike. These wheels are a great set of carbon clinchers for a decent price. They give option of novatec bearings or upgrade to dtswiss. I’ve road 3 years, over 1000 miles on both sets no issues. Ordered the wheels via PayPal on their website and received them in California in 10 days. Lots of random Chinese wheel options online but yoeleo actually has great website, YouTube channel, and lots of good reviews. Def worth a look if $500 ish is your budget!
I think it was on Raoul Leuscher’s YouTube channel.
He cut up, IIRC, an ENVE and a no-name and looked at the voids and layup.
My feeling is that for a wheelset that for me is going to get ridden max 1000k/year and be cleaned and inspected post each ride/race, I’m quite happy to get a set of Yeoleo or light bike etc.
I’m however old enough that I think race wheels (carbons, deeps) are to be left for race day and my race bike only gets used the day or so before racing. I’ve a position-identical POS for roller and the odd road ride. If I was using race gear all the time, I’d probably go the Hed/Zipp route,
I’ve had a set of Superteams for about 3 months now. Put about 1000 miles on them and they have been great. I’ve checked them in the truing stand and they are still the same as day one. Put the spoke tensioner on them and they are a little tighter than my Zipp 404s. The bearings are still silky smooth which is a bit of a disappointment as I was hoping to get some ceramic bearings to put in…but can’t justify it with them still being so good. I did upgrade the brake pads (over the ones they sent) and have had no issues with breaking…even in downtown Boston Traffic. The only other thing I did was use titanium skewers vs. the ones that came with the wheelset…they were a little clunky. Also the wheels weigh about 4 oz. more than my 404s…but they are tubulars and these are clinchers. Take my experience for what it’s worth but I’d buy them again in a second.