Without regard to price, which would you choose and why:
Neuvation M28 with ceramic bearings or
Easton EA90 TT wheelset
.
No question - the Easton EA90 TT
Why - because I did just this (about 2 months ago)!
Quesiton of quality, really. Easton R4 rear hub very nice, Sapid CX-ray spokes (same aero spokes as Zipp uses even on their Zed line of wheels), great graphics (if that matters) and like more aero (training wheel and road race wheel mostly). Have heard both very good and very bad with Neuvation, but nothing bad about Easton (or previous Velomax).
I have the M28 Aeros with ceramic upgrade for three years. Bomb proof so far. Never go out of true and are totally reliable. Personal service from owner John Nugent is great also.
They’re damn good wheels but apparently there was a earlier run with bad hubs at one time, hence the conflicting opinions.
Well, you threw out pretty much the main reason why neuvations are a good buy…they are cheap for what you get. I’d say they are even in quality. I do have some neuvations for training but it’s another model and they have lasted forever without problems.
I see it like this…neuvations are like a low level kia and eastons are like a low level honda. They both will pretty much do the same thing, putt out the same HP, probably last the same…but the honda has a better name brand and the kia has a better warranty.
Without regard to price, which would you choose and why:
Neuvation M28 with ceramic bearings or
Easton EA90 TT wheelset
For you? Easton Vistas…I think they look better…even though none of these have a black brake surface 
I like the analogy. I really like both. John at Neuvations pretty much talked me out of the ceramic bearings as even he acknowledged it is mostly smoke and mirrors and probably not worth the price unless I am racing, which I am not, so I could save some decent money. I think it has come down to the Neuvation R28’s regular bearings and the Easton TT’s. The R28’s will cost be $319 shipped and about $475 is the best I can do on the TTs.
Bad news, the Vistas are sold. Fortunately, both sets I’m looking at have sufficient bling for even me ;-).
Bad news, the Vistas are sold. Fortunately, both sets I’m looking at have sufficient bling for even me ;-).
The Performance Forte wheels I linked to last week are basically identical to the Nuevations…and can be had for ~1/2 the price.
Yeah, I’ve been checking them out. Thank you for calling my attention to them. I almost jumped with Performance’s 4th of July 15% off sale. They woulda been ridiculously cheap and even still are with their current 10% off (something like $135 minus my performance points comes to $130). However, the reviews of these wheels are pretty bad and almost every one I read had issues with broken spokes. Plus, they use heavier hubs than the R28’s. Plus, my experiences with Performance customer service hasn’t been great in the past, in fact it has been pretty frustrating. So, considering the great chance that I’ll need to contact them for repair based on the reviews, I’d rather spend a little more and get a good product, lighter product and good customer service from neuvation. Is my thinking off the wall here?
Yeah, I’ve been checking them out. Thank you for calling my attention to them. I almost jumped with Performance’s 4th of July 15% off sale. They woulda been ridiculously cheap and even still are with their current 10% off (something like $135 minus my performance points comes to $130). However, the reviews of these wheels are pretty bad and almost every one I read had issues with broken spokes. Plus, they use heavier hubs than the R28’s. Plus, my experiences with Performance customer service hasn’t been great in the past, in fact it has been pretty frustrating. So, considering the great chance that I’ll need to contact them for repair based on the reviews, I’d rather spend a little more and get a good product, lighter product and good customer service from neuvation. Is my thinking off the wall here?
I don’t know…I’ve had my set since this spring and have probably put at least 1000 miles on them without having to touch them. When I got them I checked the spoke tension and everything checked out. Tight enough and even (the 2 main issues that typically lead to spoke breakage). The wheels are both as true as the day I got them. The hubs run nice and smooth and the freewheel is nearly silent. Are the reviews from awhile ago? Perhaps the quality issues have been worked out.
Performance has their 100% guarantee…which I haven’t needed to use ever, so I can’t say how good the customer service is.
Oh yeah…here’s a tip if you go that route. If you have a Performance store anywhere nearby, you can have the wheels shipped to the store and then you don’t pay any shipping. My closest store was ~30 miles away, but I figured it was cheaper than the shipping, and I picked them up when I had to go near there anyway.
That said, I know a lot of people that are happy with the Neuvations. However, even at the low price of those wheels, you could still buy 2 sets of the Performance wheels and still be money ahead
Yeah, the price makes them tempting. The reviews I read were on roadbikereview and there were several to read, not just a few. I do have a performance nearby and have used the shipping thing to my advantage. It was great. I’ll have to sleep on it.
Yeah, the price makes them tempting. The reviews I read were on roadbikereview and there were several to read, not just a few. I do have a performance nearby and have used the shipping thing to my advantage. It was great. I’ll have to sleep on it.
I took a quick look over there and most of the spoke breakage problems look to be from 2005-2006…AND more often with guys weighing 200+ lbs!
Order up a set, peel off the rim stickers, and go ride the snot out of them! (Unless, of course, you weigh that much…if so, then a 16/20 spoke count wheelset probably isn’t a good idea
I’m at about 172 lbs, so it’d likely be ok. Do you have any pics of them on your bike? You know how I feel about aesthetics and the pics on performance just aren’t doing it for me.
I’m at about 172 lbs, so it’d likely be ok. Do you have any pics of them on your bike? You know how I feel about aesthetics and the pics on performance just aren’t doing it for me.
No…but I might be able to snap some this evening.
I just realized that there’s some pics online from a race earlier this year that I did with the wheels (I’m #203…click on the pics to expand):
OK…I know in the last pic you can’t really see the wheels…I just think it’s a friggin’ cool pic! 
Nice shots. So you are racing on these wheels? You have me thinking long and hard about this one.
If you could take some of the bike still this evening, that’d be a big help. I’d appreciate it. I think it might push me over the edge. With the saved money, maybe I could buy some SRAM Red parts ;-).
Nice shots. So you are racing on these wheels? You have me thinking long and hard about this one.
Yep. Why not? They work.
Here’s one more that’s a bit more “side-on” for you, and somewhat static…hey, I was going so fast the wheels are a blur I’ll see about the static bike only shot this evening…
If you could take some of the bike still this evening, that’d be a big help. I’d appreciate it. I think it might push me over the edge. With the saved money, maybe I could buy some SRAM Red parts ;-).
That sounds like a pretty good tradeoff to me
If you could take some of the bike still this evening, that’d be a big help. I’d appreciate it. I think it might push me over the edge. With the saved money, maybe I could buy some SRAM Red parts ;-).
As requested…and in the “Red” theme…the late afternoon lighting is supplied by the continuing smoke from the “Gap Fire” still burning above Goleta…
BTW, the areas of worn away anodizing on the front rim are the result of a poorly adjusted brake pad combined with the original rim stickers that I stupidly didn’t remove right away…doh!