Triathlon - Would the BD Wheels - CF tubulars - 50 mm make good TT wheels

VUELTA CUSTOM CARBON FIBER TUBULAR WHEELSET - $398 (expected ship date – Feb) (Click Here to Order)
This is a special request from forum members; retail would be a lot [about $1200] as this price is close to manufacturing cost. 50mm CF Monocque rim, precision 5 bearing hubs, 20f/24r, 2x, Aero 2.2 butted bladed; our Shimano sample weighs at 1457 grams Shimano or Campy – please tell Lindsay
(expected ship date – Feb)

Would these be good for TT bike?

I got a new bike and planned on getting wheels later this week, but wondered how these would do vs trying to get tri-spokes or maybe used disc wheel

Would these be good for TT bike?

I got a new bike and planned on getting wheels later this week, but wondered how these would do vs trying to get tri-spokes or maybe used disc wheel[/QUOTE]

Yes they would
Dwayne

i'm a tri-newb, but i'm planning on using them for my first Oly in april, assuming they arrive in time. i'd be surprised if they could be beat for the price.

Those are so tempting... It would almost be worth it just to try out tubulars even.

For the price, why would you pass them up?

Do it, we'll expect a full report post-tri, of course.

Slap a $60-70 wheel cover on the back 50 and you'll have 96% of the aeroness of a Zipp 909 set-up for a fraction of the cost.

Yep, no more excuses, wait, aero helmet?

They look like a nice wheelset and they are very affordable, but you might want to do a "Vuelta XRP” search here on Bike Forums (include the parenthesis) or a Google search before you give them a shot. There are quite a few other threads about them and some people didn't have too much good to say about them. Then again, they could just be gear snobs who really don't know anything about them anyway other than they aren’t Zipps, Mavics, Campagnolos, Heds, Reynolds or what-the-heck-ever-that-they-ride-which-of-course-are-the-greatest-wheelset-in-the-World and nothing else compares. I personally don’t have any real idea one way or the other, but I wouldn’t just buy them because they are inexpensive. I’ve done that before and most of that stuff just sits in the garage – gear that you end up not using is not a good deal just because you bought it cheaply. On the other hand, they could be a great wheelset and an even greater deal. If you end up getting them, please let all of us know what you think about them and maybe I'll get a set then too. Good luck!

I will research for next 2 days and see what I come up with.

I am now dealing with a bigger issue - New bike has a cracked frame on the seat post part after one ride.

Off course, it is my first bike purchased on interenet /EBAY, so working out warrant issues etc.

BTW, I notice that BikeIsland (a spinoff of BD) has the 50mm carbon clinchers for $615 I think. I too would be interested to see what your research turns up. I haven't been able to find any online reviews of those particular wheels.

Rims are bombproof but heavy Gigantex. Used by most brands selling a 50mm rim and weighing 450g each.

Hubs are most probably joytech, okay but nothing grand.

Spokes are the big question. Gigantex wheels are now built using sapim spokes. Talk about these BD wheels being custom for the order so hub and spokes will be the big question...

Regardless of all that, if the shipping was cheaper to Australia (not really catered for by BD - need to use UPS etc -freight costing more than the wheels!!) I'd order a set for the price.

Down the track if the hubs or spokes aren't great, just get the rims rebuild using reliable hubs like dura ace and either sapim or dt swiss spokes and still not have lost out.

If still in doubt or you miss the group buy, you can buy the standard Gigantex wheels via Karbona for about the same price with the sapim spokes etc but will have to also still pay freight and customs/duty. They also have the often rebadged (as Karbona have done) 85mm wheels.