BrooklynRoadie

Hi everyone
Just wanted to come on and post bout my terrible experience with Reynolds Cycling and their Strike 66mm Wheels.


I ended up picking up my set of Strike wheels around Sept of 2009 ... soon after starting to ride the wheel I began having issues with the rear wheel constantly needed to be re trued.... I dont recall the exact time line but during the winter of 09/10 I sent the wheels to Reynolds to be serviced and the wheel was returned to me and according to them the wheel was repaired and the issue corrected.

Almost immediately the wheel was out of true again and necessitated me visiting my bike shop almost every 2-3 weeks to slightly true the wheels .

Last summer while doing my daily ride I experienced a rear spoke failure which caused the wheel to become so warped that it caused a slight amount of damaged to my frame from the rim slapping into the chain stay... After visiting my bike shop to show them they wheel, I was told the wheel was "out of dish" and really should be repaired under warranty by Reynolds

I then contacted Reynolds again and dealt with Ryan who advised me to send in my wheels and they would take care of them again.... After about 3-4 weeks (time between shipping and repair) I had my set of wheels back and i was promised would the issue was corrected and they would be perfect...


The constant issue with the rear wheel coming untrue continued and now with the start of my 2011 riding I went out and had a front wheel spoke failure


At this point I am so disgusted with these wheels that I called Reynolds and spent aprox 45min on the phone with their customer service rep Matt

I was advised by Matt to send them back to Reynolds so that they can reevaluate my wheels and correct them, at this point I feel that Ive given them the benefit of the doubt on 2 occasions and I should not have to be without wheels for another 4 weeks and also incur the expense of return shipping. Matt had advised me that he could on reassess the wheels if they were sent back to Reynolds and that its unlikely that they will be replaced if they feel that can repair them again.

I dont think im being unreasonable in asking for a new set of wheels or at the very least a loaner set so that I can continue to ride my bike with the wheels i paid good money for.


After 45min of the run around on the phone and simply no way to satisfy Me or the Reynolds customer service rep... Ive been left with simply no choice but to either dump these wheels in the trash and buy a new set... or continue to ride them and let my bike shop re true them on a weekly basis....both situations result in me throwing $$ into the garbage


I just wanted everyone to hear my situation regarding my poor experience with the Strike wheels and my poor experience with Reynolds as a whole.

fa63

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Are the wheels going out of true just riding along, or are you pretty hard on your wheels? Also, how much do you weigh?

Shuke

If you're going to dump them in the trash can you at least make it MY trash so I can fish them out?

BrooklynRoadie

The wheels are going out of true on a normal ride.... no big pot holes or anything along those lines. My cycling partner rides the same path as me all the time and has never had a issue with his FFWD wheels (BTW he is the same weight as me)

As for weight, im between 198-204 during the cycling season. Im obviously a heavy rider,but after i sent them in for the 2nd repair, I asked the Reynolds rep Ryan if my weight would be an issue and he told me that he has much heavier riders then me on the same wheels with 0 issues and that my weight is not an issue at all.

fa63

At that weight and under normal riding, your wheels should do fine. I tested a pair of '09 Strikes for a week when I was 220lbs and did my best to give them a solid beating with no sign of issues, except they were flexy giving me lots of brake pad rub when out of the saddle. Anyways, if there is a good wheel builder in your area, it would be wise and fairly cheap to have the wheels thoroughly checked out and completely de-tensioned and re-tensioned. Otherwise, I think your best bet is to ship them back one more time and have Reynolds check them out again. Either way, I hope you have a spare set of wheels (this might be a good excuse to buy a pair). Good luck.

island rider

Sux. But let's assume for a moment that this will be a continual problem with these wheels. How tough would it be to true them yourself? I ask because I have no idea, but have seen it done and have seen the tools for it.

Grambo

If it were me I would bite the bullet and get rid of them. There are plenty of quality wheelsets out there that would require very little maintenance and I just could not justify continuing headaches. You can always sell them on Ebay and just be honest and recommend them only to a 160lb rider or less. BTW isn't the Strike wheelset made with a low spoke count (16 / 20)? If so that is likely a major contributing factor. I weigh 185lbs and ride a 24 / 28 spoke CF set up. At your weight you should be using a even higher spoke count.

NathanC

You dealt with Ryan Reynolds?

sideshow_bob

Personally, I'd find a competent wheelbuilder, have them completely untension, redish, and re-build with measured uniform tension.

If you're a big guy you might find lifting the spoke tension a little wouldn't hurt either.

Whole exercise will run you less than $100. If after that you have ongoing issues - then sure bin them. But I'd invest the $100 cause ultimately there is nothing in terms of the parts that will result in the issues you are seeing, other than either a bad build or wheels that aren't handling either your weight or riding style or both.

BrooklynRoadie

I kinda feel the same way, but since the wheels are already drilled for 16/20 spoke count i dont think that can be modified by a local wheel builder and I also invested in Reynolds RAP program to protect my wheels incase of a crash. I will then also loss that since I modified the wheel


overall its just a ****ty situation

DScott

Sucks that you have to deal with this, but I'm with Bob. Well-built wheels shouldn't do this, and Reynolds usually makes pretty good stuff. There's something not right here, and Reynolds hasn't been able to pick it up yet. Maybe an unbiased opinion from a good wheelbuilder will help solve the problem.

BTW, I think he's suggesting the wheel be re-tensioned, using all the current parts, not completely re-built. Certainly not going to cost much more than the shipping to Reynolds to have them looked at locally.

BrooklynRoadie

Ive had my LBS re-tension the wheel on several occasions, he had told me time and time again to send the wheels back to reynold because this shouldn't continue to happen.... BTW this shop tailors to many of the local racers and the owner is more then competent with regards to working on these wheels.

Dean V

I would send them back to Reynolds one more time. When they come back sell them and get something else.

g.r.e.g.

Find a local wheelbuilder, bring it to him, have him replace all the spokes and retension the wheel, problem solved for not much more than return shipping would be probably, at least under $100

BrooklynRoadie

Your 100% right and thats whats making me crazy... i know its pointless to send these wheels back to Reynolds, there going to do exactly that and it will take 10x longer and cost the same as going to a local wheel builder.

thanks for listening to me vent , this entire thing drives me nuts

ilovecycling

After no more than 200 miles on my Reynolds mv32c UL wheels, the rear went out of true to the point where it was touching the brake pad. I did not hit any potholes or anything either. I weigh 185 lbs 5' 11". Surprised me quite a bit considering it never happened to the heavy and cheap Bontrager Race wheels I was riding before. I straight abused those for a few thousand miles and I never noticed any issues before I sold that particular bike.

Anyways, I decided to take them to my LBS to have them trued. Picked them up yesterday and they are straight as an arrow..I'd say even more true than when I first took them out of the box. They went over both wheels even though the front never had a problem. I'm hoping they are now good to go for at least a few thousand miles. We shall see...

BrooklynRoadie

I decided to post a link to this thread on Reynolds Facebook page... Instead of having someone comment on it , I was removed as a fan of the page and my post was deleted


Guess this is how they handle their customer service

Munk69

Wow.. That is jsu messed up. Send em in, get em fixed and sell them. Although, so far they are doing nothing different than any other wheel vendor would do (having you keep sending them back with no loaner).

Your bike shop is not offering you some kind of cheapie loaner wheels to keep you riding while your wheels are at Reynolds? IMO, they should at least throw some Askium's or Solitudes on there for ya... If they are the ones that sold you the original Strikes.

Sucky situation. Good luck to you friend.

BrooklynRoadie

I have a set of junkie training wheels that get more riding time then my Strike wheels :/

BrooklynRoadie

Ive decided to look into a rebuild by a reputable wheel shop .... can anyone make any recommendations for a shop that would be willing to modify these existing wheels

sbxx1985 

psimet.

He just rebuilt my Assault.

BrooklynRoadie

What kinda of changes did you make to your assaults?

sbxx1985 

Powertap with CX Rays.

Santaria

I second the recommendation for having psimet look them over and rebuild them if needed. Dude is legendary here.

WHOOOSSHHH...

You are the crook that I fear on e-bay.