Herbie53

These came stock on my Scatterini. I think they still come stock on a lot of different "sporty" road bikes. I was initially very unhappy when they developed a mystery tick after very few miles / hours. I ordered a set of Cane Creek Volos XL's on close out from Nashbar (luv 'em) and of course upon arrival of the new wheels the mystery tick vanished!!! Actually, I think it was something with the freehub, it made a horrible screech climbing one day and wala.. no more ticky. I moved them to my "rain bike" as part of my crafty upgrade scheme.. don't tell my wife.

As background.. I started out on these wheels around 240/245 and am now 205/210.

ALX 270's



In any case, writing this to share what I think of the wheels after something near two years mostly on my rain/steel bike. They are low spoke count (20F/24R), but are heavy (1,938g)!! What moved me to write this was hitting a nice pothole today and coming out of it without issue. I think I put maybe a quarter turn on one or two spokes after the first couple rides, but have not touched them since and they are still very true and round. The flipside of these rims is the weight, compared to my other wheels (Cane Creeks) the acceleration feels noticably sluggish. I also think they look pretty good (bladed black spokes and fairly deep rim).



I know Alex rims can absolutely suck, a set of Alex 500's that came on my wifes bike were junk from the start and now serve only as trainer rims.. never been true, and remain wobbly even after 2 trips back to the LBS!! I gave up and bought her some mavic cxp/shimano wheels from Bicycle Wheel Wharehouse.. I think the "AClass" level Alex rims are a little better. They do say they are hand built, but for all I know that means some guy pushed a button to start the machine one day.

Overall grade: B- (would be and B, but I really hated them when they were ticking!!)

aquilant

I originally weighed in at 323lbs when started riding on these rims and after 2883 miles still going.

At first, of course, I had to have them trued, but after two or three truing of the rim they ride smooth. I think the seller got a good buy and passed it along.

Again imagine 323lbs (now 285lbs) on a rim. Yes, I'm happy. I ride on these rims 4 to 6 times a week since Sept of 2009. I'm amazed. I've been over all types of terrain (except for snow, ice or sand) and these rims rock on.

SebastionMerckx

I bet the op's ticking noise was caused by the "c clip" the holds the pawls in place,moving around and holding one of the pawls out of place. Sometimes, the grove the c clip goes in isn't crimped enough and the clip moves around much further than it should and obstructs some of the pawls.

Tribronc

I also had these on my Scattante CFR Comp. I had around 3200 miles on them when I noticed I was having difficulty with my rides. Nothing mechanically obvious, but my performance was seriously declining. My mph average dropped by 3 mph and I was cramping hard on what were my easy rides. I bonked for the first time since I started biking after a 50 mile weekend ride. I even started to look into breakout training plans thinking I was training wrong.

I finally started inspecting the bike. I spun the rear wheel by the hub and found that it was grinding and catching and not spinning smooth at all. I broke down the rear wheel all the way to the hub and bearings. Turns out one of the bearings had broken down and had caused a pitted groove in the cone causing it to catch.

Replaced the cone and bearings and the wheel is smooth again. Of course I took the opportunity to buy new wheels (Mavic) and went on a ride. I was pleased to find that my mph average was 1 mph faster than my fastest ever. Guess a month of riding a binding wheel actuall helped.

kiaston

Hey Tribronic, where did you get the parts for the rebuild? I have a similar issue with a grinding rear hub on my 270s. I called Alex service department, and they were totally useless- said they don't have any info on the hubs- only the rims.

graveyardtech

Just thought I'd share my experience with these wheels. I bought a 2011 Scanttante R-570 that came with the Alex 270s. My rear wheel also started binding after a 20 mile ride. I took it back to Performance Bike and they "adjusted" it for me. Everything seems ok now, but it still worries me.

I'm 5'7" at 200lbs.

kreeseis

So, I'm 6'5", 300lbs. I purchases a Scattante R-570 (2011) less than a month ago. I've ridden about 250 miles on these and they have been trued twice and a spoke broke this morning...while cruising on a flat road. I'm not happy at all with these. I was hoping to get more than a month out of these things. ARGH.

Herbie53

holy zombie thread.

I sold mine after another winter of riding to a friend who uses them on his commuter. They never did need any significant truing and other than the mystery noise when new and a new set of bearings and cones when I sold them required nothing.

silkroad

yikes!