On Saturday about 10:30 a FedEx delivery truck appeared in my driveway with a box from Mike Garcia. After ripping it from the drivers hands, I was off to the workshop to check out what I had. First off, really nice safe shipper, each wheel is in a plastic bag and then placed in spacers to hold them perfectly safe from themselves and the outside world. Just inside the lid, was another plastic bag holding the build receipt, skewers, and a spare spoke and nipple of each size used. Very nice touch. The build copy also lists the exact lengths for each spoke so there will be no doubts if I ever need a local replacement. Now the good stuff. These wheels are built up with Velocity Aerohead rims in anodized gray color. I went this way because it is a neutral choice for any color bike frame I might end up with. The spokes are silver Wheelsmiths and I'm using silver SpeedCific hubs. The rear is built with 32 spokes and the front is 28... Let me tell you, these are perfectly true out of the box. I don't mean close, I mean dead nuts on. I sell precision tooling for a living and see a lot of spinning metal. I can usually see something that's even a little off, and these aren't. I'm sure the big question is, "what do they weigh"? Well here you go...
Front: 665 Grams
Rear: 908 Grams
That's right, 1573 for the pair... weighed without rim tape. Compare that to Mavic Ksyrium, Shimano D/A, Zipp, and you'll be hard pressed to find anything that light that someone 200 lbs could reasonably ride for an everyday wheel. And then remember that they cost me $300 for BOTH WHEELS.
As part of the wheel change I also changed the group on the bike and went to a compact crank. Yesterday afternoon I finished everything up and got to ride around the neighborhood a little. I expected the normal pops and creeks that you get on newly built wheels. Not this time, I heard maybe one or two very faint clicks in the first 10 feet and then they were stone silent. I'm taking them out tonight on their maiden "club ride" so I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow... I'll also try to get a few pics of them tonight so you can have a look.
For my money, Mike Garcia at Odds and Endos is the real deal. I could not be more impressed.
BTW, I took them by my LBS Saturday because some of the guys had asked about them. One of my friends who rides a full zoot Merlin guessed them to cost more per wheel than I paid for the pair. And, they weigh less than his Campy's. Life is good.
