Spinergy wheels.
 

I was at my lbs yesterday. They had a pair of Spinergy Xyclone Disc wheels. What interested me, were the spokes. They are made from what Spinergy call PBO technology. They look like the stuff you'd make a washing line from, and they are a fibre spoke that you can bend, almost like a thick cord. Spinergy claim it's 25% more shock absorbent and 10 times stronger than aluminum spokes.

The spokes don't look like (from the picture at least) that they are usable on all rims, so they might be proprietary to Spinergy alone?

Down the line, I'd like to build a pair of wheels for my bike, and these spokes look kinda cool. Anyone got comments on them and the rims needed?

Cunning bast*rds Spinergy. I phoned the UK importer and they tell me they are only usable on Spinergy rims and on the hubs they tell you to use. Won't being doing any business with them.

Spinergy didn't do that to force people to buy the entire wheelset.
The PBO spokes are fatter than normal spokes so even if they wanted to, it would be impossible to thread them into normal spoke holes.

PBO spokes are threaded into the hub and keep weight away from the rim- thus less rotational weight.
Steve Larsen used to race on Xyclones, I don't know if he still does. Because of the shock absorbing quality, the Spinergys are good for hardtails.

The wheels, btw, are really light.

Blame Mavic, they started the whole proprietry wheel thang. People were threading their fine rims to other peoples hubs. In an effort to boost sales of Mavic's (very good) hubs they started selling pre-built race wheels. There is no way you could build a standard wheel as light or aerodynamic as a proprietry racing wheel. Breaking standards means you can use straight-pull spoking, low spoke counts and funny shaped and non-ferrous spokes. And you make more money.
Mavic, youre a very naughty boy.

You can lace up Zipps to Dura Ace, Ultegra or any hub and have it just as, if not more aero than anything from Mavic.
Spinergy doesn't make the spokes non-compatible for marketing. You just can't lace PBO spokes the same way.

I wonder why other rim manufacturers don't make theirs PBO compatible and the same for hubs? Lets assume that PBO spokes are as good as they say they are. What's stopping say Mavic from offering a PBO rim? Or, what's stopping Mr. Shimano from offering a PBO hub? Is it down to a patent usage issue? Or, do Spinergy and Mavic want to prevent this for some reason, sort of like a turf war? It might just be down to volume of sales that makes it unrealistic?:confused:

Bokkie,

It may be that the PBO technology is still too new for the other companies (Shimano, Mavic, etc.) to offer PBO compatible rims. It'd cost them a TON to re-tool the manufacturing line to accomodate the larger holes required for the spokes.

Just a hunch...

They are still "noodle-wheels". If you are half-way strong, you can really feel "wheel-wind-up" as well as total flexing in a sprint. Hill climbing stresses these "plastic" spoked wheels as well. Dura-Ace 7700's or Mavic Ksyriums SSC SL's are far better choices.

Forget the Spinergy, save your money.

Why does Mavic make hubs and spokes only they can use? Why does Shimano? Why does Spinergy?
Why does Lightweight use proprietary kevlar spokes that no one else uses? Why do they all make wheels that are not compatible with each other?
Why don't Shimano and Campy share compatibility?
Exactly.

All major wheel companies have made unsuccessful wheels. Spinergy makes some really great wheels and are definitely one of the leaders of new tech.

Having extensive experience in the US Pro and UCI peloton and the only wheels to have been on the World Champion TT, RR, CX bikes (rev x). I think Spinergy knows something about wheels.
The PBO spoked wheels have been used by Mercury here in the US as well as european races like Fleche Wallone. Spinergy is a serious company with legitimate technology with the PBO spokes.
Do some people not like the "fat" spokes? Don't understand the technology? Spread common myths about the wheels? Or simply rode and don't like them? All of the above.
PBO spokes are "noodles" when loose. Just like Kevlar spokes. Considering the finest racing wheel is probably the Lightweight-which uses "noodle" kevlar spokes, says something about the technology.

i have a set of spinergy's with these pbo spokes and you guys are forgetting the most important thing: THEY COME IN COOL COLORS! mine are yellow, on a blue bike they are the bomb!

The other reason that Spinergy's PBO spokes will only fit their wheels is that unlike metal spokes, which are drawn from a roll of wire, the PBO manufacturing process uses a mold. To make other lengths of spokes would require a new mold for each different size. This would make the spokes so expensive that no one would buy them anyway. For their own wheels, they only need a few lengths, so they only need to manufacture those few, and can keep a smaller inventory, which saves them money and keeps the wheels affordable (relatively). I have a set of Spinergy Xaero-X wheels on my Bianchi. I decided against the PBO spoked wheels, mostly because they were even more expensive than what I did get, which are 24mm aero rims, cartridge bearing hubs, bladed straight-pull spokes, and really light weight yet strong wheels for $400 for the pair. I wouldn't ride the old Rev-X CF wheels, I weigh too much. These wheels are tha bomb!!! Long live Spinergy!

DEMON

On the Spinnergys I used to have, when I would stand up going up a hill, the wheels would flex so much that they would rub the insides of the brake pads. And this was after being trued by Spinnergy. The Mavic SSC SLs are rock solid.
Spinnergy = noodle wheels!

spinergy
 

Same thing as the spinergy spox wheels that they used to make.

http://groups.msn.com/BicyclingForum...o&PhotoID=4981

cant see it very good from the picture, but these are the spox wheels that used the vectran spokes. These are from 1998

knifun:

Too bad for you. My Xaeros were the coolest and I love the Tiliums for TT.

Tis a shame that Spinergy could not solve this for you. I've the same problem with another brand's wheeset... Seems that there is always an opportinity for someone to not get proper support/wheel.

You: could not get spinergy to correct tension problem how heavy are you btw)
me: Topolino hubs got messed up twice. Will let you know if it happens a 3rd time
a friend: Kysrium from hub kept going bad even after adjustment by Mavic. Eventually had to abandon wheel and get new one.

My Xaero-X's are solid as a rock, and I'm about 190 lbs. Some of their older models had a fairly low weight limit, and even then a really strong small rider would probably be able to twist them up pretty well. That was another reason that I wanted metal spokes.

DEMON

Yea I think their SPOC stuff had issues. That is why I waited for the Xaero with PBO.

Older spinergy stuff had several problems with hubs even with the Rev-X stuff. It was a bit of a risk for me to try the Xaero stuff but it was getting good reviews, it looked much better than the SPOC and I didn't look like every other roadie at the coffee shop.

The whole Xaero line is badass stuff. It has a great combination of light, stiff and strong, while not emptying your bank account. I have friends who had Rev-X wheels, and all of them had problems with the rear hubs spinning right out of the CF. Don't know about the SPOX stuff, but it always looked kinda clunky to me. The Xaeros are sleeker, and you are dead on about not wanting to look like everyone else. I do a 3 day charity ride every fall, and I can pick my bike out of a crowd of 400 parked at the finish line, just from the Celeste green and the slick wheels.

DEMON