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Boyd Altamonts - The Holy Grail of Wheelsets for us Clydes?

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Boyd Altamonts - The Holy Grail of Wheelsets for us Clydes?

Old 04-22-14, 02:52 PM
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Boyd Altamonts - The Holy Grail of Wheelsets for us Clydes?

From Boyd's FB page today:

We are building up the first production Altamonts today in the 28/32 spoke count. You want a bombproof wheelset with no weight limit that can still be used in competition? Well, this is it!
Their website says this spoke count is good for 225+ lb. riders. Starts at $690, though.

I'd love to hear feedback if anyone tries them out. "bombproof wheelset with no weight limit" is a tall order. Hope they deliver on the promise!
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Old 04-22-14, 03:03 PM
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I think if you are 225, and you don't hop too many curbs and check for loose spokes, most 32 or even 28 spoke wheels would be fine.

I bought some 32 spoke track wheels someone built, and they are the strongest wheels I've owned. High flange hub, very tight.
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Old 04-22-14, 03:26 PM
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PJ, I have two set of Ambrosio Excellence wheels, 32H, laced to Record hubs. Although I am now a positively "svelte" 195 pounder, I did ride these wheels when I was closer to 210#. I had no problem whatsoever with them.

If the wheels are well made, then 32H or even 28H is fine.

My Fulcrum Racing Zero wheels and my Campy Eurus wheels both have 21 spokes in the rear and they work fine for me.

I think you should be fine, Boyd wheels have a great reputation for quality.
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Old 04-22-14, 06:37 PM
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I have two sets of new wheels. 32/28H DT 14/15 laced 3x and 2x to Dura Ace 9000 hubs and A23 rims. A set of FLo 30 for Clydes: 28/20H. 2X rear and radial front. Maybe around 1000-1200 miles on the A23 set and 400 miles on the Flo wheels. I started on them when I was 225-230lbs back in maybe late Feb. I turned three nipples maybe quarter turn on the A23 set. Other than that, no issues.I am a little nervous on the Flo 4 wheels at night.

Hate to say it but $690 is not a lot of coin for a good set of custom wheels.

Good hubs, spokes, rims and labor on a custom set are going to run a lot more than that. Look into what a set of Dura-Ace or White hubs run.

These Altamonts are handbuilt with the best spokes but the hub and rims are generic, no-name brands.

Frankly, I doubt they are better then either of my two sets sinec the hubs and rims are unknowns. But, it sounds like they are truly handbuilt and if done right, it means a lot.
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Old 04-22-14, 06:47 PM
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I built up a disc Trucker when I was 285lb.

I'm running 48sp chukkers and Phil Wood Tandem hubs.
I call them Wheels for the Apocalypse.

Every once in a while I do a dumb thing. One of them I was trying to pass traffic in the grass when I huge hole appeared in front of me... Went airborne at about 20mph me and a pack about a 40lbs, figure more then 350 total weight. Wheels still absolutely true.
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Old 04-22-14, 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by PhotoJoe
From Boyd's FB page today:



Their website says this spoke count is good for 225+ lb. riders. Starts at $690, though.

I'd love to hear feedback if anyone tries them out. "bombproof wheelset with no weight limit" is a tall order. Hope they deliver on the promise!
They're what? 1650g?

Bombproof? Only if I relax my definition.

Even sticking to narrow rims and a 130mm rear width, that won't be as strong as something simple like 32/36 spoke 105 hubs laced to a something like a DT Swiss RR585. And forget it if you use wider touring, trekking, or 29er MTB rims laced to a wider hub.

I'm sure they're great wheels. But not what I'd call bombproof.
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Old 04-23-14, 08:08 AM
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And I should have specified, I'm not in the market for wheels. I posted because 1) I saw the post and 2) the topic of wheels comes up here a lot. Thought it would be good to have a discussion of a new product for future interest.
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Old 04-23-14, 02:16 PM
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Santa brought me a pair of Boyd's Vitesse wheelsets for Christmas. Although the Altamonts (which replaced my wheels this season) have a different rim profile, the rest of the build (Boyd's hubs, spokes, etc.) are identical.

In my current incarnation, I am 195#. Mine are 24/28, which is now the "middle" option.

I don't have a ton of miles on mine thanks to the late thaw this year, but I am a happy camper so far. They are an all-around big improvement over the stock noname wheels on my Bianchi (speed, handling, rolling, braking, looks, etc.). They came packaged well, mounted fine, and are true every time I've checked them. I am not a pro-rider and don't have much to compare them to, but they feel "right," are less harsh than the wheels they replaced, and tend to inspire confidence. I think I'm faster on them, but I don't have any unbiased data to verify that (too many variables changed from the time when I hung the bike up for the season until I got it back down for '14).

They have withstood some limited abuse pretty well - potholes have sprouted this spring like weeds around here, and tend to jump out at you when you're not looking.


A couple of gratuitous pictures (cell phone on a cloudy day) from one of the few snow-free days in December:



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Old 04-23-14, 04:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Zoxe
Santa brought me a pair of Boyd's Vitesse wheelsets for Christmas.
FYI the Vitesse uses the Kinlin XC-279 rim. The new Altamont rim is proprietary to Boyd.

I think virtually any 475g rim with 32 spokes on the rear gets you pretty close to bombproof. From reading previous threads in this forum 36 spoke rear wheels are really unnecessary unless you're well over 300lbs.
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Old 04-23-14, 04:38 PM
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Are these super skinny lightweight road bike wheels, or what? Because I'm not seeing why they're special. Just get a good hand built touring or tandem wheel set for cheaper.

Last edited by Sullalto; 04-23-14 at 04:39 PM. Reason: adding
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Old 04-23-14, 05:07 PM
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I do most of my snooping on Clyde wheels via Velomine's eBay page. They routinely have 32+ spoked wheels with various rim/hub combinations for under $300. I already have one pair from them (put 2000+ miles on at close to 300 lbs) and they've been flawless. I'll acknowledge that spending money for quality is often times necessary but there also has to be a balance.

If I'm going to spend some significant $$$ on a wheel set it's going to be for a performance advantage even if it's just perceived. At 250+ pounds, my money is better spent on more time on the bike or in the gym and less playing WoW and Diablo III.
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Old 04-24-14, 04:41 AM
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Hey all,

Thanks for the discussions and we are really excited to be bringing a set of wheels like this to the market. I know there's a demand for a set of wheels that will be strong enough to handle any rider in any terrain, but still have the performance features to compete on. We wanted to keep the wheelset one where performance and durability are the key features, but also make it very reasonable in terms of weight.

One thing I do want to address. . and it is a common misunderstanding that people can have about our company. We are doing our best to spread the word that we do have all of our rims and hubs produced specifically for us. We own all the molds and tooling for our rims and our hubs as well. I am pretty excited about the Altamont rim as it has some features in an alloy rim that are very unique (ribbed interior, seamless brake track to rim interface). The hub also has some cool features, like the pre-load and getting the bearings spaced out as far as possible to make for the best stability in a hub. . .something that is very noticeable when out of the saddle.

If anybody has any questions for me, to avoid any confusion in posting, I am always available via email.
Take care.
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Old 04-24-14, 09:02 AM
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Thanks for chiming in! I've heard nothing but good stuff about your wheels. Maybe someday.........
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