55/Rad,
No wonder you post a lot. You get to stay many hours on your computer. Ads exec. huh?

Oh yeah, I have - get this - 3 computers on my desk. One is monitoring the various sites at all times, mostly here. At home, I float in and out of the office between other things.

Bad news is, at the ripe old age of 44, I'm now getting my first pair of glasses. Not just readers either, but trifocals. Ugghh.

55/Rad

I had glasses for years. but I work outside in the rain, and they are horrible in the rain. Plus, I am very active. Aloong with cycling, skiing, and a host of other things. After almost 20 years of glasses, I got fed up.

LASIK!!!!!! No more glasses. It has been 5 years, and vision is still better than 20/20. I thank God for such a liberating procedure. Some say it is cosmetic. Not for me. It was definitely corrective, and a lifesaver.

A set of American Classic Sprint 350 wheels will cost about $400 new on eBay. 1355 grams for the pair. I have them on my climbing bike and like them. Amazingly stiff for such a light wheel. Not for clydesdales, though.

Do those wheels come with rider weight limit ratings, or warnings?

Edit: Those are Fuji Team SL stock wheels, aren they, terrymorse? Weight Weenies lists AC classic Sprint 350 Custom for 1276 g. Are they different?

From the American Classic website:

"Wheelset has a rider weight limit of 200lbs / 90kg. Rims are not available for individual sale."

1276 is the weight with the Sapim CX-Ray spoke option - about $100 extra.

55/Rad

A lot of guys in central Tx race with these and they seem to be pretty bomb proof and light.

http://www.nimble.net/

Thanks, 55/Rad. I couldn't even find that information on American Classic web site.

Do you have many miles on them? Any problems?

Not hardly, that is the reason they get marked down later. It happened again the saying is right!

That's why they did not sell at the original price in the first place. There will always be some exceptions, but if the price is way out of line the saying means be careful.
So since you know the quality is good, you have a couple thousand miles on them or someone does right? Not 200? You're not just going on how much they weigh and the price right? You would not say they are good wheels because another rider says he likes them without knowing the mileage? Or the age?

Here are some reviews of the Titan from Performance, most of the reviews are from owners who had the wheels for a month. Seems like mainly spoke problems, some right away. Imagine what they would be like a year later. Maybe after a complete respoking they would be OK. That's great! Some spokes broke very quickly In a few miles.
I would worry on a fast downhill if people are breaking spokes right away. That's just me. I would worry.
I would never consider these wheels at any price.
This does not mean all the wheels are bad. But, this is an example of why the price was marked down to get rid of them. As soon as people find out they break spokes right away, the interest goes down. So they have to lower the price to get rid of them. The bike biz is super competitive, all the manufacturers and retailers know what the other guys are selling their stuff for. You don't lower your price for no reason.

So in fact the saying is right, once again.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/wheels...1_2490crx.aspx

55/Rad, I am very sorry to deviate from the post but I am looking for info ASAP. I noticed you are a wheel junkie so I thought you might know about a wheel set I am testing right now. I got a set of PRO-LITE Gavia's from my LBS today. It's a high-end shop and the owner said it's a brand new company. I have been unable to locate any info on the company on the net thus far but he mentioned that it was a decendant of Xlab which makes Tri wheels. Got any beta?

You can always find one or two negative opinions reagrdless of products, price range. I am surprised you don't already know this. Toyota is rated most reliable cars by Consumer report, but I have met a few people swearing their Toyota was a junk.

You may find this recent thread interesting..
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=86184

In the thread, everybody says it's a good wheel, except one, a dealer who sells many of them. Which one you trust, I don't know. It's not a particulary cheap wheels.

At the end, it comes down to the numbers, percentages. You can also find many positive opinions too.

Edit: Often stores stock up inventory for big sale such as Christmas sale. They plan on which products to carry and how much they should be priced, for most profit. If they see a certain procuct potential of big seller, they stock up more, often cheaper for even quicker movement. It's best to have inventory just more than selling out but often they end up with left over more than they expected. If that happens, store sells them at even lower price for inventory rotation. It happens all the time, and it's not because people didn't buy it because of low quality, but the store over stocked because they thought they could sell more.

Nope, never heard of them. Let us know if you find something interesting.

55/Rad

This seems like the best of both worlds. Lightweight and time-tested. I'd heard of such an animal (Open Pros made into lightweights), but didn't know where to find them. Dura Ace hubs can be rebuilt too, unlike other 'boutique' wheels.

Yes, Excel has been marketing these for what, 5 years now? Good solid investment. Ritchey also makes a decent affordably priced semi aero wheel set. I believe that Excel sell or sold them at one point.

I guess the big questions are: 1. what are you going to use these wheels for primarily, hill climbing? How much do you weigh? Campy or Shimano?

No problems yet, but I only started riding them last month. 900 miles so far.

noooo!!
not the same! well, not quite. the spokes are different. neuvation and korso have a wider spoke -- much cooler looking. i don't know if there's an advantage to that, but there is definitely a difference. i have a set of neuvations -- no broken spokes. my set of titans -- two broken drive sides in the back and one mysterious break in the front. they are the only wheels i have ever broken spokes on with normal riding in twenty years.
i would actually avoid the performance wheels. it could be that i got a bum set, though. just FYI.

I'm learning so many new things about wheels. Don't you think we need a sticky for wheels? After all, it's the first thing people look into when they think about up grading their bikes.

The M28 Aeros and the set of Titan's I purchased for a friend had exactly the same thin bladed "aero" spoke. Same rims and hub too. Different decals. They were also $229 on sale over a year ago and have since come down much further in price to a regular price of $199 for the set and frequently at $149.

Now, is it possible they re-spec'ed the Titan wheel with the standard spoke - ala the standard M28 - in order to sell it cheaper? Possibly. This would explain the price differences. But what about the Supergo model?

Bottom line - my M28 Aero's were solid for the almost 3000 miles I rode them - not a single spoke broke and they were in near mint condition when I sold them.

55/Rad

Tired old cliche is actually: Light, strong, and cheap. Pick two.

Maybe in your cycling world. But in my marketing and television production based world, no one ever uses that phrase. Doesn't matter, the point has been made.

55/Rad

If they changed the spec' of the Titan, they must have changed it the other way. The current model seems to have bladed spokes. I don't know how wide. I'll check it with a caliper at Performance next time I go there.

Generic bike components tend to come down in the price if they stay on the market long enough. Factory has to come up with the cost of R&D when ship it for the first time. If the model is popular enough to stay long, they can afford to cut the price and still make a profit. But that doesn't mean they don't change the spec' for price cutting purpose, specailly if they have a competition in the same price range. In most cases, they do opposite, change the spec' for better to keep the popularity going. You can see good example in the generic clipless pedals.

I agree, that happens too. Most of the time we never know which it is. And other things we didn't post too. To me it means caution when purchasing, not always forget it. Unfortunaly with something like wheels unless you find someone with some miles on them, it's hard to know what to do. I'm glad for all the guys with good success with those wheels. I really think it's a personal choice as to what one decides to buy. They can just be respoked too. Of course there will always be silly reviews. But I stand on the point that reports of spoke breakage will reduce the price. You probably agree anyway. Wouldn't you have a little hesitation before buying if you heard that?

Around September/October My friend was looking for wheels but his computer was broken. We went on line at my house together. He was looking at those wheels. At that time we considred ALL the reviews of ALL the Performance brand wheels. There were other serious problems with rims cracking etc. So based on all the information, he did not get them. I think in the case of wheels where SOME
partiular wheelset breaks spokes there is a risk that ALL those wheelsets may. It's been my experience at the bike shop that sometimes a batch of bad spokes goes into some wheels and some particular type wheels will have broken spokes. When the batch of spokes is used up it goes away. It's usually due to improper heat treating of that batch of spokes.

The reviews were leaning towards more spoke breaking than other wheels at that time. Of course the other wheelsets were more.
A spoke breaking while moving is more important to me than say, a bearing getting worn out too soon. It may possibly be a safety issue. Not very likely but it could be. So his decision to not get them reduced his risk to some unknown degree. Lots of bussiness things happen to lower prices. I'm involved in those decisions all the time. But in this case it seems like the spokes. No way to say for sure, it could be anything.