HappyStuffing

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know my experience with purchasing Yishun Bike carbon wheels recently. I did a whole lot of reading on soo many forums before taking the skeptical plunge into China wheels and I finally settled onto Yishun Bike. I know the forums helped me in making my decision, here is my chance to give back. On with my review..


I bought 50mm Carbon Clincher Wheels (glossy), bladed spokes, red nipples, red hub. It came out to $400US, flat. Gifted. No tax, brokerage, or shipping. To be fair, I had to downgrade my hub to a cheaper Novatec hub to get the free shipping. I suppose it was to fit into into their price point - and mine as well. I did a live-chat with Vivian to discuss shipping before purchase. Super nice person, customer service was A++ In one of the pictures, you will see the invoice is for $150. That was only for the benefit of customs incase they wanted to get nosy, but we all know carbon wheels don't come that cheap. In reality, I payed via Paypal twice. $150+$250. . which is actually still cheap for carbon wheels My only disappointment is I forgot to tell them I wanted red QR skewers instead of black. Minor issue, but it was my fault.

It took exactly 2 weeks (weekends included) from the time I ordered it to the time I received it. The hubs were not poking through the box like I've seen in some shipping pictures. They put some bubble wrap around the hubs plus they did some box origami to fit more reinforcement around the area. I was really quite impressed by the packaging. The wheels were physically separated from rubbing each other in the box as well.

One concern of mine was in early versions Yishun simply lowered the brake track as a low tech solution to handling heat. I was worried my brakes wouldn't reach. However, Vivian assured me they no longer did that. I can confirm she was telling me the truth. The brake track now extends all the way from the rim edge. It's a rather generous brake track if anything. See pics.

The wheels spun true out of the box, plucking them gave me the same consistent satisfying sound. I got 3 extra spokes, drive-side, non-drive-side, and front, nipples, 2 sets of no-name brake pads, QR skewers

I have not had a chance to ride the wheels yet, unfortunately. It is exam time so I must be good and stick with the books for another week

My overall conclusion is this was a good buy. I don't want to turn this into a China wheels debate, but if there is a difference in buying wheels with name brand stickers on it and those without - I certainly can't tell the difference except for the savings in my wallet. To those of you considering taking the plunge on China wheels, I hope this review will help. To those who buy name brand stuff, kudos to you too.

This is my first review so feel free to ask me any questions but go easy if I left something out!

Here is a link to my dropbox for larger pics. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d4b75cttooejb8w/1Zq7GMM1ft

rpeterson

So what you're saying is that this isn't actually a review.

Dan333SP

It's a review of the customer service and the shipping/packaging. These are the things that people are concerned with when looking for a wheel upgrade, obviously

HappyStuffing

Ouch, sorry I didn't meet your expectations. The things I said were questions I found important when buying those wheels. I hope others will find my review more useful, even if you didn't.

Nagrom_

You gifted money to some stranger on another continent?

Ballsy.

FPSDavid

Are these the new wide rims?

BykOfALesserGod

I don't know much about carbon wheels and I can't tell from the pictures but are these carbon walled with alloy brake tracks or straight up carbon with carbon tracks?

timmy29er

Weight? (please specify advertised and/or actual)

clausen

Your giving a positive review to something you haven't even tried.

Dan333SP

"Rims failed from heat buildup on the first ride, but the packaging was sublime, so I highly recommend these wheels!" ;-)

buffalowings

Don't knock it until you try it.

Carloswithac

Customer service is a vital part of any business. This is clearly what OP is saying. I'm sure he'll update the review when he actually rides the wheels.

cvall91

I didn't buy mine from Yishun, but I was quite pleased with my Carbon Clinchers when I bought them. I praised them for about a month and raved about how great they were and how they held up nicely. Even felt faster (could be mental) on my "Hammer" rides and race pace training rides. But one faithful Sunday, I noticed my brakes started rubbing abnormally. Took it to the shop thinking it had to get trued, and turned out the rim had expanded where the tire sits. Apparently the rim couldn't hold a 'high' PSI (115), regardless if I rode over 1 small pot hole and nicely paved roads during its lifetime. The rim was a total loss and so was my $500, only got one month of use. But many others have used them for years with no problems so as always, YMMV.

Nerull

Good luck convincing the IRS that you gifted them $400 and they sent you some wheels out of the kindness of their hearts.

And good luck getting paypal to do anything if you are ever unhappy with the service you received for your "gift".

shoota 

Holy buckets I would be pissed.

HappyStuffing

No they don't have any alloy brake tracks. They do sell the hybrid stuff with the alloy brake track, it just costs more than I could afford

Im actually not sure what the brake surface is made of. It almost seems like just an extra layer of epoxy resin, but I'm sure it isn't so simple.

HappyStuffing

Ya the review was really more about my experience so far. Specifically with the purchasing aspect and the customer service. That's big on my list of things I look for and worry about when buying over seas. I tried to answer in my "review" the questions I would have liked answered being a first time buyer of China carbon wheels.

The company was very responsive every step of the way, product was exactly as I ordered, emails always replied to.

Hey, that counts in my book. I think it's a vital part of any review.

HappyStuffing

Sorry, I don't have a scale precise enough to measure

I can only say they are definitely lighter than my previous Vuelta Pro (aluminum) wheels. I know that isn't the answer you are looking for, but it's the best I can do.

HappyStuffing

It's more like they "gifted" it to me on paper. They just write it down as a gift so that customs doesn't charge extra. Other than that, there isn't anything different from the transaction.

bianchi10

I dont understand why people are giving the OP such a hard time here. he is starting a review form the beginning which started with customer service and getting his questions answered. I have no doubt that he will continue to post in his own thread as he rides them and has more feedback to give.

I for one have always been very leery about purchasing a cheaper non name brand carbon wheelset. I just wouldnt trust them, but hopefully your experience continues to stay positive.

mkadam68

Carbon braking track. Looks like they gave you some cork brake pads. Who is this "Yishun"? Link?

I too have (3 sets) bought some eBay China wheels, tubular, and now I'm "experimenting" with some clinchers as my every-day wheels. I buy the rims & hubs separate (bdop cycling is your friend!) and have LBS build them up. All sets have 1,000+ miles on them under this clydesdale and have performed better than expected.

The brake pads they give you will wear out quickly. Get some Zipp Tangente cork pads (2/$40). They are very durable and are actually extra-thin due to this, but absolutely no stopping power in wet conditions (the tangente platinum pro's are for that, but I haven't tried yet). Cork pads are also the only ones I have found that don't squeal like a banshee. I currently have some SwissStop Black Prince Pro pads (4/$50) to try out. They're quiet unless I have an emergency stop & have to grab hard on the brakes, when they scream. But the stopping power is much better than cork (I haven't tried them in wet, yet).

Good luck with them, and update this thread.

HappyStuffing

I'm glad to finally hear someone else happy about their China wheels! Was starting to feel too much negativity in here. I will have to pick myself up a set of SwissStop pads when I get the chance. Need to save up a bit first. Here is the link to the wheels I purchased. I didn't put the link up in my first post because I was worried it would be seen as advertising or something. I'm just trying to inform people of my experience.

https://www.shop-yishunbike.com/wheel...io-cc-plus-50c

HappyStuffing

Thank you, Bianchi10!

Seriously, you said exactly what I was thinking. People seem to be getting so agitated that I tried to save some money and are missing the point of my review.

I'm only providing answers to others who might want to buy the same. I for one would be glad to know how other customer service experiences were when buying from such unknown companies. Many of us simply don't have the money to put down $800+shipping+tax+customs+brokerage on name brand wheels. No-name stuff happens to fit the bill with the most bang for the buck. Why all the hating for for saving a little? Aren't we just all out to have a good time riding?

Anyway, along with no-name purchase comes many questions. I hope, as a fellow cyclist, I can help since I just made my first China wheel purchase.

rpeterson

I have no issues buying Chinese carbon (I have some myself), but all you did was basically tell us that they were able to successfully sell you wheels and deliver them without damage, which isn't as much great customer service as it is standard everyday operations for any company out there.

Essex

I found your experiences and review of the purchasing process very informative. The pics show good detail and overall - they look like very well made wheels. And certainly excellent price point. Thank you.

Essex