that's more of a velocipede, technically.

+pwned

Am I right in thinking that the rims pretty much have to be weinmann? Any other guesses?

Made by chinese boys hands

and lubed with their tears

^^ They did smell a little salty when I opened the box...

Sounds like me except "sucked too bad" translates to "compound fracture on two bones in my left arm at 13".

I still can't wear a wrist watch on my left arm because I have little to no inner rotation.

So...what's the final word on these wheels? I'm about to order an all-black wheelset and these look okay.

newsflash, its also hard on hubs. especially the pos i expect these alien hubs to be.

rims are only 1/3 of the "wheel"

Do a long skid, see if they strip right out or not. let us know...

go with the weinmann dp18s laced to formulas. way better for the money. any by way better, i mean people actually own them, and formulas have a good reputation.

me too....ccs was rad! also, nice seeing some more west philadelphians. whats up larry?

What about the whole "DP18's are splitting at the seams" ordeal?

can you link me to this "ordeal" i've heard the DP18s have ugly noticable seams, (which i can attest too....ooo boy are they "there") but never heard of one failing at the seam without being crashed...

I bought a wheelset and I can help out slightly with a couple things:
-The seams are crap
-I have a crap front brake, but it grabs ok on the rim- however, it did not take long to lose the paint/finish of the rim where the brake touches.
-I think not Formula hubs. The flange is different. Maybe Dimension or something.
-I've put about 60 miles on them thus far and I've been rough on them, as I wanted to see if they were rims I could hop curbs and the like with. Still very true.
-They do look pretty sharp
-Alien has solid costumer service
-For a really cheap rim that is relatively heavy they roll pretty nicely thus far.
-I usually don't skid, but I'll knock a couple out on an old tire after I get back from Thanksgiving if this is a selling point.

After I get a couple hundred miles on them (two more weeks?) I'll post a review on my website and link it here....

^that being said, go with the dp18/formulas....the seams are crap on both, but at least you get flipflops (both fixed on the unmachined sets) justincase you strip yer *****.

oh, and UMARTH, unless you work at alienbikes, dont bother skidding to help on a "selling point".

it only takes one long ass skid to strip a bad (read:quandoish dimensiony) hub.

I like the look of the frame.

@ time bandit - I uncovered this "ordeal" while doing a search with the keyword "weinmann" in the SSFG forum.

150+30 s/h on the weinmanns...Worth the money?

i searched a bit and found nothing of weinmann failures. these rims are worth it, at least mine have taken a pretty good beating.

I'm curious how does a bad skid on a bad hub strip it? I've got my lock ring and cog on properly and tight I don't see them coming undone unless over time they loosen up and I don't check it right away...?

Still have the wheelset sitting and waiting for frame (older Bridgestone) I will have it all assembled tomorrow night after I get back from the UPS distribution center. Can't wait. I'll chime in on how the wheels roll after that.

basically, if you have hubs that are as good as or better than formulas, coupled with a decent cog and proper assembly, you'll be fine.

...lolzors...

No but seriously. I'm a bit surprised that you're surprised by the surprising surprise wear of the paint on your rims. Surprisingly, this is exactly what they make machined brake tracks for.

whats so bad about the dp18s?

on substandard budget fixed hubs there is a great possibility that when a certain amount of backpressure is applied to obtain a "show" or worse yet an "emergency" skid, the cog can unthread a bit and press against the lockring enough to forcibly cross thread the lockring and making the hub essentially useless. this can be avoided by properly installing a cog and lockring, (AND NO, YOUR MAILORDER BIKES FROM BD OR ANYWHERE ELSE ARE MOST LIKELY NOT INSTALLED CORRECTLY) unless the hub is garbage, in which case i would never skid on it.

I am not hating. I hope the alien wheels turn out to be good. Wait. no i dont, because then i will be the cynical jackass who didnt get in on them before they were $300. time will tell.

nothing, some newb said they split at the seams, but cant back it up. i've rocked mine for a while and have hit cars and curbs with them not bending.