Alien wheelset: opinions
 

I'm looking at the Alien wheelset as a nice, cheap alternative to the more expensive Deep-V varieties. Are they worth it for the price? Would it be better to just spring the extra hundred for a velocity wheelset? Any opinions/suggestions are welcome.

I was reading a review on them this morning i can't find the link again, but the review said for the price they're great. I know now they're $169, another alternative that is about $50 less than a Velocity set is the IRO wheels $199 for all silver and $219 for all black. Those i'd look at as well. I'd say you could also look at Weinmann DP-18 for $175ish shipped on ebay, some say they break, some say they work, i'd say its up to you. But those are what i'd look at. I just bought a bike with Velocities and have dreamed of owning them so i'd say go for the Velocities but thats me, the IRO and Alien seem like great deals for the price if you dont want to drop $275ish on some Velocities IMO.

Edit: Just found the review/article. It was on fixedgeargallery.com here it is

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/reviews/alien/wheelset/

alien wheels are terrible
 

bought a pair of alien wheels about a month and a half ago, I have all ready stripped out the hub threading. I contacted alien and told them the story, wrote them twice they never contacted me back. So I guess Im out of luck because from what I understand there is no warranty on these wheels but how would I know they never got back to me. If you buy nice rims make sure you have nice hubs too. Frankly I would rather drop cash on nice hubs and skimp a little on the rims. The velocity rims you see for sale, around $250.00, mostly come with formula hubs and in my opinion formula hubs are garbage--just like the alien hubs, I should have known; you get what you pay for. The rims on the alien wheel set are fine I guess I am going to get new hubs (Dura Ace, Phil Woods, Profile or steinwerks, if I can find them) and have my local bike store lace them up to the alien rims, or what ever rims they are--who knows? Any way what im trying to say don't be tempted by the price tag on alien wheels, save your self the headache and spend a couple hundred more on high quality hubs and descent rims and I promise you will have your new wheels for a long long time, not to mention you will actually save money in the long term.

+1. How exactly were the cog and lockring installed? There are plenty of Forumula/Dimension/whatever hubs with scads of hassle-free miles, and lots of just-so stories about stripped hubs that were never tweaked after they arrived in the mail. There are certainly defective hubs out there, and you may have installed everything correctly in this case, but these basic hubs can be remarkably durable for riders that don't need (or think they need) high-performance parts.

P.S. Those fawning FGG "reviews" of sponsor products are hilarious. I'm sure it's a perfectly serviceable wheelset, but somehow I find threading on both sides of the hub to be a useful feature rather than an eyesore. Has anyone ever seriously "pondered making something to thread onto that waiting side"?

I threaded the cog and lock ring my self the way I have a couple of dozen times before. I have never had this problem before, I ride with no brakes but I don't ride aggressively I hardly ever skid its a waste of money, tires are not cheap. when braking I usually just slow my pedaling or if need be, do a skip stop. I guess what i am trying to say is it was business as usual until I got these alien wheels--I firmly believe the stripping of the hub was in no way shape or form my fault. O.K. I am over it. I will stop whining get a second job and buy a set of ultra premium hubs--seriously.

Sounds like the hub might have been defective. Too bad Alien didn't communicate about it. But still, I don't think high-end hubs are advisable for most riders. Even with the occasional manufacturing problem, cheaper hubs do a good job for a lot less cash. I'd be more wary of poor customer service than of the quality of Formula/IRO/whatever hubs.

Buy phils.

last word on alien wheels
 

your right, my annoyance is misguided; I should be angry with the alien bike company for their refusal to acknowledge my defective wheel issue and not the alien wheels themselves, there just inanimate objects. and one last thing I know you don't need high end hubs, I always rode cheap ebay wheels and they worked just fine.

huh?

I think he meant you don't need high end hubs.

Yes you do. Durable and eye pleasing.

I caught that too--I am a mess

It's ok. All is forgiven...

Now go buy expensive hubs! :)

In my opinion if you want cheap but still quality wheels, try these:
http://www.ebikestop.com/prodimages/WE2100.jpg


http://www.ebikestop.com/miche_pista...set-WE2102.php

http://gcos.nl/newspublisher/upload/13507.JPG

Cheap quality or Cheap, quality?

Because those look good for the price.

Well, miche makes excellent bike parts. Not quite Phil Wood, but better than Alien! Their hubs are great and you get a unique wheelset that not everyone has.

Yeah, I'm gonna get some of those.

booya! post a pic when you're done. i wish i needed wheels, i'd buy them... i'm still happy w/ my $500 Mavic Ellipses that are a lot like those Miches.

Plenty of inexpensive hubs are durable.
Eye-pleasing, well...

I will post pics... in the mean time I've just gotta pick which bike to throw them on!
I love my phils laced to v's and they are my favorite wheelset I own, but those look TOO clean to pass up on.

i'd suggest the ambrosio pista set, its almost the exact same thing, Miche hubs and all. I got a set about a month ago and they are pretty rad and cheaper.Ebizzle

edit= just be aware though, the spokes are actually silver like in the picture, not black like in the description, I was pissed but when i brought this up to them they gave me some cash back.

ha, i was pretty sure that i wasn't the only one who seriously ell oh elled at that ish.

and +1 to the comment about formulas et al. it always seem weird to me when folks on ssfg bash them for being "entry-level" hubs or whatever, when the fact of the matter is that they are quality parts if properly maintained. but they seem to be the same folks who lunge for ano'ed phils or some other overpriced hubs when they immediately start swapping out components on their new iro completes, if you know what i'm saying.

in my experience if you really want something its better to just wait and save the money instead of trying to find the cheap, easy alternative. even if the quality is fine you'll always wonder if the others were just that little bit better if only you had waited and saved a bit from another paycheck or two.

I was asked to address concerns on this forum. This is from http://www.alienbikes.com/gear.html:

"High flange cartrige bearing hubs. These snazzy hubs are available in front or rear, silver or black, 36 hole. The rears are 120mm spaced and include a 1/8" 16T cog and lockring. The cog is not that great so if you ride aggro (skids, etc) a high quality CNC'd cog is suggested"

I hope this adds some substance to the discussion. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions regarding the group buy. There has been an extension as Joseph hopes to break 50 orders (we're close!)