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Fluctuating weights of Velocity Dyad rims

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Fluctuating weights of Velocity Dyad rims

Old 02-03-10, 12:08 PM
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Fluctuating weights of Velocity Dyad rims

I just bought three Velocity Dyad rims and am confused about the weights. Every website I've seen, including Velocity's own, lists these rims as 480 grams for the 700c version. However, the two (silver) 40-hole rims that I got for the tandem weigh 522 grams each, and the (black) 36-hole rim, for my cyclocross rear wheel, weighs 542 grams. I then weighed the (black) 40-hole rim that came off of our tandem (a 2008 Co-Motion Speedster), and it weighs 452 grams! If you're wondering why we need a new rim for our 18-month old tandem, then see this thread about our encounter with a narrow drainage channel. The second tandem rim is a backup in case anything like that happens again.

I know actual weights don't always quite match the list weights, but I've never seen deviations of between -5% to +10% (or more). AFAIK, the main competitors for a rim in this sort of size and strength are the DT Swiss TK 540 (previously known as TK 7.1), and the Mavic A319 or A719 (which are similar to the old T519 I believe). The DT Swiss is listed as 540 grams and the Mavic A719 is 567 grams. So, the Velocity used to be significantly lighter, but maybe that is no longer true (but maybe the list weights of the other brands are equally inaccurate).

The other thing to note about the Dyad rims is that they are not even distributed in Europe. I spoke with Brick Lane Bikes in London, UK, who are the European importer for Velocity rims. However, they only import certain models, basically whatever they can sell to the fixie crowd in London. They were not at all interested in obtaining some Dyads for me. I therefore ordered from an online store in the US. It took 3-4 weeks, but I now have them. Shipping (to Switzerland) was US$50 plus import fees, which were the equivalent of US$15 (plus local sales tax). Fortunately, I wanted to add a fork to the order, so that made the flat fees a bit more worthwhile. I was hoping that they would decide to start importing these rims to Europe soon, but now it looks like it is not so important - I'll just go with the local brands of Mavic or DT Swiss next time.

Last edited by Chris_W; 02-04-10 at 06:40 AM.
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Old 02-03-10, 01:14 PM
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When I first wrote the follow update extract I clearly had a similar disconnect between what Velocity cited as their rim weights for the Deep-V and what three spare rims I had on hand weighed. Although Velocity never offered an explanation as to why, the rims they were producing in the Spring of 2008 did, it turns out, weigh in at the lighter claimed weight. Admittedly, the Deep-V rims I hand on hand were produced back around 2002 and 2004, so it was assumption that something with the extrusions had changed.

It makes me wonder if your supplier didn't get his hands on some new-old-stock (NOS) rims?

------------------


From my March 16, 2008 Calfee Journal Update...




As you can see, this Deep-V weighs in at 577 grams, which is consistent with two other spares I have here at the house. I recently sent a note to Velocity USA to mention that the Deep-V rim weights listed on their Web site seemed a bit on the low side @ 520 grams compared to the last five that I'd purchased which weigh in at 577 grams. I also shared a Web site that depicted my 3 rims sitting on a calibrated scale.
The Velocity rep stated he'd pulled a silver anodized Deep-V rim off the shelf and weighed it to be 522 grams. He went on to note the anodized and machined rims would have different weights than, say, powder coated and non-machined rims, and that the number of spoke holes also factored into the rim's weight. However, to establish the catalog weight they randomly pulled a number of different Deep-V rims to come up with the average weight and that average is purportedly what they based their catalog weight against.

The latter was interesting, but it seemed to ignore the point that my three (3) 577 gram Deep-Vs with their anodized with machined sidewalls still falls well off the "average". I would note that someone from the Hobbes list had just recently purchased a pair of silver Deep-V rims with 24h spoking where the rims weigh 525 grams and 530 grams, respectively. Therefore, I must conclude that what Velocity is using is the average weight of the base-model / silver rims and not an average of rims that represent the full line.

May '08 Update: We received our new set of White Ind / Velocity Deep-V wheels in May and the spare rim weighed in at 520 grams on the dot. So, it would appear the current Deep-Vs are per spec, which is a good thing.
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Old 02-04-10, 12:35 AM
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Thanks for the info, TG. Your theory about the extrusion process changing and these being NOS would certainly explain what I observed. I got my new rims from Beyond Bikes, who don't mention them being NOS. Next time, instead of choosing a dealer because they list the item I want as "in stock", I'll choose a dealer who has to order my product especially.

I had wondered whether the black anodizing and amount of drilling affected the weight because the two silver 40 hole rims were each 20 grams lighter than the black 36-hole rim. However, the one I weighed that came off of our tandem was a black 40 hole and this was 70 grams lighter than the "new" silver 40 holes, so the anodiznig and drilling can explain the minor variations, but not the larger increase.
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Old 02-04-10, 07:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Chris_W
I got my new rims from Beyond Bikes, who don't mention them being NOS.
Generally, dealers/distributors won't list items as NOS unless that model is out of production OR there has been a noticable, visual difference in the product. The reason they don't is that without these clues, they don't know themselves!

Manufacturer sales reps are pushed to get rid of old stock first, (naturally), so when a distributor says, "I need 100 Dyad rims", the rep takes the order without a word about any "new extrusion process that results in a stronger rim with a lower rim weight". He just says, "100 Dyads. Check. Next?"

So, sans any visual clues, the distributor doesn't know, therefore the dealer doesn't know, therefore the customer doesn't know.

Unless, of course, they ask .... da da daaaaa ..... TANDEMGEEK!!!
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