Chinese Carbon Rims
 

I've been mulling over the idea of investing in some deep section wheels for a little while, but as is the case of many my budget doesn't quite stretch to the likes of Zipp/HED/etc, not even second hand. So the idea came about of buying some Chinese carbon rims and building them up with DA/Phil Wood hubs or the like for a considerably lower price.

Now there's a lot to say in regards to Chinese carbon road wheels, but not so much track. What are you thoughts on this, would you trust them? Anybody done this themselves? Been searching around for some accounts specifically in relation to track wheels but they're few and far between.

I've come across a couple of sellers that offer warranties of at least a year, which puts my mind at ease a little. The question of ethics doesn't come into play as I wouldn't be buying straight knock offs, just unbranded parts. It's my understanding that many named brands source their materials from foreign factories/suppliers so what's the harm in essentially buying direct?

I've ridden them on my road bike for that last few years.. and haven't treated them well.
5 years on the breaking surface developed a small soft spot so i retired them.
In that time i serviced them once or twice, rode them in the dry wet and took them off road.

Saying that, i did a bit of research and bought from one of the manufactures with a bit more cred, hong fu (frame) and far sports (three sets of wheels)

Be careful of some of the ebay sellers. some of them have some pretty poxy products

Check this forum for some good information.
Ebay and Chinese Direct Carbon Wheel Thread 3.0 - Page 3

The way you are going about things is the right way IMO. The rims are pretty good, but some of the hubs that come on the cheap wheelsets are a bit questionable in quality and you could possibly be better served with aluminium rims on a better hub sometimes. I would go straight to the source in terms of acquiring the rims. My personal rims are Light Bicycle, while Farsports and Yishun are some other companies with a good online reputation.

I went for Light Bicycle 88mm tubs laced to DA 28/28 hubs with CXray spokes. The wheelset at the time (about 2.5 years ago now) with Vittoria Corsa CX tubs glued on and assembled by local builder came in at about $900. I have ridden those wheels indoor and outdoor without a hint of an issue. I haven't even had to tension a spoke on them. I'm tipping the scales at 120kg, so I'm no lightweight! If I was a lighter rider I'd be chasing down different hubs with a lower spoke count. The lowest count you can get DA track hubs in is 28 hole.

It is also worth noting that the guy who built them did some time as a wheelbuilder for Zipp. He was very concerned at the prospect of building onto a Chinese rim, but once he saw them and built them up, said they were every bit as good as a Zipp rim.

I went with Light Bicycle because even though I could find stuff all reviews on their road rims, there were many happy downhill MTB riders using their carbon MTB rims. Those cop a massive amount of abuse, so they must be able to build a decent rim! They also would do the rims without a brake track, so it's a cleaner look for track

I don't remember what I bought, but I bought some v-shaped, 20mm wide, 60mm deep wheels last year for my sweetheart. They had offset drilling and a nice seam channel in the rim bed. Totally decent. They were built up maybe 24/28 with bladed spokes to whatever hubs. The hubs have stainless hardware and sealed bearings, which means that they're about as decent as any track hub ought to be (and needs to be). For less than $400 shipped they're great. I have some FFWDs and they're lighter and nicer but really, what's the difference?

I'd never come across Light Bicycle before, they look pretty solid. Thanks for sharing, definitely adding to the list of manufacturers I'm considering.