Campag Eurus wheels - untidy weld

Just bought a set of Eurus and generally they're great. Could really feel a difference over the Ksyrium Elites which I had before - faster acceleration & easier to maintain 25mph+.

What didn't impress me for relatively expensive wheels, is that the weld on the rim under the sticker has not been cleaned - it's probably 1mm high. This makes the sticker look like it has a crease in it.

Is this on all Eurus wheels or have I been had??

My Eurus wheels have no crease, but I think my Ksyrium SL's are faster since they have a more frictionless hub. The hubs on my Eurus have high friction - like if you put the skewer level with the ground it doesn't rotate due to gravity.

How are your hubs? Are they frictionless?

Frictionless!!!! You guys crack me up.

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The hubs have to be frictionless to keep up with the massless spokes.

I'm also not sure about frictionless...but anyhow, they are reasonably smooth and I will check if the Q/R skewer sticks. I have to admit my Ksyrium Elites have smoother bearings but on the open road the Eurus do feel faster. A friend has Ksyrium SL's and his bearings were not as smooth as the Elites!

I'm also hoping the Eurus bearings will become smoother as I put more miles on them. Is this likely or just wishful thinking??

NB, I also looked at some Shimano Dura Ace 7800 wheels in bike shop and they had the worst bearings of all - really rough and almost sticking in one position.

Has no-one else has a un-cleaned weld on the Eurus rim?

My campy eurus wheels are breaking in. At 417 miles my front skewer now moves from horizontal to down due to gravity. Previously it was stuck. Hopefully at 1000 miles it will have low friction. My Shimano R535 rear hub is near frictionless with 1600 miles on it.

How are your wheels doing?

Dura Ace hubs, like Campy hubs, should be totally smooth in feel, with no apparent friction or roughness. If not, would suspect they either need adjustment, are contaminated with grit, or otherwise have hosed bearings from rust, long wear or abuse.

yeah i got a weld line on my babies too, but i think its perfectly normal.

JTE83, I have seen you make this reference several times now and I ask nicely that you never do it again beacause:
A) you have no idea what the friction of the bearings from the wheels is when spinning the wheels without load... if the bearings are totally shot your wheel will spin forever but as soon as you put 100lbs on it it will have way more friction than some "tight" bearing that you keep referencing
B) What the hell does your skewer rotating INSIDE the axle of your wheel have to do with bearing friction anyway?

It is crazy how so many people make sweeping judgements based on how well their wheels spin, everything from importance of rotational intertia reduction to how much higher your top speed is because of smoother bearings. Please stop it, you are driving anal retentive people like me mad...

I was also dissapointed with the weld on my Eurus

I should know what I'm saying about friction - I'm a mechanical engineer. And my Eurus wheels are breaking in with more miles so I'm happy with that. Otherwise, at 1000 miles - I would have sold these wheels on ebay.

With a load and me riding on my bike the Eurus wheels feel fast. But I know they suck power because the hubs are not frictionless yet. Look at a brand new set of Zipp hubs - those are frictionless from the start! My Eurus hubs now spin slowly from horizontal due to gravity @ 453.3 miles.

Since the Eurus have a reputation for staying true with lots of miles then they might be worth keeping. But they are hard to true and really expensive to true when trueing is needed.

The skewer "holds" the axle and they both spin together when the wheel is held up in the air not mounted on a bike.

But your top speed will be higher with smoother / frictionless bearings.

I would rather have a set of HED 3s and Zipp 404 tubulars for my race bikes but I can't afford that. My Eurus wheels are still somewhat disappointing.

Man, I could really use some frictionless hubs for my perpetual motion machine.

Exactly, it is how the bearings perform under load that matters.... But if anyone actually still thinks the skewer thing provides any indication of physics-defying frictionlessness, consider that the skewer (when not in use) is basically just an axle inside an axle.

Well, when I said the hubs are frictionless I guess I should have more accurately said that they are "near frictionless."

I"m still impressed with the Zipp hubs, the Shimano R535 / R540 / R550 hubs when broken in, and the Ksyrium SL hubs. I'm not impressed with Bontrager or Campy hubs because of their friction.

thanks for your replies, seems like I'm not the only one with a weld issue - attached a photo of my front wheel 'weld'.

Apart from this weld issue, I'm really happy with the wheels; they look great (obv. my opinion) and do feel faster than my K Elites. The issue regarding bearings smoothness/friction is interesting. When I spin the wheel holding the skewer and inner axel fixed, the K Elites feel very smooth with no perceptable vibration or roughness. This is not the case with the Eurus. Although not rough, they're definately not as smooth - as if they bearing surfaces are not as well polished.

However the skewer 'self rotation' is the opposite. I tightened the skewer (both wheels using the same campag skewer) sufficient that the inner axel and skewer rotate as one. If the skewer in the K Elites is placed horizontal it does not rotate, not even close. However with the Eurus it always rotates to the vertical position.

Which bearings are faster to ride (however negligible)? It's as if the Elites have a thick grease and the Eurus an oil. Surely a thinner grease/oil reduces the load, therefore faster (as in a car engine to improve mpg), though not feeling so smooth??

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