Utter nonsense. There's a really good reason the the Conti GP4000S (original and II) has been one of the best selling tires on the market for quite a few years. They handle great, they're light, and they're actually quite durable.For best road tires I tend to lean towards Vittoria. The high end Continentals don't have any directional stability and you have to always watch your line.
Again, more nonsense. There is a substantial difference in quality and consistency, though I agree that the exorbitant prices on some domestic wheels are bordering on insane. That's one reason I've stuck with aluminum. I can build a set of sub-1300 gram clinchers for under $250.I use cheap Chinese carbon wheels because there simply is no advantage to expensive American made ones.
That's because you're buying cheap **** wheels. Carbon fiber parts can be very precisely made, as is common in the aerospace industry, and some carbon fiber bike parts are extremely well-made. However, it takes high quality tooling, experienced workers and a commitment to quality design and construction. While there are certainly some Chinese products that fit that bill, the junk wheels you've been buying don't.The spoke bed on carbon wheels is irregular because laying something like that up cannot be carefully controlled like aluminum. This means that the spoke tensions on these wheels always varies all over the map to have a straight and round wheel.
Even spoke tension is critical to long wheel life. If you'd ever actually built wheels, you'd understand that.I do not like that although it doesn't seem to hurt anything.
Again, nonsense. If you know how to use a tensiometer, you can get accurate and consistent readings on any kind of spoke.Chinese wheels often have those flat plate "aero" spokes and spoke tension meters do NOT read correctly on those.
And you keep buying them. Duh!So a lot of them have spoke tension WAY too low and the wheels will flex this way and that under riding loads. This makes "from the factory" wheels dangerous as hell.
I'm curious about how you're getting sidewall cuts on road tires? Are you riding them on dirt or gravel? How much pressure are you riding in them?I never had a problem with them holding the line, what I HATED about those tires were the sidewalls were too fragile, I never ever cut any other side wall from any manufacturer for over 40 years of riding but every single Conti I have used I cut the sidewall, or abrasion it enough to throw the tire away, and Conti tires are not cheap. I also found the tread cut easier than other treads did, not sure about the wear out factor because I never had a Conti last long enough to simply wear out.
I never pay more than $30 for a tire, so it has to be on a big discount sale or I don't get them. I always have a pair in reserve anyways, so it's not like I need a tire right now situation thus I'll pay any price, I just wait till the sales come.
Interesting. I've only used 25c Contis, so perhaps there's an issue with the 23s that I'm not aware of. As I mentioned, I run lower pressure, which also reduces the likelihood of cut tires..
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