Velomax Spartacus Velocity

Are these wheels any good? And by good, I mean, are they good enough to put on a new bike when my wife finally gives in and let's me have one?

 

Which Velomax wheels?

 

Every professional review I have read says that Velomax makes outstanding wheels and has great quality control. However, Velocity makes the Spartacus not Velomax right?

 

Oops. Yeah, Velocity

 

They have a pretty low thread count. How much do you weigh? I read that they weren't recomended for people over 175#

 

I am under 175.

 

There aren't any reviews in roadbikereveiw.com
Velocity uses an OEM hub with cartridge bearings, paired spoke straight gauge low spoke count (16 or 20 front and 20 or 24 rear).

Velocity makes good rims and is a very good company to deal with in the USA. The rims are made in Australia. I don't know where the spokes or hubs are made... or what their quality is.

Deep V rims have a 30 mm profile. They are more difficult to handle in gusty cross winds. They will provide lower aerodynamic drag when ridden in still air or directlt into a headwind.

Lower spoke count makes the spokes and spoke interfaces at rim and hub carry more load. Since the load is more concentrated, there is more fatigue and durability is lower than wheels with 32 and 36 spokes.
Most cartridge bearings are for high speed radial loads of electric motors. The "seal" is not weather (read water) tight. Bearings on Shimano and Campagnolo are much better sealed and more readily available and lower cost when replacement is required. Both Shimano and Campagnolo have many more years experience in building bicycle hubs.
Straight gauge spokes are less durable than double butted spokes.
If you break a spoke on a low spoke count wheel, they often go so far out of true that they can not be ridden.... even after "emegency" spoke tension adjustments.

 

Thanks. This helps.

 

David: Appreciate your expert advice. You put a lot of wisdom in a short response here. Of course, most of us only learn through experience....

 

Don't confuse Velocity with Velomax - they are two separate outfits. I'm quite happy with a set of wheels I had built using the Velocity Aerohead rim. The rear rim is especially nice in that the holes are off-center so that the stress is more evenly distributed in a heavily dished wheel (I'm riding Campy 10-spd.).

The price seems almost too good to be true: Alger Cycles in MI (shop.store.yahoo.com/alger-cyclery/index.html) has these $240/pr. for wheels built to spec and delivered. I wanted something more conservative than the Spartacus: 28 hole radial front, 32 hole three cross rear with Wheelsmith 14/15 db spokes. Gray finish on the rims (they have several colors) and Velocity hubs, which seem quite nicely made (apparently sourced from the Taiwanese OEM hub maker Formula). They even include a cassette lockring.

 

How do you know your new bike wont have an ok wheelset on it?