Vuelta wheelsets, how good or bad are they?

[Solanog]

I was looking at some wheelsets and came accross Vuelta. They have some low priced wheelsets that seem like a great deal. Since I don't know them very well I would like to ask about your experience with them or how good could they be.
http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=462
http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=502
http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=1179

They have also more expensive sets but this ones are some of the ones I considered as great value.
I saw them on bikeIsland, have someone shop from them? What about your experience from them?

I liked this frameset too, http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=1041 what do you think about it?


Thanks.

 

[531Aussie]

as you suggest, for $115, you can't really go wrong.

My guess is that they have Joy Tech hubs, which are good enough, depending on what bearings are in there, but for the price......

Same with the frame

 

[Solanog]

as you suggest, for $115, you can't really go wrong.

My guess is that they have Joy Tech hubs, which are good enough, depending on what bearings are in there, but for the price......

Same with the frame

Thanks for your response. I'm on a tight budget and I'm really looking for having great value on the parts I'm looking forward to buy. But that doesn't mean that I want to get pieces of junk!
Since I saw that Vuelta has a wide range of prices and stuff I thought that the less expensive items maybe not as fancy or hight tech as the higher end of the offerings but offer good quality.
Same for the frame, the majority of this stuff comes for China or Taiwan, each brand may have different specs or designs but quality could be similar between brands, some may even just ask for a frame and color and the manufacturer will design and build.

 

[531Aussie]

Thanks for your response. .

The only thing is that if you're a big guy, I'd probably go for more spokes, just to be on the safe/reliability side

 

[Solanog]

The only thing is that if you're a big guy, I'd probably go for more spokes, just to be on the safe/reliability side

I weigh around 200lbs.

 

[531Aussie]

I weigh around 200lbs.

well, that ain't light for light wheels, and if you spend much time mashing off the saddle, you might find the cheapest wheels on there a little flexy.

The spiel on the $155 set sounds much more impressive

 

[Solanog]

well, that ain't light for light wheels, and if you spend much time mashing off the saddle, you might find the cheapest wheels on there a little flexy.

The spiel on the $155 set sounds much more impressive

I currently ride on 36 spoke 105 hubs, I own a pair of tubular and a pair of clincher with the same hubs. they have been rolling for quite a while, but I've been wanting one of those "light wheels" for a while and after seeing those at an affordable price they seem very attractive.

 

[benkoostra]

Just buy them and wear 'em out. At that price, you can't really go too wrong.

I weigh 195, and ride with 20 front/24 rear spoke count. No issues with 'flex' or breakage at all.

 

[531Aussie]

I currently ride on 36 spoke 105 hubs, I own a pair of tubular and a pair of clincher with the same hubs. they have been rolling for quite a while, but I've been wanting one of those "light wheels" for a while and after seeing those at an affordable price they seem very attractive.

I'm about 190 pounds 'at the moment', and I was kind of in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. I have about 8 or 9 sets of wheels with 32-hole, 9-speed Shimano hubs (Dura-Ace, Ultegra and some 105 rears) with various rims: DT RR 1.2, Rigida DP18s, Mavic Open Pros, CXP30, CXP33, Open SUPs and Open 4CDs. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about with 'blingier' wheels, so I lashed out last year and bought some deep-dish Flash-Point FP60s, but I was mostly disappointed, coz they flex a lot more than my 'real' wheels, and I'm not sure the Joy Tech hubs rolls as good as the old cone and ball hubs.

Then I bought some aero Token C50s, which are a bit stiffer, but they're still nowhere near as stiff as my 32-spoke wheels. I don't like the feel of them when I mash off the saddle. A few guys on the Weight Weenies forums told me that to get top performance out of blingier wheels, I've gotta "pony up the cash for top quality stuff. You can't expect $3,000 performance out of $1,000 wheels".

In other words, don't expect too much from $150 wheels.
...but, as we said, for that money, ya can't go wrong.

I've spent more than that on a pairs of tyres, before they became readily available online for better than half the price.

I'll say again: out of those wheels, I'd go for P Pros.

 

[Peter@vecchios]

I'm about 190 pounds 'at the moment', and I was kind of in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. I have about 8 or 9 sets of wheels with 32-hole, 9-speed Shimano hubs (Dura-Ace, Ultegra and some 105 rears) with various rims: DT RR 1.2, Rigida DP18s, Mavic Open Pros, CXP30, CXP33, Open SUPs and Open 4CDs. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about with 'blingier' wheels, so I lashed out last year and bought some deep-dish Flash-Point FP60s, but I was mostly disappointed, coz they flex a lot more than my 'real' wheels, and I'm not sure the Joy Tech hubs rolls as good as the old cone and ball hubs.

Then I bought some aero Token C50s, which are a bit stiffer, but they're still nowhere near as stiff as my 32-spoke wheels. I don't like the feel of them when I mash off the saddle. A few guys on the Weight Weenies forums told me that to get top performance out of blingier wheels, I've gotta "pony up the cash for top quality stuff. You can't expect $3,000 performance out of $1,000 wheels".

In other words, don't expect too much from $150 wheels.
...but, as we said, for that money, ya can't go wrong.

I've spent more than that on a pairs of tyres, before they became readily available online for better than half the price.

I'll say again: out of those wheels, I'd go for P Pros.

$1000 for a set of 'low end' wheels....YGBSM. What utter BS.

 

[Solanog]

I'm about 190 pounds 'at the moment', and I was kind of in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. I have about 8 or 9 sets of wheels with 32-hole, 9-speed Shimano hubs (Dura-Ace, Ultegra and some 105 rears) with various rims: DT RR 1.2, Rigida DP18s, Mavic Open Pros, CXP30, CXP33, Open SUPs and Open 4CDs. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about with 'blingier' wheels, so I lashed out last year and bought some deep-dish Flash-Point FP60s, but I was mostly disappointed, coz they flex a lot more than my 'real' wheels, and I'm not sure the Joy Tech hubs rolls as good as the old cone and ball hubs.

Then I bought some aero Token C50s, which are a bit stiffer, but they're still nowhere near as stiff as my 32-spoke wheels. I don't like the feel of them when I mash off the saddle. A few guys on the Weight Weenies forums told me that to get top performance out of blingier wheels, I've gotta "pony up the cash for top quality stuff. You can't expect $3,000 performance out of $1,000 wheels".

In other words, don't expect too much from $150 wheels.
...but, as we said, for that money, ya can't go wrong.

I've spent more than that on a pairs of tyres, before they became readily available online for better than half the price.

I'll say again: out of those wheels, I'd go for P Pros.

In other words I may be better with my actual wheels than with those $150 ones. So I may better spend that money on other stuff?
I don't compete or train but I like riding "hard" on weekends and I would like to make some improvements in my bike or even replace it but I'm not planning on something that cost me an arm and a leg!

BTW have you heard about Massi frames? I saw one at the LBS and they can give me a good price on one of those. It's an Al frame and they have carbon forks available for it.

 

[Solanog]

In other words I may be better with my actual wheels than with those $150 ones. So I may better spend that money on other stuff?
I don't compete or train but I like riding "hard" on weekends and I would like to make some improvements in my bike or even replace it but I'm not planning on something that cost me an arm and a leg!

BTW have you heard about Massi frames? I saw one at the LBS and they can give me a good price on one of those. It's an Al frame and they have carbon forks available for it.

BTW, every now and then I get broken spokes on the rear wheel, both on my RB as in my MB. I have even had broken spokes on the front wheel but not very often. Would this get worse on less spoke count wheelsets?

 

[531Aussie]

$1000 for a set of 'low end' wheels....YGBSM. What utter BS.

ha! Maybe. The cool kids on Weight Weenies with the super-bling stuff basically said I can't expect my 'lowly' Token C50s and Flash-Points FP60s to perfom like Reynolds SDVs.

 

[531Aussie]

In other words I may be better with my actual wheels than with those $150 ones. !

Possibly. If you're thinking about buying these wheels just because you expect to get a performance advantage, you may not notice much difference, so it might not be worth it. But, if your old wheels have crappy hubs, new hubs on new wheels may make feel faster to you. In other words, if you don't need new wheels, and your budget is tight, maybe reconsider.

 

[531Aussie]

BTW have you heard about Massi frames?

Yep. In fact, i saw a busted new alu Masi at my local shop the other day. However, I think there are two Massi companies: one is the original Italian 'Masi', the rights for which has been bought by a U.S. company (I'm pretty sure that's right) and their frames are almost all Asian-made; then there's another 'Massi', which I've seen advtertised in Brit magazines, so I'm not sure which one you're referring to.

As far as I'm concerned, how 'good' an alu frame is comes down a lot to price. If it's only a few hundred bucks, then it's usually 'good enough' for me as long as it's not a brick and looks ok. However, if an alu frame starts getting closer to $1,000, then I really wanna know what it's made of, etc, etc.

I have a few alu frames, ranging from two $300 Taiwanese cheapies, to a couple of $500 Dedaccia 7003 frames, up to my $1,500 Cervelo Soloist. To be honest, I can barely tell much difference between them because they all have similar forks and identical wheels. My favourite bike at the moment is one of the Taiwanese ones, because it fits me best!

 

[531Aussie]

BTW, every now and then I get broken spokes on the rear wheel, both on my RB as in my MB. I have even had broken spokes on the front wheel but not very often. Would this get worse on less spoke count wheelsets?

not necessarily. Spokes break for a few reasons other than there not being enough spokes in a wheel. Uneven tension on old wheels is one reason why you could be busting them.

People will bang on that if a wheel is engineered properly, then 16, 20 or 24 spokes should be stiff and strong enough, and in many cases it may well be, but GENERALLY, if you're 200lbs and you're going from 36-spoke wheels to 24 and 20, there's a chance something's gunna give.

Hmm, I'm being pretty vague. It's 3:20am here

 

[alienator]

ha! Maybe. The cool kids on Weight Weenies with the super-bling stuff basically said I can't expect my 'lowly' Token C50s and Flash-Points FP60s to perfom like Reynolds SDVs.

Ehh, Reynolds Stratus DVs were one of my favorite wheel sets. Alas, Reynolds has gone all fugly now with decals. Token C50s use maybe the most popular deep rim right now, the 50mm Gigantex CF rim. Haven't heard of hoards--or any, for that matter--of 'em breaking, and plenty o' folk seem more than happy wif' 'em.

 

[kdelong]

Yep. In fact, i saw a busted new alu Masi at my local shop the other day. However, I think there are two Massi companies: one is the original Italian 'Masi', the rights for which has been bought by a U.S. company (I'm pretty sure that's right) and their frames are almost all Asian-made; then there's another 'Massi', which I've seen advtertised in Brit magazines, so I'm not sure which one you're referring to.

The rights to Masi were not bought by an American Company. The original Masi is alive and well, just not in Italy anymore. Faliero Masi partnered with a Southern California business man by the name of Roland Sahm and moved his operation from Italy to San Diego in 1972. He brought along his chief frame builder so the frames that came out of California were the same quality as those that came out of Italy (sorry Pete). Faliero passed away in May of 2000 and the company is now headed up by Ted Kirkbride. As with nearly all other bicycle manufacturers, their frames are now manufactured for them in Asia.

 

[531Aussie]

Ehh, Reynolds Stratus DVs were one of my favorite wheel sets. Alas, Reynolds has gone all fugly now with decals. Token C50s use maybe the most popular deep rim right now, the 50mm Gigantex CF rim. Haven't heard of hoards--or any, for that matter--of 'em breaking, and plenty o' folk seem more than happy wif' 'em.

yeah, the Token rims seem kinda robust; at least much more so than the FPs. The American Classic hubs on the Tokens might be another story. I'm already getting some creaking from the rear somewhere.

Have you heard much about the new-ish DA 7850 C50 wheels with the alu braking surfaces? They're the latest 'affordable' wheelset I've got my eye on

 

[531Aussie]

The rights to Masi.......

Thanks. I should've Googled it before I blabbed about it. One of the employees posts on BF as Masi Guy