As posted previously, I have had a problem with various carbon parts. Yet I went ahead and purchased these Neuvation wheels. John at Neuvation wrote and told me that these wheels would be great for cyclocross and so...what the heck, I am a push over I guess. I ordered them. And I was excited to get even these "generic" carbon wheels. With shipping included these wheels were less than $600. Beat that.
Weight: 1420 grams total. 800 rear and 620 front. Not as light as the American Classic carbon wheels I owned earlier this year, but they cost a heck of a lot less.
Depth: 50 mm. No they aren't super deep, but I think that for use in both cyclocross and triathlons (should they survive the season) they will work great. For triathlons they aren't as deep as I would like, but for the money they will work great.
More pics with the Vittoria I am going to run with them until I can get a hold of some of the new Challenge Fangos. The Vittorias were on the rims so that they could stretch out prior to beginning the gluing process.
One of the things that I really like about these wheels is that they use regular ol' nipples. Brianero has some Easton carbon wheels and those things have funky recessed nipples or some odd set up that rendered replacement very difficult without proper tools. Not so with Neuvation. Bravo.
The finish of the rims is pretty good. They look spendier that they actually are--especially once the stickers came off. Stickers weighed about 20 grams by the way. The wheels look better to me with the stickers off. And the stickers came off very easily. No chemicals needed to remove any residue.
A few hours after taking these pictures I removed the tires and put the first coat of glue on the tires and rims. I am going to do 3 layers on the rims and at least 3 on the tires. Maybe 4 on the tires. The base tape on the tires really sucked up the glue quickly. If the second layer is absorbed similarly I can see 4 being necessary for sure. We will see.
Regardless of the cost of these wheels (in fact probably because of the cost of these wheels) and the fact that they aren't the name brand wheels, I am pretty excited to race these. I view them as being somewhat disposable. If a rim breaks, the worst I am out is a couple of hundred bucks to get it going again. I have a really nice second tubular wheelset--the Ksyriums ES wheels--and so I am not worried about something happening. If they break too easily then I guess I will devote these to triathlons only or just sell them once they are fixed. Either way, it is not that big of a deal. Had these been something more expensive, like Zipps, I would be much more fearful of them braking because I would have a hard time coming up with the money to fix them. I can sell some of my spare parts and come up with the money to replace a Neuvation rim if need be. Bottom line is I can race these worry-free.
With a little luck these will be ready to go, including tire sealant for Alpenrose, the first Cross Crusade race, this weekend.
3 comments:
I'm looking at the C38 or the C50 for cross. How are the new C50's working out?
So far I have a couple of rides on them. The first ride was in a race and the tires were totally wrong for the course. However the wheels held up well. I run my tires pretty soft and even though I felt a rock or root hit the rim (not too hard though) they are still very true.
I would buy these wheels again, without any hesitation. Make sure that you get a good set of spare carbon pads if you buy them. John at Neuvation sent me a set with the wheels, but they wear fast.
The wheels feel stout and I think they will be strong enough to last a long time, as long as I don't do anything too stupid. Obviously, stuff can happen to any wheel.
Howdy!
Any chance we could get a longer term followup from ya?
Might buy these for the upcoming cross season.
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