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Carbon Wheels from China (Aliexpress)

by UpHillBattle
Mon, Jun 13, 2016 21:59
6

Looks at upgrading the wheels on my bike and was thinking of carbon wheels from the above mentioned site.

Budget about £200-£250ish

Does anyone have any comments on if cheap carbon wheels are the way forward or stik to the Fulcrum Racing Quattro I have been looking at.

Any advise would be great as so much choice when it comes to wheels.

 

 

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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6 comments

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Team EPO | 6 years ago
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I have some carbon aero wheels from Light bicycle who were very good to deal with,  as mentioned above don't forget to factor in import duty and a handling fee from the post office.  On balance though I would be tempted to just buy my next wheels from Hunt who seem to have a good reputation.

 

Here is some footage of them spinning on my Cervelo s5

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FFXju9Pnc&t=2s

 

 

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UpHillBattle | 7 years ago
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Thanks for the information & advising about the possiable import tax,

I had forgot to include that when looking into the cost of the Wheels from China.

The Yoeleo look good but more reseach is required before I decided what to do.

 

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philhubbard | 7 years ago
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Maybe try Zuus wheels, will probably be a similar price to most when including customs and shipping

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FMOAB | 7 years ago
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I've bought three sets of carbon wheels (all tubulars) from China with no problems whatsoever.

The first was the most cautious of purchases, so I went with Farsports, they have a good reputation and use Sapim spokes.  They came in at about 1.3kg for the pair.  The spokes all came bedded in on nice little brass washers and although the wheels (60mm tubulars) have been crashed a few times, they have survived well and have only needed a little bit of truing up.  They were the high temperature rims and there is no rim wear evident yet after about two years.

The other Chinese carbon wheels have been bought, one through eBay, the other through Aliexpress.  The shallow rimmed wheels (22mm I think) came in at a few grams over 1kg for the pair and are surviving well 16 months + on.  The others were 60mm track tubs.  No problem with either of these - both on Bitex hubs.

Don't forget to factor in some customs/import charge if you go for the Chinese option.  This appears to be a bit of a lottery as I was charged the most for the least expensive  and vice versa.  In my experience, this has been somewhere in the region of £30-£60.

Some of the Ebay suppliers have these wheels in stock in the UK, so they can give you a definite price, with no customs lottery - for example, cycling-cycling will sell you a set of 50mm clinchers for £349 including postage.  Even when they are importing, I find eBay less daunting than Aliexpress and there's no real difference in price. 

I've been so impressed with my experience of shipping from China that last year I had a titanium frameset made for me by Waltly, but that's another (entirely successful) story.

 

 

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Matjaz replied to FMOAB | 6 years ago
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FMOAB wrote:

 

Some of the Ebay suppliers have these wheels in stock in the UK, so they can give you a definite price, with no customs lottery - for example, cycling-cycling will sell you a set of 50mm clinchers for £349 including postage.  Even when they are importing, I find eBay less daunting than Aliexpress and there's no real difference in price. 

 

I've  bought carbon clinchers 50mm from cycling-cycling (on ebay) last year in August, and week ago braking surface was destroyed.

After only 800 km and original breaking pads and really carefoul breaking surface overheated and surface become indented on one point 10 cm length.

I noticed allready after recieving that surface on that reer wheel is somehow not 100% smooth on one point, but i was expecting that it will become smooth after a while with breaking.

But NOOO. after 800 km destroyed.

Payed about 300 GBP for that, and now seller doesn't want to find a solution. Actually bad on e-bay as you can't really do anything after that time and after giving feedback after one month.

They offered me if i send to china and pay all shipping for both directions + taxes, but that would cost me over 100 GBP. Another option they gave me is to buy from them again for 10% discount.

 

So avoid buying from cycling-cycling, evidentially they don't have quality control of braking surface for carbon clinchers. 

+ They don't give any warranty and don't solve problems with clients as they should.

Bad chinese clinchers- newer again!!!

 

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tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
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Tap Yoeleo into Youtube. Seems to be a lot of guys having success with them as daily wheels. 

 

I'm still doing my research on Chinese wheels on forums, basically you get some balls that you wouldn't risk your life on all the way to really solid well built wheels that you can hammer it with. I'm thinking to give yoeleo or maybe some other company a shot for some 50mms later on. Just got new wheels yesterday so no rush right now, but with the standard coming up in China and triathletes and club riders going harder than I can on them.. well it's tempting for sure.

http://www.yoeleobike.com/

 

Farsports are posher again, and recommended at weightweenies.

https://www.wheelsfar.com/

 

These guys seems to have the best ordering option design on site, and also come recommended at weightweenies. Cheaper than Farsports.

http://www.light-bicycle.com/carbon-road-bike

That said, not sure I'd jump in to Alibaba without massive amount of research and recommendations from guys over here who've tested them.

 

 

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