Chinese Carbon Wheelset

[AUbicycles]

For Farsports, we had a review wheelset years back that struggled while riding fast (unbalanced), they were replaced.

I also had a set that were good until some delamination on the braking surface (still with supplied brakepads).

While I found them to be quite nice to ride on and stayed true, it was still a quality issue on the original layup and build that you don’t want to have. In contrast to name brands, as they were over 2 years (prob, 4 years on / off ride time), a name brand with a similar issue would also not be a return as warranty is ended and it would probably be ‘normal wear and tear’.

In this context, they were better value. But if the namebrand is a better build and lasts longer, then it is better value.

A brand between extremes is Token. Not sure who is supplying or if they are available, but they were previously competitively priced and with good build quality.

[Giddo]

Once again, thanks all for your help.
More food for thought, than I thought .

The research continues

Giddo

[lone rider]

I have experience with a few brands being mentioned in here.

Caden, bought a set of 49/59mm about 5 years ago. First aero wheelset, no idea what expect. There is something a bit off about the rim shape, they dont handle well in crosswinds. Im normally around 68-70 kg but I can ride an 88mm front and full disc rear on a TT bike and not be affected as much as these wheels. They are basically a chinese wheelset put together in Aus, the hubs appear to be Bitex, they have never completely true from the day I got them but apparently this is tolerances blah, blah. I had a rattle in the front rim for a while so took the tyre and tube off to see if I could get it out of the valve hole, it turned out to be a 2X2 cm square piece of carbon film, now there is one in the rear.... I know someone who has the decadence model and has the some issue in one of their rims. Also the rim brake track is horrible, completely useless in wet weather.

Craftworx, bought a set of aluminium rim, shallow climbing wheels. Again, chinese parts assembled in Brisbane. The hubs are terrible, looks like a powerway which is aliexpress level stuff, rims are rebadged H Plus Son. The wheels are built fine, no issues with trueness or anything falling apart its just a $1200 wheelset that is probably worth half that.

As for chinese made, I have an Elite wheelset for TT's, no UCI rules so no worries for certification. Cost me under $1200 all up which is dirt cheap for a TT wheelset. I bought the full disc rear and was pretty surprised by the quality, I was expecting it to be a bit dodgy. The free hub is pretty crap, I'll probably replace it but it will do for now, the wheel is dead straight but the balance is a bit off, I suspect its the freehub though. I had initially thought I would replace the bearings when I got it but there was no need to. Happy with my $800 first purchase I then looked for a front option and got an 88mm for $350. Hard to fault the quality of the rim, far stronger than Caden rims, I could always flex the side of Caden rims which always bugged me because the brakes would rub easily, cant do that with these. They spin for ages and the balance is excellent.

I am waiting on a set of Winspace Lun road 45mm to turn up. This is their cheaper wheelset, $1200. There is now a dealer based in Melb selling them and is covering the warranty period, so no sending them back to china for any issues which was the selling point for me. Creative Cycles is the name, he will be carrying some local stock as well. Its hard to find a bad review on Winspace wheels, all UCI legal too.