Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Lockdown googling for light aluminium rim brake wheelsets has led me to Ali Express.
They have wheelsets built with kinlin rims and choice of hubs such as novatec or powerway.
Light at around 1370 grams and around $390.
Has anyone got any experience with wheel builders on Ali Express?

A lot of us have Chinese made wheels - I have a set of carbon light bicycle wheels and they're excellent, though they don't do alloy.

For 'alloy' and 'lightweight' and 'novatec' I'd recommend going locally with Kotavelo instead:

https://kotavelo.com.au/store/kotavelo- ... elset.html

That set is 1380g, $299 and posted from Bundaberg. Honestly, the quality won't be any better but they're cheaper and have local support. I had a set on my last bike and ran into some novatec hub issues but think I was unlucky.

No experience with those wheel builders specifically, but those prices sound very close to the price to just purchase parts from a "western" vendor. I've bought and built lots of kinlin rims onto various hubs and been very happy with them.

If you want to learn to build yourself, which is a valuable skill, I've bought from BDOP in the past and been happy with the prices and service. They have quite well priced build kits and ship out of Taiwan: https://bdopcycling.com/bdop-diy-wheel-kits/

BDOP do good kits, from what I can see and have heard. I had a set of 28H silver Kinlin XR30 rims on Ultegra 6500 hubs that were branded as Gipiemme. I have a set of 20/24H silver Kinlin XR26 on novatec hubs branded as BuckyBikes. Both quality wheelsets. Kinlin make a lot of rims.

Checked out XLR8 wheels? Local (Ballina, NSW). I got them to build me a set of their wide alloy rim onto a 32H 105 hubset. Very nice rims, most likely a Kinlin section, reliable az.

Happy with my BDOP kit (#III) and the experience of building it (though can understand if you don't want to). They use the newer wider rims, not sure what's on Ali but guessing they might be the older narrower models of rim?

Rims are decent though I suspect the rear (offset) rim is a little soft as it seems to chew up the brake track faster than the front and embed flakes in the brake pads. Novatec hubs have been good to me but I haven't put many km on them and avoid bad weather. Pillar spokes have been fine too.

Mr Purple wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 15, 2021 8:53 am

A lot of us have Chinese made wheels - I have a set of carbon light bicycle wheels and they're excellent, though they don't do alloy.

For 'alloy' and 'lightweight' and 'novatec' I'd recommend going locally with Kotavelo instead:

https://kotavelo.com.au/store/kotavelo- ... elset.html

That set is 1380g, $299 and posted from Bundaberg. Honestly, the quality won't be any better but they're cheaper and have local support. I had a set on my last bike and ran into some novatec hub issues but think I was unlucky.

Ooh that is way too tempting… my rear pro-lite breccia I finally gave up after many kms of good service. This looks lighter and better.

I actually contacted kotavelo about this wheelset after seeing some user reviews placing their weight in the mid 1500gm range. Confirmed as being around mid 1500 gm. So given that I'm chasing something around 1400gm max I'll give them a miss.

I've already been annoyed after buying another set of wheels touted as around 1400 and came in at 1599grams! Nice ride but totally false claims. Doing my best to ensure the weights are correct this time.

booge wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 7:40 am

I've already been annoyed after buying another set of wheels touted as around 1400 and came in at 1599grams! Nice ride but totally false claims. Doing my best to ensure the weights are correct this time.

What is "around 1400"? Even a 5% fudge/error is going to make them 1470g. Then add the extra for tape and skewers. If you want 1400g wheels, you may have to look for 1250g claimed weights? That's almost hitting compromise territory. Are you light?

Don't take claimed weight on AliExpress with any seriousness. Weighing the groupset I bought ended up 10% more by thr time it was done,. Ten grams here and twenty grams there adds up fast. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the sellers weigh the hubs, spokes and rims and add them up, forgetting nipples and skewers.

booge wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 7:40 am

I actually contacted kotavelo about this wheelset after seeing some user reviews placing their weight in the mid 1500gm range. Confirmed as being around mid 1500 gm. So given that I'm chasing something around 1400gm max I'll give them a miss.

I've already been annoyed after buying another set of wheels touted as around 1400 and came in at 1599grams! Nice ride but totally false claims. Doing my best to ensure the weights are correct this time.

That's a bit disappointing but probably proves 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is'.

Honestly I think anyone will struggle to build a set of cheap alloy wheels below the 1400g mark. That's carbon fibre territory. Cheap/Light/Reliable - you can only pick two.

What are you trying to achieve that can't tolerate an additional 100-200g?

Do you consider these too heavy or expensive?
https://www.probikekit.com.au/bicycle-w ... 49819.html
I have a set.
Good strong wheels.
The 2:1 spoking looks good and works well for spoke tension and strength.

MattyK wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:14 pm

What are you trying to achieve that can't tolerate an additional 100-200g?

Basically trying to drop weight from the bike. It's a Lynskey, weighing around 8.6kg with pedals, cages etc. Current wheels are the 1599gram ones which I mentioned. Nice to ride, but dropping some rotational weight would be most noticeable I think. I live out east and mostly ride rolling hills or Dandenongs.
Plenty of carbon wheel options but the frame has pretty narrow clearance for 25mm tyres max, I have them on the bike now and there's only a few mm clearance to the chainstays. Current wheels have 17mm internal width. With most carbon rims being wider than my current ones I didn't want to risk purchasing and find they make the tyres too wide to fit.

warthog1 wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:49 pm

Do you consider these too heavy or expensive?
https://www.probikekit.com.au/bicycle-w ... 49819.html
I have a set.
Good strong wheels.
The 2:1 spoking looks good and works well for spoke tension and strength.

They're only slightly lighter than my current wheels. I used to have a set of Eurus wheels, they were great.

booge wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:48 am

warthog1 wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:49 pm

Do you consider these too heavy or expensive?
https://www.probikekit.com.au/bicycle-w ... 49819.html
I have a set.
Good strong wheels.
The 2:1 spoking looks good and works well for spoke tension and strength.

They're only slightly lighter than my current wheels. I used to have a set of Eurus wheels, they were great.

Pity you don't still have em then.
I expect the aliexpress wheels are going to be a big disappointment in comparison.
I could be wrong though. Interested to hear how you go anyway.

AliExpress ones are looking a bit more unlikely to be honest. Too much of the unknown and likely no support if there's issues.

booge wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:45 am

MattyK wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:14 pm

What are you trying to achieve that can't tolerate an additional 100-200g?

Basically trying to drop weight from the bike. It's a Lynskey, weighing around 8.6kg with pedals, cages etc. Current wheels are the 1599gram ones which I mentioned. Nice to ride, but dropping some rotational weight would be most noticeable I think. I live out east and mostly ride rolling hills or Dandenongs.
Plenty of carbon wheel options but the frame has pretty narrow clearance for 25mm tyres max, I have them on the bike now and there's only a few mm clearance to the chainstays. Current wheels have 17mm internal width. With most carbon rims being wider than my current ones I didn't want to risk purchasing and find they make the tyres too wide to fit.

I don’t think 100-200g would be noticeable at all other than between the ears

familyguy wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 15, 2021 12:23 pm

Checked out XLR8 wheels? Local (Ballina, NSW). I got them to build me a set of their wide alloy rim onto a 32H 105 hubset. Very nice rims, most likely a Kinlin section, reliable az.

I was wondering where he moved to. Used to live around the corner from me, worked at the same bank as well And a very accomplished rider.

booge wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:45 am

MattyK wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:14 pm

What are you trying to achieve that can't tolerate an additional 100-200g?

Basically trying to drop weight from the bike. It's a Lynskey, weighing around 8.6kg with pedals, cages etc. Current wheels are the 1599gram ones which I mentioned. Nice to ride, but dropping some rotational weight would be most noticeable I think. I live out east and mostly ride rolling hills or Dandenongs.
Plenty of carbon wheel options but the frame has pretty narrow clearance for 25mm tyres max, I have them on the bike now and there's only a few mm clearance to the chainstays. Current wheels have 17mm internal width. With most carbon rims being wider than my current ones I didn't want to risk purchasing and find they make the tyres too wide to fit.

My Cervelo R5 has the barest of clearance for a 25mm tyres when running on the HED Belgium+ rims, which have an external width of 25mm. With a 25mm tyre it will go slightly over that, and leaves me a few mm either side of the chain stays at the tyre sidewall. They give a superb ride though, and if you are building them yourself with a low spoke count, hitting near 1400g is possible. I built mine with 24 spokes at the front and 32 at the back using brass nipples, and the wheels came in at 1570g on my scales. That’s without skewers or rim tape, which is how most wheel sets are weighed. You can go stupid and buy some Tune alloy wheels like the TSR22 which states 1425g, but no idea how accurate that is. Realistically your weight savings will be in the Hubs and the rims, but you don’t want to compromise safety or robustness chasing a few grams…unless you are a pro going after marginal gains I guess!