Orient Express - Cheap Chinese Rims / Wheels / Forks / Frames / Cranks / Etc

I'd vote LB too. Hunt's business model is just to speak to manufacturers and bring wheels from random makers to the UK to sell; why not go direct... LB have loads of choice and the rims are excellent. You just get more for your money

Got an aliexpress carbon 25mm layback seatpost 27.2x350mm. Good bits; came in about 2 weeks , has a lot of good reviews, weighs 180g, looks quite nice, didnt slip on first 16miles so far with seatclamp at 5nm. Bad bits; epoxy spilled out onto bonded alu ring and had to be cut out with a knife to get clamp to fit, largest diameter on it is 27.00 smallest is 26.8, have to really over tighten the rail clamp to stop saddle moving (probs not good if you have a carbon rail).

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• why not go direct*
  
  

A watertight UK warrantee. Depends on your personal appetite for risk on a £500+ wheelset.

Fair point. For that reason I'd not go for a random no name maker, but in any event I'd struggle to imagine breaking a wheelset other than by my own damage which I'd not expect a refund for.

I bought a wheel set from Hunt. Both of the rims had to be replaced under warrantee. For that reason I would recommend and not recommend Hunt.

That is worrying!

What happened to them?

I've had 2 wheelset built with LB rims, both faultless (but both within 2 yrs old to be fair)

I've had 3 sets of wheels from Hunt without issue other than the hubs needing tightening. LB wheels have also been good though.

Another question for people running Hunt, and specifically the carbon gravel stuff, I've been reading things about tyres being almost impossible to remove from the rim at the road side. Has anyone experienced similar issues? Obviously not ideal at the best of times, but really not what I want for a do it all adventure bike in the middle of nowhere.

That’s a common feature of many tubeless rims

Hmm, ok. I guess for the system to work the bead-rim interface needs to be pretty tight.

But there's a difference between challenging but possible to remove with decent plastic levers versus mole grips and a workshop being required. Or am I missing something? This would be my first foray into tubeless. I guess certain tyre/rim combinations can be more or less problematic.

At least with Hunt I could order the wheels and dry fit a tubeless tyre then see how hard it is to remove. If it's a no go under road side conditions then back the wheels would go.

Depends on the tyre/rim.

In personal experience, Hunt 3650s, can confirm, impossible to fit many tyres. Deffo not GP5ks

Carbon tubeless rims can have quite a chunky hook.

I’m not really understanding the appeal of 36mm carbon rims for gravel tbh. Do they build up stiffer than equivalent weight alloy rims?

Carbon tubeless rims can have quite a chunky hook.

I’m not really understanding the appeal of 36mm carbon rims for gravel tbh. Do they build up stiffer wheel than when using an equivalent weight alloy rim?

In all cases I'd always get a low profile alloy wheel. Dings can be straightened out

In all cases I'd always get a low profile alloy wheel. Dings can be straightened out

Agreed. Carbon clinchers/tubeless for gravel* is for sponsored riders or instagram only.

*offroad riding. Not 60km round the Kent lanes on a gravel bike.

Totally agree. I have gone down this route purely for aesthetics, and they look great.

Fair. Something like this - https://www.condorcycles.com/collections/wheels-hubs/products/mavic-allroad-sl-dcl-wheelset

Don't want to stray too far from oriental express chat, where do I go to keep talking about wheels? Tubeless thread?

Maybe Road wheel recommendations thread?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/146874/

I also had a similar one with a different clamp design but I couldn't tighten the cups enough to hold the saddle. It slipped at basically every road bump. I changed to one of these and have no regrets since. Except for the fact that I had to change one too long screw because it drilled into the carbon shell of my saddle

i have the same elita one ande it's very good, i also changed the screw with some black titanium one for the look and weight reduction. i have as well this https://bit.ly/3sU7E0T which is incredibly light and well made. for china carbon seatpost elita one is the bee's knees

Front: split of the rim, back: it actually went back twice: 1st: cracks around nipples. 2nd: weird noise from the freehub after I got it back from the repair. The customer service was good, although slow at time with response. It took some time with wheels in the workshop as it started at the beginning of the lockdown, so I had maybe 2-3 weeks over the summer when I had both wheels.

Thanks, that was the one I was originally looking at. In hindsight it is a better design, if the clamp fails to serve its purpose I'll reconsider! Had the same screw problem with my stock alloy seatpost.

Just got a SRAM NX 11 speed group from AliExpress. Derailleur, shifter, 42t cassette, chain and a inner for just £100. Catch is you don't have warranty with SRAM, but works beautifully.

What’s the forum approved 27.2mm inline carbon post?

(For the bike I’ve bought that is definitely going to be too big).

I just got something called elita one that weights 140 grams at full 40cm length for £20. Probably deadly, but light it is.