A mate bought some new gen ≈£2500 carbon road wheels with ceramic bearings from a well known manufacturer, and after a 200km ride in the wet the hubs are grindy as hell. Previous wheels with DT Swiss hubs underwent similar treatment repeatedly, and didn’t have bearing issues for years.
I know it’s impossible to say without knowing the exact conditions, but would you reasonable folks consider it unlucky chance, a potential warranty issue, or expected wear and tear? I’d normally think it comes with the territory of riding in wet weather, but given the price point and better experience with previous wheels, I’d have also assumed these wheels would survive a ride without needing servicing or potentially repair. I realise a counterargument could be made that they’re performance wheels and should be serviced after an extended ride, but they evidently didn’t ‘perform’ for the length of the ride.
I've warrantied Zipp 303s on a couple of occasions, both less than a year old and with crunchy hub and/or cassette body bearings.
Half your 2k price mind, still would expect the bearings to last a bit longer given the replacement bearings are £70ish a pair and the freehub body c. £130.
A mate bought some new gen ≈£2500 carbon road wheels with ceramic bearings from a well known manufacturer, and after a 200km ride in the wet the hubs are grindy as hell. Previous wheels with DT Swiss hubs underwent similar treatment repeatedly, and didn’t have bearing issues for years.
I know it’s impossible to say without knowing the exact conditions, but would you reasonable folks consider it unlucky chance, a potential warranty issue, or expected wear and tear? I’d normally think it comes with the territory of riding in wet weather, but given the price point and better experience with previous wheels, I’d have also assumed these wheels would survive a ride without needing servicing or potentially repair. I realise a counterargument could be made that they’re performance wheels and should be serviced after an extended ride, but they evidently didn’t ‘perform’ for the length of the ride.