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

a quick search on alibaba gave some results, just don't know how effective is the copy and if the rims are reliable...

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=firecrest+carbon+rim

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/dimple-88mm-clincher-wheels-tubular-wheels_1965811000.html

Aye, that's it - looking for some slightly less well-made, possibly death-inviting lovely chinese knock-offs? Anyone know anything vaguely similar?

ah too slow

Ah thanks, didn't think of 'firecrest' as a search term, that's really helpful! Nothing quite right, but a good place to start. Cheers

Haaaa oh I see.

How long until we get a Firestrike knock-off at 1/3rd the price?

Tried a visp but it felt quite heavy for an Alu frame. I am assuming wheels etc may be the same.

It's not two-tone carbon, it's the different orientation of the sheets that reflects the light differently.
I believe most UD glossy rims will have a slightly similar effect, but probably not as coordinated.

Maybe I am going to get a biased answer in this thread, but what would peoples favoured option out of:

Yoeleo 38mm SAT Disc wheels, 25mm wide, Novatec hubs, CN Aero spokes, 24H/24H. 1664g / pair, £370

Kinesis Crosslight Disc Wheels 22mm Deep, 24mm wide, 28H/28H. 1555g/pair, £270

This would be for regular road riding with 28c tires (maybe 25c if I'm feeling posh). Want Crabonz, but hard to justify for +100g and +£100.

yoeleo wheels should be more aero

Those Kinesis wheels could be built for c. £200; they are just Novatec cross hubs and what looks like some Alex XD Lite rims with lower than usual 32H drilling

Plus cost of build if you are not versed in the dark arts..

After a couple of months riding the front wheel that I've built I've finished the rear wheel (I would have finished at the same time but the store mistaken the rear spoke size).

I gotta say, the quality of the HF-R86 is really really good. The rim is round, the holes are perfectly finished and centered and the toroidal profile really helps on gusty winds (I train 2x a week by a river with lots of winds). The price of the rim is higher than you would find on alibaba but HongFu have such a great reputation online that I was happy to pay a little more for the reliability.

The wheels turned out to be lighter than the Elipse wheelset by a few hundred grams which was kinda surprising. And it's as strong as the Elipse if not more, couldn't feel any wobliness on sprints.

The build spec is
Rims: HongFu HF-R86 20H Front/24H Rear
Spokes/Nipple: Sapim CX-Ray/Polyax
Hubs: Mack Superlight High Flange
Tyre/Inner tube: Vredstein Fortezza Tricomp 23mm/Vittoria Latex

that's such a nice wheel, do you have it on track bike?

For a rim like that the spoke count looks very generous.

@dubtap really? I would say that it's the limit for a sprint track wheel, most of the big manufacturers go with 20/24 for track at the minimum so I played safe.

@zaurbek I do have it on, I'll take some pics later.

28/28 2x on Zipp404 track

But those are clinchers and the front is radial- not a track wheelset.

Big manufacturers aren't using 88mm carbon rims on track wheelsets; Campag manage with 20/24 on a 38mm alu rim.

Is that rear laced 3X?

Must be most bombproof wheelset ever

@Thuekr 20/24 on the Zipp 808 Track which is a 86mm wheel

@Dammit a lot of people use clinchers on track, at least locally yes. Front is radial, is that different? Zipp, FFWD all use radial lacing on their front track wheelset

@dubtap Zipp and FFWD are using it, lots of people use it.

Anyways, the intention of the post was to say that those rims from HongFu are of good quality and anyone wanting to buy one would have a place where there's a review by it.

a lot of people use clinchers on track

^ this. Why wouldn't you?

Nipple angle on that rear wheel looks a bit dicy, but it'll probably be ok.

Some tracks don't allow clinchers.

@8bits I have the same 88mm 20/24 setup for my racing wheels, but my rear is 2x which is more than adequate. 3x looks like it's gonna rip the nipples out of the rim.

@Pifko which tracks don't allow clinchers? They must be stuck in the dark ages or summat.

In 2014?