Factory Built Wheels - Shocking Quality

[PatrickPending]

Totally agree with the above - done this many a time and yet to break a spoke!

 

[JPBoothy]

Now I'm aware that wheels are one of the areas where costs are cut to meet a price point, but the wheels supplied by Cannondale on my CAADX are truly awful!

I don't think there are 2 spokes on the same side of either wheel that are at the same tension. I can just about forgive this as it's what I'd expect from machine-built wheels, but to get the valve in the wrong place? Truly unforgivable.

View attachment 118239

I will re-lace, stress and true them up evenly when the better weather arrives and I can commute on my Merida.

Incidentally, the wheels that came with my Merida (branded Fulcrum - but suspect the build was outsourced) were tensioned equally badly, and after about 1000 miles a couple of the rear wheel spokes lost all tension during a ride and turned the wheel into a Pringle. But at least the valves were in the right place.

I've since built my own wheels for the Merida with some Archetype hoops and Ultegra hubs and may well do the same for the Cannondale this summer.

Graham

The hub on my CAADX rear wheel had no grease left after just a few weeks, and after 1 failed attempt at re-packing it, Evans Cycles Liverpool re-built it using a Shimano 105 Hub and it has been faultless ever since.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Just to clarify, the bike is the 2016 model and had been ridden once by the previous owner.

And frankly, it's wheel building 101 to locate the valve correctly, as it's a byproduct of starting your lacing pattern at the right place.

The rest of the bike is top-notch though. So you're correct, I have 'forgiven' them.

It's still shows a lack of QC though.

Graham

I agree with you all the way. Those wheels suck.

 

[JPBoothy]

Forgive my ignorance on the wheel front chaps , but what significance is the valve position when building a wheel. Is that the starting point when beginning to lace the spokes?

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Forgive my ignorance on the wheel front chaps , but what significance is the valve position when building a wheel. Is that the starting point when beginning to lace the spokes?

The valve hole is a good reference point to start lacing a wheel. That is not to say that by starting there you will have the valve hole between two parallels spokes though. It's all in the twist

 

[I like Skol]

This is how it should be.... What Have You Fettled Today?

 

[Pale Rider]

The hub on my CAADX rear wheel had no grease left after just a few weeks, and after 1 failed attempt at re-packing it, Evans Cycles Liverpool re-built it using a Shimano 105 Hub and it has been faultless ever since.

Hubs, like rims and spokes, is an area where bike makers cut corners, there's no showroom bling to see and few people check for a make.

Any hub with 'Shimano' written on it is good - long lasting and serviceable