Road Cycling UK's "Review" of the wheels in question is pasted in its entirety below. It is rubbish like this that feeds the market for rubbish wheels. I've numbered and pointed out the errors and lies below the review as an illustration of what sort of drivel people write.
We brought in an American Classic Victory 30 wheelset with a view to testing equipment for the heavier rider.
The American Classic Victory 30
As a wheel rated for riders up to 112kg (245lb), the Classic 30 seemed a suitable choice for our 14 stone test pilot. (1)
The wheels delivered much of what we’d anticipated from our ‘first look’. (2)
Rims that are pinned rather than welded come with the risk of brake judder caused by the join. We noted the smooth finish on the rim surface of the Classic 30 and sure enough, experienced a judder-free experience when applying the pads of an Ultegra caliper to its surface. (3)
A wide flange at the rear combined with a deep section rim (30mm, hence the Victory 30) to allow American Classic to use shorter spokes, a recipe for stiffening the wheel. Our test pilot put drove some watts through them and found them up to the task. (4)
A small, but discernable lag in the engagement of the freehub body was noted before we installed the wheels, and, when ridden, the lag was, well, small but discernable. (5)
Our sole area of concern was the small bearing used in the front wheel: its longevity and the degree with which the necessarily diminutive end cap would remain securely held in the fork. (6)
The bearing has performed faultlessly during our month-long test, the minimum perhaps the owner of a £400 wheelset has a right to expect. Only a longer test would lay our concerns to rest entirely. (7)
We were, however, able to strike the only other question mark from our list: the small bearing end caps remained perfectly true in the fork even under the not inconsiderable force exerted by our test pilot. (8)
At about 1,600 grams, the Victory 30 isn’t the lightest wheel set on the market. We’re pleased to report its extra heft didn’t slow progress unnecessarily, though it’s worth noting they were tested in a Colnago C59 – hardly the weightiest of steeds. (9)
At this price point, the principal competition is likely to come from Mavic’s Ksyrium Elite, a welded rim with threaded spokes, and Fulcrum Racing’s 1,555 gram Racing Three, a wheelset with an oversized hub body at the front, in contrast to the small bearings of the Victory 30, but with a large flange only on the driveside of the rear hub. (10)
We liked the Victory 30, a good looking, free rolling wheel (11) that held firm under the weight of a large test pilot. A longer test to establish the longevity of the front bearing would allow us to recommend them wholeheartedly. (11)
1) A wheel's weight rating is an arbitrary rating and totally meaningless without some other data next to the rating. Both rim and spoke life is finite. The actual life is influenced by the weight of the rider. The heavier the rider, the quicker both will fail. The curve is not linear but exponential. By adding more spokes tot he equation you increase spoke life as well as rim life, since the spoke holes are under less stress if there are more spokes to share the load. Just about any wheel can carry a 200kg person. I fact, an average 32-spoke wheel (just one wheel) can carry about 400kgs before the spokes at the bottom go out of tension, a point where the wheel will collapse. That doesn't mean a 32-spoke wheel is suitable for Mr Fatty but that it can carry it. It's durability is a separate issue and is expressed in revolutions. A good durable wheel will last several million revolutions, a barely-capable wheel only a few hundred thousands. Ratings are useless without quoted durability. You will not find a durability rating anywhere because wheel manufacturers don't want to reveal the truth.
2) What is it with putting first look in quotes? Secondly, what does this sentence mean? What did they see that was eventually satisfied in the trial? Nothing obviously.
3) All modern rims are pinned, welded and machined. Even ACs The reviewer doesn't have a clue how rims are made and thus makes meaningless statements that falsely impresses Mr Average Joe.
4) They used a test pilot to ride the bike. Really? Anyway, shorter spokes don't make wheels stiffer. Spokes are made from metal which conforms to Hooke's law and shorter and longer spokes are all equally flexible or not. Shorter spokes provide less chance for interleaving (spoke crossings) which are required for durable wheels. It would have been more useful to note that the wheels are radially spoked. The radial spoking makes the spokes shorter by a bigger factor than a 40mm hub flange and a 30mm rim profile. Geometry is not the test pilot's strong point.
5) All freewheels will have a short lag in engagement. That's how ratchets work. Why mention this as if it is a bad thing? Obviously it sounds scientific or learned or something. It would have been far more useful if they spoke about the number of degrees between engagements or told us about the type of pawls in the freewheel and how they are accessed for servicing.
6) Some sense at last but in the wrong context. You cannot create a light wheel with big bearings. Either you have your cake or eat it. The rear bearings are equally small - this is not noted - and installed on a soft aluminium axle that quickly notches and leaves the bearing wobbly. This they did not note. It is easy to see if you understand the construction of hubs.
7) Well, they seem to think it is great that the bearings lasted one month. I am not impressed.
8) Our test pilot is now back. This time he spotted small end caps. Well, the end cap size is determined by bearing size. They can be no smaller or larger than that. The contact surface at the jamb nut (serrated bit that clamps against the fork) is more relevant and the skewer is the biggest limiter in keeping the jamb nut secure in the fork. The AC skewer is absolute rubbish and any flex will be due to that skewer. The Pilot did not even notice that.
9) It would be nice if they could do some acceleration calculations on the "heft" of these wheels. However, suffice to say that the tester Mr Tom Cruise just felt it in the seat of his pants that the wheels still accelerated satisfactory in spite of their heft. I wonder how he managed to defy physics?
10) Stupid comparisons. Yes, the Ksyrium has a welded rim - all rims are welded - and the spokes are threaded - all spokes are threaded. So what's the point? Instead of using the price-point comparison the Test Pilot strung together some technical terms and name-dropped.
11) The hefty, powerful test pilot is back again in this paragraph and recons the wheels are pretty. I can't argue with that but I can ask what the hell free-rolling means? Don't all wheels roll freely until you apply the brake? Oversized hub body doesn't not equate to larger bearings. What part of the body is larger? The flanges?
Utter rubbish. The bicycle press is full of nonsense like this.
