Mike Garcia did a fabulous job building my new race wheels.

Rims: 28h DT Swiss RR 1.1
Hubs: 2004 American Classic Campy compat hubset
Spokes and nipples: Combination of AE15 and Revolution, radial front, 3x ds, 2x non-drive
Everything is black with a nice silver sidewall.

I told him I wanted something to be durable under my 170 lbs. (with gear on) but laterally stiff enough to handle my Petacchi-like sprint (we both had a good chuckle when I told him that over the phone) without fear of being all flexy or fragile.

Of course I have new gear euphoria; I've always believed you could put a $700 tag on new $200 wheels and you'd think they were the cat's meow for the first couple of rides, but I'm confident this is a pretty "decent" set of hoops.

And Mike got them to be before this weekend's crit races as promised.

Oh, he even wrote the actual weight (minus rim tape and skewer) on a label and attached them to the wheel.
Front: 625 grams
Rear: 778 grams

How much? $410 shipped with extra spokes and nipples and blue Ritchey rim tape. Skewers come with AC hubs.

Mike Garcia did a fabulous job building my new race wheels.

Rims: 28h DT Swiss RR 1.1
Hubs: 2004 American Classic Campy compat hubset
Spokes and nipples: Combination of AE15 and Revolution, radial front, 3x ds, 2x non-drive
Everything is black with a nice silver sidewall.

I told him I wanted something to be durable under my 170 lbs. (with gear on) but laterally stiff enough to handle my Petacchi-like sprint (we both had a good chuckle when I told him that over the phone) without fear of being all flexy or fragile.

Of course I have new gear euphoria; I've always believed you could put a $700 tag on new $200 wheels and you'd think they were the cat's meow for the first couple of rides, but I'm confident this is a pretty "decent" set of hoops.

And Mike got them to be before this weekend's crit races as promised.

Oh, he even wrote the actual weight (minus rim tape and skewer) on a label and attached them to the wheel.
Front: 625 grams
Rear: 778 grams

How much? $410 shipped with extra spokes and nipples and blue Ritchey rim tape. Skewers come with AC hubs.

A couple of notes.

- Watch that Ritchey rim tape closely. It is very light has been durable for me; however it has no adhesive so it can easily shift around. I've had it expose a spoke hole on several ocasions and cut the tube. Otherwise it works great!

- The AE15's are sharp spokes and challenging to true. Although Mike's wheels will probably never spend much time back on the truing stand use some patience with these spokes. The nice part is since they are an eliptical bladed spoke you can start to see them wind up as you turn the nipple.

Got some of those rims built up as well. They're sitting patiently in a frame waiting for parts and going nowhere for the timebeing.....

divve, what spoke count did you go with? the silver sidewalls, hubs, spokes, and brakes accent the color of the rims and carbon frame nicely!

Thanks, it's a shame this bike has been sitting in my storage room for literally 2 months already. I went with 28h both front and rear, 3x lacing everywhere, CX-Ray spokes + alloy Pollyax nipples. A strong conservative build for 28h. Have been riding an identical set but with OP rims for almost a year without problems.

BTW, I recommend the orange 16mm Continental rim tape. Very strong, easy on the inner tubes, and light-weight.

Thanks, it's a shame this bike has been sitting in my storage room for literally 2 months already. I went with 28h both front and rear, 3x lacing everywhere, CX-Ray spokes + alloy Pollyax nipples. A strong conservative build for 28h. Have been riding an identical set but with OP rims for almost a year without problems.

BTW, I recommend the orange 16mm Continental rim tape. Very strong, easy on the inner tubes, and light-weight.

Hey divve, what is the final weight of that wheelset? What hubs are you using. I would be interested in building something up similar if I know the stiffness and durability is up their... Good tyre choice too..

Oh and nice frame too - Very nice.

Hi Trevor, my best guess is they're a touch under 1500gr. I don't have a scale that's accurate enough to know whether it's 1490 or 1500. It sort of alternates between the two and on good days 1480 :)

My set is laterally very stiff and if they're anything like my OP set they'll feel pretty smooth as well. The rims are laced to Campagnolo Record hubs (~365g/pair without skewers). If you build a set with different hubs you can make them considerably lighter. I basically chose Record hubs for reliability and ease of maintenance. Aside from the rather superfluous grease port they're a good no nonsense design and reasonably lightweight.

Whether your wheels last will depend a lot on how you ride them and on what type of roads. Where I ride it's generally reasonable smooth to very smooth. If your stuff is more like the Belgium cobble stones definitely go with more spokes. I wouldn't ride those at speed with anything less than 36h with durable hubs. Also, in my opinion, if you choose more traditional spokes go with 32h instead of 28h.

Hi Trevor, my best guess is they're a touch under 1500gr. I don't have a scale that's accurate enough to know whether it's 1490 or 1500. It sort of alternates between the two and on good days 1480 :)

My set is laterally very stiff and if they're anything like my OP set they'll feel pretty smooth as well. The rims are laced to Campagnolo Record hubs (~365g/pair without skewers). If you build a set with different hubs you can make them considerably lighter. I basically chose Record hubs for reliability and ease of maintenance. Aside from the rather superfluous grease port they're a good no nonsense design and reasonably lightweight.

Whether your wheels last will depend a lot on how you ride them and on what type of roads. Where I ride it's generally reasonable smooth to very smooth. If your stuff is more like the Belgium cobble stones definitely go with more spokes. I wouldn't ride those at speed with anything less than 36h with durable hubs. Also, in my opinion, if you choose more traditional spokes go with 32h instead of 28h.

Thank you for that information. Wheels around the 1500g would be a 220g or so saving for me which would be great.

Fortunately roads around where I ride are not too bad at all, mostly smooth though some a little less smooth but nonetheless fine for that sort of wheel spec.

Again thanks for that information.

That pic looks great on my moniter, damn. What digi camera are you using? I even like the rainbow glare.
Love the mercyks and have been waiting for pics and a small review of the rims.
Thanks,
E

Just a simple 2MP Canon Digital Elph camera. It's pretty good but will show some weakness with more distant shots. The little lens is definitely doesn't have the resolution of an average SLR lens. BTW, are you sure you want my messy storage room on your monitor? :)

I pulled all of the stickers off of my RR 1.1 rims, the red just wasn't going to work on my bike.