Why so cheap? What’s wrong with ’em?!

Anyone had any? Keen to hear thoughts if so.

very heavy and cheap hubs would be my guess.

Well, CRC were doing non-camo pinned singletrack rims for £14 each (I got some and they’re very easy to build)
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20807

On One were doing the hubs for about £22.50 for the pair
http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/wheels-hubs-and-rims/mtb-hubs

And you can get 64 spokes From these guys for £16.64
http://www.sdeals.com/oscommerce/index.php/cPath/35_54

Meaning I could build a virtually identical wheelset for £67.14.

Personally, I can’t see them ever being a £239 wheelset (maybe at full retail, but you know, duh!! who’s gonna pay that for deore hubs??)

That leaves them with a bill for the build (1.5 – 2hrs absolute top), and postage. But remember, they’re not buying their bits retail, so the margin will be different (though not particularly high I would bet).

Old stock that they need to shift. CRC have the cheapest version of the rims for £14.00, or the expensive version in camo for £35.00 and deore hubs for £15.00 ish so the £99.00 isn’t astonishingly good value. They are only cheap if you are comparing it to RRP.

edit: Damn beaten to it!

Iain

QR skewers = Last century tech.

Ha!

deore hubs are cnc milled for solid lead billet 😆

Those wheels will come in at ~2.5kgs with skewers which is a hell of a weight.

even these cheapies are a pound lighter

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Wheels/Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Factory+Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Shimano+MT15+Wheels+-+Pair_2176.htm

or for a bit more bling these are lighter still

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Wheels/Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Factory+Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Fulcrum+Red+Metal+10+Wheels_2353.htm

or if youre budget runs higher check out all the Hope Pro2 wheelsets in classifieds for around £160 (I’m not selling any but theres a few good sets there).

I keep toying with these as bling on my Nomad but theyve had some poor reviews on MTBR with some common problems encountered (and I doubt any of the Morzine LBS’s will stock the spokes…)

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Wheels/Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Factory+Mountain+Bike+Wheels/Easton+Havoc+AM+Wheels_1119.htm

The camo finish on those is chronically bad… Mine bubbled and flaked after only about six months of use even though they were mainly used at an indoor skatepark!

They’re a good cheap wheelset for fatties or people who abuse/bend/ding rims regularly though.

The rims themselves aren’t overly heavy, about 550g each iirc, so more middleweight than heavyweight. Deore hubs are of course very heavy though.

If you want as light a wheelset as £100 is going to get you, look at the Fulcrum Red Metal 5 wheelset than On One are also selling. 1800g for the pair is about as light as you’ll get for that price point.

and I doubt any of the Morzine LBS’s will stock the spokes…)

I always take spare spokes with me when I go abroad. Easy to pack in amongst your other stuff, even if its stuffed up the seatpost wrapped in bog-roll.