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I keep seeing a very tempting price on some 38mm deep Prime aero wheels on Wiggle.
They claim 1300g for the pair but there are some reviews disputing that and putting it at closer to 1450g. Still lighter than my current Fulcrum 3s.
What is likely to be the issue with cheap carbon wheels, will they flex? Crap draggy bearings?
Will be summer best use only so I could live with poor seals etc.
Ta
I bought some Prime black 50s and very happy with them after about 500 miles
Light, fast rolling and good looking. Braking is ok.
Like you, I suspect the hubs are not as long lasting as premium brands
The freehub was over packed with grease from new and gave the odd bit snap noise as it slipped a pawl but they bedded in.
Overall happy with mine as an upgrade from the Fulcrum 3s the bike came with.
I don't know about those wheels specifically but Prime seem to make pretty solid kit in my experience. The weight difference might be that they come taped and with valves so I can't imagine that many people will pull it off to get the "official" weight
When stock was hard to come by I bought a prime freehub for my novatec hub. Freehub was £25 rather than £80 for a hope freehub!
From what I could find on the Internet the prime hubs are just rebranded novatec hubs.
Some novatec hubs are really good. Easy to take apart and clean. And straight forward to replace the bearings.
My road hubs have an easier life than mtb hubs so they should be fine.
Had a pair of the Prime 28 rim.brake wheels which were excellent. Lasted about 6 years before the braking surface on the front delaminated during a hot steep descent. Rear one is still OK.
Replaced the bearings a couple of times, the original ones weren't great but as a whole, they're good quality wheels and pretty light. I'm actually considering a second pair to replace the old ones, I've seen the sale on CRC.
They'd had a fair chunk of use (inc 2 x LEJOG rides) so I'm not upset or disappointed, I knew the braking surface would wear eventually. Spokes are still tight, wheels still perfectly true. They work well tubeless too, some of the easiest to set up I've ever seen.
As said above, Prime is pretty decent kit.
Also, cheap carbon wheels are generally as good as expensive carbon wheels now. They've been around for so long that making a decent rim is well understood. Very rare to hear of any failures.
If it were me I'd avoid these 'rebranders' and just order straight from source from Farsports or Lightbicycle. Go for something built on a Dt350 to avoid the false economy of dodgy cheaper hubs, plus you can choose the rim height and other details that suit your riding. The latest brake surface on the latest gen Farsports rims is as good as anything out there, very similar to the Bora AC3. In my opinion the brake surface should be the priority concern on carbon clinchers before weight or aero...
I have a set of the 38s on my gravel bike (Energie Evo). 12 months of use on tarmac, gravel and rockier stuff (I'm about 78-80kg) and they are still perfectly true and spin freely. Easy to fit and inflate tyres too. Rims have a few marks from rock strikes but still look good.
Prime is a Chiggle house brand and 'designed' (specified more accurately) in the UK. As a few earlier have said, they use Novatec produced hubs across the line. Nothing at all wrong with Novatec, they produce hubs for all the big OE brands, and spares are easy and cheap to get. I'd definitely rather have a DT too, but Novatec are far from 'dodgy'.
If it were me I’d avoid these ‘rebranders’ and just order straight from source from Farsports or Lightbicycle.
Farsports, light bicycle and carbonda have all established a good reputation now so their prices have gone up. Plus the exchange rate isn't as good as it used to be so I doubt you can get some of those wheels for the price of a set of prime wheels especially if they have a sale on.
How much are a set of carbon wheels with dt Swiss 350 delivered with taxes from Farsports or Lightbicycle these days?
With the money you save buying prime wheels buy a new dt Swiss or hope rear hub and swop it over if it bothers you but I've been impressed with my novatec hubs.
I recently had a quote from Farsports for some of their 50mm Kaze rims with Bitex hubs and CX Ray's for just over 600 quid including tax paid delivery. I'd suggest that would be a superior wheel to the Primes if you're willing to wait for them and potentially compromise on after sales service.
I’d suggest that would be a superior wheel to the Primes if you’re willing to wait for them and potentially compromise on after sales service.
Why would you think that? Bitex hubs are similar level to Novotec, and I’m not aware the rims are anything special. They are a quality budget option no doubt, but so are the primes
I have a set of prime black edition 60mm, only had them for a year but no issues so far.
£720 is a hell of a good price! Can't see Light bicycle beating that
Why would you think that? Bitex hubs are similar level to Novotec, and I’m not aware the rims are anything special. They are a quality budget option no doubt, but so are the primes
I have a set of prime black edition 60mm, only had them for a year but no issues so far.
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In my experience Bitex are preferable to Novatec although not much in it I agree. They do cost a little more and I think have better bearings.
CX-RAYS arguably the top steel spokes on the market, certainly on price they're more than Pillars.
The Kaze rims have grooved braking surface with Farsports' HMX/ATA design so arguably a step above a run of the mill Chinese rim.
My prime came with Dt spokes
Fair enough about the braking surfaces, mine are disk so not really a consideration for me