[Closed] Zuus and cheap carbon

as I understand it they're just the Chinese stuff, with the benefit of a UK seller and the various protections that go with that

Do you have a link to what you are thinking of buying?

as I understand it they’re just the Chinese stuff, with the benefit of a UK seller and the various protections that go with that

This. Their record isn’t perfect, but they seem to be shifting enough stuff that it must be fairly dependable.

Prime (CRC) stuff can often be found cheaper though and also tend to be lighter (just wheels of course for Prime)

The bars or certainly bars the same shape are available from many different places, often even cheaper but cheap carbon bars from eBay make me nervous. Quite like some of the one piece bar and stem road bars they do but want someone to guinea pig them for me.

I'm a bit like you Akira , happy to use them but I'd rather someone trialled them first! Surely they would have to pass certain standards if they are sold in the UK. I did look at the prime wheels but someone mentioned they flex under a heavy rider and I'd say I fit in that category!

Surely they would have to pass certain standards if they are sold in the UK.

I'm sure the factory will put a CE mark on them for an extra 1p

I did look at the prime wheels but someone mentioned they flex under a heavy rider and I’d say I fit in that category!

Kinda standard for any light wheel, most will have weight limits and I wouldn't think Zuus would perform much better. However, I do know of Zuus brake track failures and that's something you definitely don't want to be thinking about when putting more heat through the rims than a skinny lad!

Was that someone you know who had the brake track fail? Or online reading?

Never used Zuus, but would happily use them or one of the Chinese suppliers, caveated to say I'd do my research. I don't think Zuus will be any different than the usual far eastern suppliers, you just get the customer service in the same time zone and easier to correspond with should you need to.
With the Zuus wheels, the sub £500 price is for standard spokes, personally I'd add the additional £100 and get the CX Ray spokes. If you want aero and light wheels, I'd be looking at aero bladed spokes. So close to £600. But obviously a lot of people will just be happy with the standard pillar spokes.

I have seen some Chinese carbon bars snap in a regional road race, not good. However I have just bought some tubeless deep sections with good aero spokes from China for under £400. They are good, even the braking is half decent.

I think what I am saying is cut out the middle man with wheels but buy branded bars

There's good carbon, and there's cheap carbon. Almost always they're mutually exclusive!

Customer of mine came in to me a few months ago, had been reading up about the difference decent aero carbon wheels made (or were perceived to make). We sell Reynolds, he took our Reynolds Assault Demo wheels out for a 2 day test and came back grinning from ear to ear. Fantastic!

A week later he popped back in with the "I've been doing a bit of research" look on his face... Sure enough, he's been searching the internet high and low to find out how cheap he can buy some 40-50mm deep carbon clinchers for, and he came across Zuus for £500... I spent a while politely explaining that not all carbon is the same, or made to the same standards etc. before he left...

Sure enough, about 4 weeks later, he's brought his bike in for us to look at some issues he's been experiencing, having just fitted some new wheels... Yup, he bought the Zuus, fitted them, and...

Well they were effing nasty! Shocking build quality, HEAVY, and were already starting to delaminate on the rim! When I showed him what was happening to the wheel, he looked at me and asked "well is there anything you can do to fix it? They cost me £500 you know!"

I'll hasten to add here that I was very polite the whole way through, but at this point I just wanted to wrap said delaminating wheel round his face! I managed to compose myself, and tell him that the best I could do was advise he sought a refund off Zuus and put that money towards some Reynolds Assaults as he had originally planned... Anyway!

I have Reynolds wheels, I’ve got the 60mm Strike. Happy with mine but at RRP it’s easy to see why people want to look at other options.
Back in the day I used to race on planet x tubulars, cheap and probably similar to Zuus level pricing. They lasted me years, had a few crashes and the wheels always came out unscathed. Are my Strike £800 better than my Planet X wheels? That’s obviously subjective but highlights the price difference.
It’s a gamble with buying but your Zuus customer will be covered by his Zuus warranty presumably.

Was that someone you know who had the brake track fail? Or online reading?

Think it’s 3 sets belonging to folk I know, it’s at least 2

Well before the pound tanked I imported a set of LB carbon rims, prebuilt on genuine hope hubs.. I paid circa £650, maybe a bit more as I had to pay in US$ via PayPal so there's probably a bit of markup there.

They are bomb proof, any reason not to go with light bicycle?

Granted they are a fair bit more pricey now with exchange rates, but they do have a good rep.

Also they are good when enquiring, I was going for very light xc rim with 28 spokes, but they asked me a few questions and basically said, no, AM spec 32 for you, fatty!

I have Reynolds wheels, I’ve got the 60mm Strike. Happy with mine but at RRP it’s easy to see why people want to look at other options.

I totally get that, don't worry. But in just about every other circle I can think of, the majority of folk would look at products like the Zuus wheels and say "it looks too good to be true, so it probably is"... For what reason I am still unable to fathom, despite 25 years as a keen rider, the best part of 8 years working in the trade, 5 years as an LBS owner... Cyclists just don't seem to get it! They're always looking for the cheapest product, even at the cost of performance and most usually at the potential cost of safety. I just don't get it, even after all these years!

It's the automotive equivalent of buying a 90's Toyota MR2 with a fibreglass bodykit. Yes a proper Ferrari will cost quite a bit more, but the ownership experiences aren't even close!

Cyclists just don’t seem to get it!

But it’s all made in the same factory!!111! It’s just greedy brands putting a sticker on and selling to mugs!!! I could make a Santa Cruz lookalike in my shed for 50p cuz carbon iz well cheap!!!

Mboy, I think one of the problems is that it’s a confusing market place. Not mentioning some manufacturers names so bear with me. But you can buy £600 wheels from the Far East and pretty much the exact same wheel from a Western or UK “manufacturer” for £1000. Reynolds Assault and Strike aren’t much more. Then Reynolds release the Reynolds Aero 65 which at RRP is close to a grand more expensive than the Strike. Is there likely to be a performance difference that is noticeable by normal road riders? There’s also no difference between UK supplied generic Chinese wheel and Chinese import, but still a price hike.
My £2k wheels are no better than my Strike in performance terms. Maybe better wet weather braking, but that’s partly due to Reynolds advising not to change the brake pad as it can invalidate warranty. I also have a set of wheels that when new RRPd at £1800, 18 months later retail at between £900 and £1200 depending on retailer.
My cheap Planet X tubs were absolutely fine for their purpose. Lasted longer than expected. My Reynolds I really rate and would recommend them without doubt.
If I crash and damage my wheels it’s much more palettable to right off a set of Chinese imports than my silly expensive wheels. I’m lucky that over the years I’ve had the opportunity to have different wheels, I’d say there’s only two I thought were poor but lots of people really like those. One of those I didn’t rate are seen as being a luxury manufacturer but had to do a product recall. Would I risk another £1600 on their wheels or take the chance on Chinese import instead? (I wouldn’t do any of those choices but fully understand why people would)
TLDR: I agree with you but price difference is huge. Performance difference is small. Quality difference is subjective.

I see what you're saying about an MR2 with a body kit and a Ferrari. But surely wheels are not at that extreme.
Like brake discs on your car. You can buy genuine ones from say ford. Or you can buy non genuine ones for half the price. They are both round discs that fit your car, just that ford can mark it up as a genuine product and double the price

Well, to answer the OP, I bought a set a few months ago.

I've been riding around some silly steep hills in California with no problems for the last few days. Before that just Cambridgeshire. Braking is fine, not hugely different from aluminium rims after the pads bed in. The pads are quite expensive mind (swiss stop carbon specific).

I've been down some silly steep descents and the rims are warm to the touch at the bottom but nothing dramatic.

I weugh about 90kg so I'm not some skinny racing snake.

They are not that light, about 1600g for 38mm deep rims but they do seem noticeably stiffer and faster than the aluminium rims they replaced (ultegra).

The deeper section can be a bit tricky in the wind but other than that they are not bad.