General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Red Eagle Wheels Rss Feed  
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2016-02-05 9:27 PM

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68
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, Jawa Barat
Subject: Red Eagle Wheels
Hi,

I am a poor teacher in a rich man's sport and I am trying to get some carbon wheels. On Ebay I have found some off-brand wheels by Red Eagle. Does anyone know anything about them? I know that they are not going to be near the quality of Zipp or other name brands, but I want to upgrade my wheels and can't pay more than 350 for wheels. Teachers are not exactly highly paid people. Here is a link of the wheels. Any help is appreciated.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1470g-only-88mm-Tubular-carbon-bicycle-road...


Thanks


2016-02-06 8:35 AM
in reply to: 0

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409
100100100100
Durham, North Carolina
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
I have no experience with those wheels personally. I know there are a lot of reviews for ebay wheels on some other forums with popular sellers mentioned. Might be the weight weenies site, but I can't remember. I would check that out first. The prices should be similar.

EDIT: Don't forget to check shipping prices. Some might be $450 but free shipping. You can get a used pair of zipp 606 tubular's on facebooks "online swap meet" for sub 1k. Huge price difference, but I'm just letting you know. I've seen a bunch of tubular wheel sets on there going from 600-900.

Edited by Lupy 2016-02-06 8:38 AM
2016-02-06 11:09 AM
in reply to: 0

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Extreme Veteran
717
500100100
Chicago, USA
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
Originally posted by JoshuaBlackburn

I am a poor teacher in a rich man's sport and I am trying to get some carbon wheels. On Ebay I have found some off-brand wheels by Red Eagle. Does anyone know anything about them? I know that they are not going to be near the quality of Zipp or other name brands, but I want to upgrade my wheels and can't pay more than 350 for wheels. Teachers are not exactly highly paid people. Here is a link of the wheels. Any help is appreciated.


A few things:

First, if you are a "poor teacher' in a rich man's sport", you definitely don't want to get tubular wheels, instead you want clincher wheels (for training, OR for racing). Buying, installing, maintaining, repairing, and replacing tubular tires is A LOT more expensive (and a lot more time-consuming) that doing the same with clincher tires. Plus, clincher tires, if selected carefully and set up right, are actually measurably faster that tubulars for tri and TT.

(Off Topic: I, personally, would not call triathlon a "rich man's sport". Waterskiing, motor boating, yachting, horseback riding, equestrian polo, motocross, auto racing, etc., those are riche[er] man's sports. Triathlon? If you know how to look around for gear and don't mind riding used (but still very fast) equipment, triathlon is a much much more affordable sport. Especially if you stay away from WTC/Wanda Group races).

Next, $350 including shipping for a set of carbon wheels from China is incredibly cheap. So cheap that I would be very concerned about the durability and safety of these wheels. Likely, the quality of these wheels is very very low. And full carbon wheels have many areas where things can go wrong, sometimes dangerously wrong. The likely quality is so low that, if it were me, I would save my money and just race on my training wheels and just deal with my few seconds slower bike splits. Save your money, wait another year and get a set of used wheels, some zipps, some flos, some heds, some reynolds, some profiles, the list goes on. Just remember that a bike is not a toy, and when you are screaming downhill at 50mph, you want to have 100% confidence in your bike AND your wheels.

Hope that helps,
Greg @ dsw

PS. Just looked at that ebay listing again, that wheelset is actually $465 including shipping ... still a sketchy purchase when there are so many fast and reliable used wheels around ...

Edited by DarkSpeedWorks 2016-02-06 11:19 AM
2016-02-06 11:28 AM
in reply to: DarkSpeedWorks

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409
100100100100
Durham, North Carolina
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
Originally posted by DarkSpeedWorks

Originally posted by JoshuaBlackburn

I am a poor teacher in a rich man's sport and I am trying to get some carbon wheels. On Ebay I have found some off-brand wheels by Red Eagle. Does anyone know anything about them? I know that they are not going to be near the quality of Zipp or other name brands, but I want to upgrade my wheels and can't pay more than 350 for wheels. Teachers are not exactly highly paid people. Here is a link of the wheels. Any help is appreciated.


A few things:

First, if you are a "poor teacher' in a rich man's sport", you definitely don't want to get tubular wheels, instead you want clincher wheels (for training, OR for racing). Buying, installing, maintaining, repairing, and replacing tubular tires is A LOT more expensive (and a lot more time-consuming) that doing the same with clincher tires. Plus, clincher tires, if selected carefully and set up right, are actually measurably faster that tubulars for tri and TT.



PS. Just looked at that ebay listing again, that wheelset is actually $465 including shipping ... still a sketchy purchase when there are so many fast and reliable used wheels around ...


I agree with what you have to say about tubulars, but I assumed the OP considered that. Thanks for bringing that up in case they didn't. I think the price is along the usual lines for chinese carbon wheels.
2016-02-06 11:39 AM
in reply to: JoshuaBlackburn

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1300
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Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
If you are patient there's great deals out there. I picked up an older set of Zipp 404's last year for ~ 350 shipped. That was a bit of luck but they're out there if you look. FLO is another affordable option, especially used IMO.
2016-02-06 12:11 PM
in reply to: 0

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Expert
2373
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Floriduh
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
Originally posted by Goggles Pizzano

If you are patient there's great deals out there. I picked up an older set of Zipp 404's last year for ~ 350 shipped. That was a bit of luck but they're out there if you look. FLO is another affordable option, especially used IMO.


+1, I have a set of Hed3's that I cobbled together for under $400. Honesty, unless you are a threat to podium, racing wheels are not extremely necessary. Your $ might be best spent elsewhere?

FYI, a friend of mine bought a set of carbon clinchers from these guys: [url] http://www.yoeleobike.com He would still be riding on them if he didn't get the upgrade bug and bought a set of ENVEs. They are pretty solid wheels, his only complaint was that the diameter of the rims is a tiny bit off and this makes mounting tires more difficult.

Edited by Oysterboy 2016-02-06 12:20 PM


2016-02-06 1:17 PM
in reply to: Oysterboy

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Veteran
740
50010010025
The Woodlands, TX
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
Take a look at a quality used wheel for the front and a disc cover for the back. Be patient, and you'll eventually find a deal! Don't get too caught up in having the latest and greatest......the time difference between a brand new "excellent" wheel and a used pretty "good wheel" is probably just a few seconds, but the cost difference could be well over $1000.

Careful with the disc cover though. They fit great on some wheels & bikes, but are a total no-go on others.
2016-02-08 2:53 PM
in reply to: JoshuaBlackburn

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Extreme Veteran
2261
20001001002525
Ridgeland, Mississippi
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels

My wheelset on my Venge is a wheelset from Red Eagle wheels.  I bought their 38mm U shaped wheelset, and after riding 5000 miles of ridden on them I can say they're a pretty solid set.  I was nervous when I first started riding on them due to their rep, but they've been great for me.  I even have the rear wheel laced to a PT hub.

Here's my wheelset on my bike:

 

Anyway, just wanted to give a  N = 1 of the wheels working out.  

2016-02-08 3:41 PM
in reply to: #5165653

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1502
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Katy, Texas
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
These threads tend to get three standard responses;
1. People that say they must be terrible quality and they will fall apart and cause you all kinds of turmoil, although they haven't used them nor can they point to a single real world example.
2. People that have actually bought cheap Chinese wheels and have had zero problems with them over X-thousand miles.
3. People that say it is unethical to buy them since they must be stolen intilectual property.

I personally feel that points two and three have merit.
2016-02-08 8:31 PM
in reply to: #5166053


89
252525
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
I'm in a similar place as you (meaning I don't have 2500 to spend on wheels), so I opted for a set of carbon clinchers. Do your research - there are a lot of brands out there... some get good reviews, some not.

Yoleo seems pretty well recieved. I went with another brand that had decent reviews: Baixiang. Got mine on Amazon (felt more legit than ebay). They arrived from china in under 3 weeks and cost me 405 shipped. Had my LBS mechanic check them out and he said they look pretty solid for whatever that's worth. How durable they will be remains to be seen as I just got them.
2016-02-09 10:10 AM
in reply to: davejustdave

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68
2525
, Jawa Barat
Subject: RE: Red Eagle Wheels
Hi Everyone,

Thank you ALL very much for your opinions. I greatly appreciate it. I spent under 1,000 on my bike, so it is just hard for me to spend a 1,000 on wheels. I am been searching constantly trying to find a set, but can't seem to find something. I will keep looking and see what pops up.

I appreciate all your opinions on the issue.


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