Pacenti Disappointment and November Shoutout

[justaute]

Wasatch...fwiw, I have a set of Af33 wheels as I'm one of the kickstarter backers. Oh...not an endorser of anything -- whoever has a problem can kiss my derriere.

Based on one 20-mile ride, they seem pretty good so far. Rolls well. As I'm a tubeless guy, the wheels are doing well in that regard. I "dry" mounted a set of 28mm IRC RBCC tires, without any sealant, and the tires held air for about week and still had air when I injected sealant. The only thing less than satisfactory about the wheels/rims thus far is weight; it's not really heavy at just under ~1,600g for the set, but heavier than promised.

btw...nice bike. I've read a couple of positive comments about Saltair. I grew up in Ogden and went to the U.

[mcteague]

DT Swiss rims. They are so well made I don't see why one would need to shop elsewhere.

https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/road/

Tim

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mcteague

DT Swiss rims. They are so well made I don't see why one would need to shop elsewhere.

https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/road/

Tim

Agree..DT460, 411, 511..really nice rims..

[November Dave]

Thanks for the shout out, Wasatch. Glad they got there, and enjoy them.

Originally Posted by saab2000

My Pacenti wheels have all been good. One was built by Southern Wheelworks and the others by Ergott. I think the builders do have something to do with it.

That said, I hope the new ones work out for you. It definitely stinks when products don't meet our expectations.

The rate at which our Pacenti builds have had issues seems drastically less than the general populace, so I guess I agree. We sold a ton of these rims (at one point we were told we sold more than any other builder). We feel that we've addressed the problems that people have had quite well, but the problem rate on other alloy rims we've used is zero.

FWIW, use or non-use of spoke washers is a statistical non-factor in having this happen. We now only use them when required by the rim maker (DT being the only one we use that require it). Properly prepping the nipple/rim interface is what counts.

With product lifecycles being what they are these days, there are precious few proven commodities. HED Belgium+ only came out in like 2013 and that's like the grandfather of the modern rim market.

[bigbill]

RT built me a set of wheels with SL23 V1 and Record hubs. The rear cracked on the DS after about a year. The builder replaced the Pacenti with an Easton R90 SL and it's been good since. I still have the front wheel and I've put many thousands of miles on it. The Easton is 1mm wider and 2mm taller.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by November Dave

Thanks for the shout out, Wasatch. Glad they got there, and enjoy them.



The rate at which our Pacenti builds have had issues seems drastically less than the general populace, so I guess I agree. We sold a ton of these rims (at one point we were told we sold more than any other builder). We feel that we've addressed the problems that people have had quite well, but the problem rate on other alloy rims we've used is zero.

FWIW, use or non-use of spoke washers is a statistical non-factor in having this happen. We now only use them when required by the rim maker (DT being the only one we use that require it). Properly prepping the nipple/rim interface is what counts.

With product lifecycles being what they are these days, there are precious few proven commodities. HED Belgium+ only came out in like 2013 and that's like the grandfather of the modern rim market.

I agree. These have cracked under many great buiders, the rims are just problematic and why v2 came about and now there is a new rim to replace it. HED has has the same rim afaik with no problems, if there was no problems with the SL23 it would have remained the same since, apart from cracking, its a great rim. I have cracked 2 pacenti CL25 and have heard of other people doing so as well. On mine I built them so I will say it probably was my fault (that said none of my other 10 wheelsets I have build have had any problems so who knows)

[ergott]

Originally Posted by November Dave

With product lifecycles being what they are these days, there are precious few proven commodities. HED Belgium+ only came out in like 2013 and that's like the grandfather of the modern rim market.

With Hed is wasn't always the case. Read the comments.

https://www.bikerumor.com/2012/05/31...dennes-wheels/

I remember this rash of cracking people experienced. Hed addressed it and put it behind them. That's what good companies do.

Fast forward to Pacenti. Too many things about the SL23s were similar to every other rim out there for it to be a profile issue. The one thing that I think separated them out was the supplier. I think the alloy the first supplier used did as much to contribute to issues as anything else. Since Pacenti introduced the Forza which comes from a different supplier I haven't heard of any failures. Granted it's perhaps too soon for some to be convinced and that that's fair. It does show me that the company listens to feedback and continues to improve the product.

One rider that I have local is the perfect test sample for me. I had him on SL23s a few years ago. He had the dreaded rim crack on his rear so I got him on Forza early Sept last year. I figured he'd be the best long term test subject so I had Kirk send me the first rims he could get his hands on.

Since then he has put close to 20k miles on the rear. The matching front is newer since I built him a dyno wheel early this year. Before that the SL23 front held up fine with no less than 22k miles. He's usually good for about 20k miles a year. He isn't a lightweight, I'd say 180. He's on 24/28 spoke count. He might be only one sample, but he's a good place to start if you want accelerated feedback!

I hope over time this problem become a thing of the past. Pacenti is a sponsor here and regular contributor.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by ergott

With Hed is wasn't always the case. Read the comments.

https://www.bikerumor.com/2012/05/31...dennes-wheels/

I remember this rash of cracking people experienced. Hed addressed it and put it behind them. That's what good companies do.

Fast forward to Pacenti. Too many things about the SL23s were similar to every other rim out there for it to be a profile issue. The one thing that I think separated them out was the supplier. I think the alloy the first supplier used did as much to contribute to issues as anything else. Since Pacenti introduced the Forza which comes from a different supplier I haven't heard of any failures. Granted it's perhaps too soon for some to be convinced and that that's fair. It does show me that the company listens to feedback and continues to improve the product.

One rider that I have local is the perfect test sample for me. I had him on SL23s a few years ago. He had the dreaded rim crack on his rear so I got him on Forza early Sept last year. I figured he'd be the best long term test subject so I had Kirk send me the first rims he could get his hands on.

Since then he has put close to 20k miles on the rear. The matching front is newer since I built him a dyno wheel early this year. Before that the SL23 front held up fine with no less than 22k miles. He's usually good for about 20k miles a year. He isn't a lightweight, I'd say 180. He's on 24/28 spoke count. He might be only one sample, but he's a good place to start if you want accelerated feedback!

I hope over time this problem become a thing of the past. Pacenti is a sponsor here and regular contributor.

I've had the same issue with my Pacenti rim as the OP. I also purchased a wheelset from Pacenti and found out the hubs mostly front was defective. I have a feeling some here may have known about this problem however said nothing because Pacenti is a sponser.
Its natural for us to want to support those who support us. however transparency is a good thing for us consumers and we should speak freely here regarding inferior products.
I will say that Pacenti will try and make things right, did in my case.

[ergott]

Of course it can be discussed. My main point was that even rims that are now considered gold standards had their issues in the past. Even DT had problems with the RR1.1s.

[Bruce K]

Not sure being a sponsor here has EVER limited reasonable, accurate discussions both pro and con.

Sponsors are not "protected" if they have an issue that needs to be talked about.

On the other hand, we will try to prevent any attempt to disseminate false information OT guerilla marketing as explained in the User Agreement.

That said, I believe Pacenti has evolved their product as Ergott explained.

I have a set of the early rims (maybe v2) that have seen limited device so still keeping an eye on them.

BK

[November Dave]

Yeah, HED had their issues, I remember that. I think it was when they were using scandium in their alloys. And a DT1.1 that cracked led to one of my first ever wheel builds.

The SL25 had zero problems for us at all, I'm very bummed it's gone as it was an exceptional tubeless cross rim. And there are plenty of other Sun-produced rims which don't crack. What happened with SL23 I don't think we'll ever really know.

I used a set of Forza disc protos for a lot of miles last year and they've been good, and the Forzas we've built to date have been good.

[saab2000]

It's possible the various SL23 versions (1 & 2) tried to be too light. I now own a set of Forza wheels (28/24) built up by Mr. Ergott. Terrific with the asymmetrical rear and they've been awesome. It's my understanding that the extrusion on the Forza rims has a bit more material at the spoke bed. Not sure if that's accurate or not.

I took out my SL25s the other day for a good gravel beatdown and they did everything I've ever asked of them.

If the AL33s in the OP's first thread had an asymmetric rear I'd definitely be curious. I really like what that construction does for spoke tension.

[velotrack]

my SL23's too had the spoke cracking problem, and Kirk wasn't able to help. just offered me 15% new rims or something like that.

whatever - just won't buy any more pacenti stuff. they released a poor product and won't own up to it, and from what i've seen, only try to help out when publicly discussed on the forum for appearances. privately? good luck.

[Joachim]

I am riding a set of Al33 ceramic now. The first set of BXP brake pads was gone in 2 rides. There has been talk that after the first set, the brake pads go at a slower rate. I came from Pacenti's, never had an issue with the front Sl23, the rear....well, I'll stick with HED and if they hold up, the Al33. I also want to try the Boyd Altamont ceramic. According to Boyd, the newest altamont and altamont lite ceramics are with PEO coating while the Al33 ceramic is Thermal spray. I thought they were both PEO but looks not like it.

[R3awak3n]

The coating on the altamonts seem to be very durable. Have taken them on at least 5 rides, 3 of them down a couple small mountains with lots of braking and surprisingly pads did not wear too much ( I was expecting them to), at least they include them