Ambrosio Rims, NOW AVAILABLE!

[Spicoli]

For those of you who love there rims (me). Ital-tecno.com looks like they are all stocked up on Nemisis, Montreals , and F20's :banana: great hoops for all occasions and a good place to deal with. Get em while you can. Just throwin it out there :D

[LegendRider]

Will Ambrosio anodized rims cause brake pads to collect metal shards like Mavics?

[Keith A]

I like the looks and specs for the AMBROSIO Excellight SSC Clincher Rim. I would love to find a rim similar to this or the OpenPro that has double eyelets with an offset rear rim -- but I don't think this exists.

[Marcusaurelius]

I bought a couple ambrosio evolution rims, the first two were good but the second pair were terrible. I suspect the higher end rims have better quality control.

[MarcusPless]

I like the looks and specs for the AMBROSIO Excellight SSC Clincher Rim. I would love to find a rim similar to this or the OpenPro that has double eyelets with an offset rear rim -- but I don't think this exists.

You might want to check out the FIR Zenith rim if you can find someone selling them; I think it's got the double eyelets and offset drilling you're looking for. It's kind of hard to know for sure as most of the information available seems to be in tortured/translated English. I bought a pair from www.repartocorse.com, but I don't see them listed on his web site anymore.

--Marcus

[Polyglot]

You might want to check out the FIR Zenith rim if you can find someone selling them; I think it's got the double eyelets and offset drilling you're looking for. It's kind of hard to know for sure as most of the information available seems to be in tortured/translated English. I bought a pair from www.repartocorse.com, but I don't see them listed on his web site anymore.

--Marcus

FIR as a company no longer exists. Ambrosio has perhaps the best seams of any rim made today, just the opposite of the modern Mavic in my experience. When you brake using Mavic rims, you feel the seam at every revolution, whereas the Ambrosio are super smooth. I have never had problems with metal shards on Ambrosio rims.

[MarcusPless]

FIR as a company no longer exists. Ambrosio has perhaps the best seams of any rim made today, just the opposite of the modern Mavic in my experience. When you brake using Mavic rims, you feel the seam at every revolution, whereas the Ambrosio are super smooth. I have never had problems with metal shards on Ambrosio rims.

Thanks for the info on FIR; I didn't realize they were gone. Might be time to stock up on some Ambrosios! :D

[Keith A]

Ambrosio has perhaps the best seams of any rim made today, just the opposite of the modern Mavic in my experience. When you brake using Mavic rims, you feel the seam at every revolution, whereas the Ambrosio are super smooth. I have never had problems with metal shards on Ambrosio rims.So if Ambrosio truly makes a better rim than Mavic, then why isn't everyone riding their Excellight SSC instead of OpenPros? They have an almost identical profile, very close in weight (the Excellight is listed as 5 grams heavier) and same price point. The one review (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=753801&mode=linear#post753801) I saw on RoadBikeReview.com has everyone singing the praises of Ambrosio's. So is it just the lack of marketing prowess on the part of Ambrosio? I would (and will) certainly give them a try.

Edit: Here's the link (http://www.ambrosiospa.com/catalogo1_file/Cataloghi%2007/Catalogo%20A4%20Ambrosio.pdf) to their PDF 2007 catalog.

[ergott]

So if Ambrosio truly makes a better rim than Mavic, then why isn't everyone riding their Excellight SSC instead of OpenPros? They have an almost identical profile, very close in weight (the Excellight is listed as 5 grams heavier) and same price point. The one review (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=753801&mode=linear#post753801) I saw on RoadBikeReview.com has everyone singing the praises of Ambrosio's. So is it just the lack of marketing prowess on the part of Ambrosio? I would (and will) certainly give them a try.

Edit: Here's the link (http://www.ambrosiospa.com/catalogo1_file/Cataloghi%2007/Catalogo%20A4%20Ambrosio.pdf) to their PDF 2007 catalog.

I have spoken to the previous distributor about that. Ambrosio doesn't do any marketing in the US at all. It is difficult to consider buying a distributor sized quantity of a product that isn't advertised and expect to sell them all off. Mavic is on just about every bike sold stock and has a marketing budget llarger than other companies entire budgets. They aren't bad rims per say so they win out. They have the formula just right. Make decent stiff and market the crap out of it and it will sell. It doesn't have to be the best to sell.

[Keith A]

[snip]It doesn't have to be the best to sell.Very true. So I guess Ambrosio is happy with what sounds like a small mom & pop sized shop (at compared to Mavic). There is certainly room for competition and by the looks of it, DT's RR 1.1 rim seems to making inroads on what was previously almost exclusively belonged to the OpenPros (at least in the USA).

BTW Eric, how would you compare the three rims: DT RR 1.1, Mavic OpenPro and Ambrosio Excellight SSC?

[ergott]

Very true. So I guess Ambrosio is happy with what sounds like a small mom & pop sized shop (at compared to Mavic). There is certainly room for competition and by the looks of it, DT's RR 1.1 rim seems to making inroads on what was previously almost exclusively belonged to the OpenPros (at least in the USA).

BTW Eric, how would you compare the three rims: DT RR 1.1, Mavic OpenPro and Ambrosio Excellight SSC?


I've had excellent results with all of them. Mavic has the ceramic option which is nice for some. You get a dud rim from everyone including rims not mentioned.

When people want light box type rims I go with IRD Cadence
When people want all around rims I go with Aeroheads or OP. I do not recommend Ambro often and there is no US dist. Gita only brings in Gomittalia tires. If I were to get them on a reliable basis, they would be on my list.

DT RR is a great rim, but now that the rims are double eyeleted (28 and 32 only), they weigh more than the others. If this isn't a concern for the rider, then it isn't for me.

Bottom line right now is that Aeroheads are the least expensive between them, OP and DT. I don't see a cost justification to use the others unless they are specifically requested.

[Keith A]

Eric -- Thanks for the information.

According to DT's website, the RR 1.1 is available with single or double eyelets with the weights being 415g and 465g respectively. So what's the advantage or disadvantage of the single vs. double eyelets?

I have been interested in the Aerohead and Aerohead O/C as well. These are right around 400g but don't have any eyelets. So are the eyelets just an aid during the build process or do they have other advantages?

[thejen12]

When people want light box type rims I go with IRD Cadence
When people want all around rims I go with Aeroheads or OP.

What is the profile of the IRD Cadence rim? I couldn't the depth listed on their web page.

Thank you!

Jenn

[sbornia]

I recently bought a set of 28h Ambrosio Excellight rims from Ital-tecno. Very nice exterior finish and smooth seams, but on the inside joint of each rim there is a little blob of metal. On one of the rims, someone from the factory or distributor appear to have tried to file down this extraneous material; I emailed Ital-tecno about the issue, but never heard back from them. Lame. I'll just remove it myself.

FWIW, I went with these rims because I had a NOS set of silver Record hubs. So I'll end up with a nice Italian wheelset for my nice Italian Peg and make a very Italian bella figura.

[ergott]

Eric -- Thanks for the information.

According to DT's website, the RR 1.1 is available with single or double eyelets with the weights being 415g and 465g respectively. So what's the advantage or disadvantage of the single vs. double eyelets?

I have been interested in the Aerohead and Aerohead O/C as well. These are right around 400g but don't have any eyelets. So are the eyelets just an aid during the build process or do they have other advantages?

New the 1.1 is double eyeleted for 28 and 32. 36 is single. I still have old stock 28 & 32 singles. They no longer sell them that way.

Some people were having issues with the single eyelets. Almost all of them boiled down to too high tension an/or improper build for the given task. Double eyelets should be less prone to cracking, but there are cases of both designs failing (and even no eyelets).

[Keith A]

Thanks again for the info. So if the eyelets prevent cracking, have you had any problems with Aeroheads since they don't have any eyelets?

[ergott]

Thanks again for the info. So if the eyelets prevent cracking, have you had any problems with Aeroheads since they don't have any eyelets?


I had one Escape crack prematurely.

[Polyglot]

So if Ambrosio truly makes a better rim than Mavic, then why isn't everyone riding their Excellight SSC instead of OpenPros? They have an almost identical profile, very close in weight (the Excellight is listed as 5 grams heavier) and same price point. The one review (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=753801&mode=linear#post753801) I saw on RoadBikeReview.com has everyone singing the praises of Ambrosio's. So is it just the lack of marketing prowess on the part of Ambrosio? I would (and will) certainly give them a try.


Mavic, Adidas and Salomon are all the same company. When you look at the size of the company, you can see that it easily outranks long standing bike industry companies like Ambrosio. If you look back to the history of Mavic, you will see a switch over from high quality content to high marketing content about the time that Adidas got involved. The company has been able to use their considerable marketing experience and throw their considerable economies of scale at all comers, translating into a large market share. Personally I feel the quality has suffered somewhat. Not enough to impact the average user's experience, but sufficiently so that those with long-time experience with the brand will recognize the cheapening of the brand and its reputation. For a 20 year period from the mid-70's to the mid-90's, Mavic was the brand of choice for rims in my mind, nowadays they wouldn't come into consideration.

[-dustin]

Interesting that I see this thread today, as yesterday I spoke with David at Ital Tecno and he is sending me a pair of Excellence rims.

While having good luck with single eyelet RR 1.1s (road bike), and socketed ("double eyelet") RR 1.1s (29-er mtn bike), my curiosity got the best of me when I saw the little gold counterweight on the Ambrosio rim.

Now I need to find a pair of nice Campy skewers.