Excel wheels Swiss Comp or Threat - Opinions

[Kingfisher]

Has anyone bought the custom road wheels from Excel - Swiss Comp or Threat - what's your experience with them?

[Mikej]

I was looking, then bam! They went from like $630 a set to over $800

[Dave]

I bought custom powertap wheels from them last July and they were well built. The rims got trashed in late November in a car/bike accident, so I cut out the spokes and had them built again. Working great this year.

[brokenladder]

i think that they are okay. i have two sets: one on road bike, one on cross bike. i'm a little disappointed with how mine have failed to stay true. lots of folks ascribe mystical properties to handbuilt wheels, but my experience relative to factory wheels has been so-so. i weigh ~160, ride ti, and am quite careful. my riding buddy weighs ~200, rides carbon, and isn't as careful. his factory fulcrum zeros are as true as the day that he got them... who knows. i will say this. i have the 240 hubs and they seem to roll really well. i think it really depends on you and your wants/needs. they're not exactly cheap. sorry-- this is probably not very helpful.

[Jeff N.]

I've bought several custom wheelsets from Excel over the years. Never had anything but good things to say. Jeff N.

[brokenladder]

let me qualify my earlier comments a bit. i agree with jeff n. -- you can't beat excel. i am routinely impressed with its customer service and knowledge. i am a loyal customer. that said, i think that the OP question comes back to the factory v. handbuilt issue....

i read a lot before buying mine -- lots of conflicting, anecdotal data to be honest :-)

for me, it came down to going with excel and the swiss threat because it was excel standing behind it....

[Innominatus]

I concur regarding the quality of Excel's service.

I also have a pair of Swiss Threats, which admittedly I didn't get from Excel, but which are of identical spec to the ones they sell. *Very* good wheels, if a little stiff for my low-wattage 160 lb arse, but the 240 hubs are outstanding and roll forever.

At $630 they were a good, albeit probably not excellent, value. At $800+, it's not so good, value-wise.

At the current pricing I'd suggest that a better value alternative would be to substitute Record or 7800 Dura-Ace hubs in lieu of the DT240s but keep the RR1.1 rims, spokes, etc, as per the Swiss Threats. This will run you $500 or $525 via Excel. Almost as nice as the Swiss Threats for a much better price and better overall value.

Those 240 hubs sure do roll nicely, though... and much more quietly than my Record hubs I have on other wheels. For some, that alone might be worth the $300 premium.

[Birddog]

Those 240 hubs sure do roll nicely, though... and much more quietly than my Record hubs I have on other wheels.
Yours are quiet? When I'm coasting, mine sound like an old fashioned fishing reel. Other than that, I think they're great.

Birddog

[Bob Ross]

I was looking, then bam! They went from like $630 a set to over $800
At $630 they were a good, albeit probably not excellent, value. At $800+, it's not so good, value-wise.

I recently had Joe Young build me a set of wheels using the same parts as Excel's Swiss Threat, and at first I was a bit surprised by Joe's $800 price; but then I figured "Well, Joe Young is supposedly the shiznit, so I guess I'm paying a premium for the name versus some anonymous guy in the back room at Excel."

So I was really happy to see Excel's price increase! :)

[Bob Ross]

Yours are quiet? When I'm coasting, mine sound like an old fashioned fishing reel.

My 240s hubs, while not as quiet as my old Mavic Ksyrium Elites, are quieter than almost any other hubset I've ridden next to over the past 3 months. Certainly quieter than any Campy, Shimano, White, Chris King (duh!), or whatever those black conical hubs with the red stripe that everyone seems to have these days are (Bontrager maybe?)

[Keith A]

I've bought several custom wheelsets from Excel over the years. Never had anything but good things to say. Jeff N.This echos my experience as well.

[soulspinner]

This echos my experience as well.

Have a pair of chorus hubs open pros from them-theyve lasted years(15000 miles). Cant remember truing them...