New Dura-Ace Wheels

[Marco]

Does anybody have any experience on the new Dura-Ace wheels? Any insights that can be shared?

[EdK]

I saw a brand new front ridden by a Shimano employee explode the other day. It didn't appear to have hit anything. One spoke failed and the rest is history. He managed to not crash (amazing in its own right) it would have caused a number of other casualties. The 7700s were terrible, lots of cracking issues. It appeared the 7800s were better but.....................

[vaxn8r]

Ed, let's not wildly jump to conclusions.

<<The 7700s were terrible, lots of cracking issues. It appeared the 7800s were better but.....................>>

I hope you can support this other than by an anecdotal sample of 1 wheelset. I can list 2 pages of a variety of high end bike parts that I've personally seen fail. But that doesn't mean they are all bad. If so you can pretty much stop using anything made my Campagnolo, Shimano, Mavic, and that includes Topolinos as well.

My shop does a lot of business (it and 3 others in the same ownership group) They are very high on, not just the new DA wheels, but the old ones as well. Their volume (which includes a cat 1-2 team sponsorship as well as several local Pro-1-2 races each year) allows them to see what works and what doesn't. They drop products which continually cause problems. Let's just say they haven't dropped the DA wheelset line.

I own the new DA wheelset. Haven't bit the pavement yet either. I'm 190 lbs. Yesterday I sprinted up a 6% 0.3 mile climb at 19+ mph (est. Watts of 520!) I'd say these wheels hold up just fine.

[Random]

I have ridden Shimano wheels for the last 30,000 miles. I started with the proto greenish rims and upgraded to the black 7700s. I am very impressed with them. I am not easy on wheels, though I only weigh about 155. I climb and descend a lot. The protos did stretch a tad around the ferules after 15,000 miles but it did not appear to create any problems. The 7700s have been rock solid. They stay remarkably true, climb admirably, are very stiff, and survive the cross winds along the coast here in Nor Cal better than any other wheels I have ever ridden. I am sure there are wheels that address particular characteristics better than Shimanos (climbing, descending, spinning, etc.) but for a terrific, sturdy and fun overall ride these wheels are unsurpassed.

[EdK]

vaxn8r

My experience is far from anectdotal. Sorry if I did not articulate it better. I saw the near new 7800 front wheel explode. I saw them almost cause a crash amongst some big names in the sport. I saw the wheel after the ride. I have seen at least 6 sets of 7700's crack. Marco asked for experience This is my experience. Couldn't care less about two pages of anything you have or "estimated" watts (whatever that means) produced on some hill somewhere. Why don't you ask anyone from last years Saturn mens team what they thought about Shimano wheels? (unless of course they are still sponsored by Shimano) I have heard first hand what they think. Have a look in the team trucks that do ride them. I may be halucinating but they seem to cary far more spares than those teams using better wheels. In my opinion they are ****e. Many folks that get paid to ride them share this opinion. You are of course entitled to your opinion.

You are correct, anything can break but the 7700s have a stigma within the ranks of the sponsored athlete. The 7800s were supposed to be better. I am not certain if they are or are not. Based on what I saw I wouldn't touch them. I also know I have never seen any other wheel fail this way.

Jerk thoughts? Thanks

[vaxn8r]

Ed, both of our opinions are based on anecdotal experiences. The only knock I've heard on the old DA/Ultegra wheels was that they had too much lateral flex. Around here they've been very dependable and people like them because they are semi-aero yet comfortable.

Your story reminds me of about 7 years ago when their was a lot of buzz about Cannondales and Trek OCLV's cracking. There were posters who swore they had personally seen dozens of these bikes fail while people were just riding them. No crashes, just riding down the street. Well, I'm sure it's happened to have people that angry about it, but it's hard to imagine anyone having enough riding experience to witness so many failures on any brand of frame or component. So, I personally find your story hard to believe but I will take you at your word.

This thread reminds me of a few weeks ago when people were advocating better quality control. I wish there was a way to do that rather than depending on the manufacturer telling us "everything's OK". My last word here, I would tend to trust a company like Shimano or Campagnolo to get it right over some of the smaller players out there. No real basis other than that they've proven themselves over decades.