Found this thread interesting. I'm not intending this to be the first or final word on these wheels, but this is my experience from many years of use. Funny remembering this, but searching for a set of these wheels brought me to Retrobike all those years ago.
I raced for two teams sponsored by Spinergy. I've owned many sets of both the Rev-X and Rev-X ROX, and I've put them all through the paces. Translation= I beat the living fcuk out of them. I also witnessed what other rides did to them, and this is my $.02 of the overall Spinergy package:
Weight - They were very heavy. Like 2000g for the set.
Tube changes were a major headache as you either relied on an expensive extended valve tube that was likely latex, or you used a valve adapter that came with its own troubles. I broke so many tire levers on these rims...
Strength- I could do nothing to the front wheel... I owned the same one for 5 seasons and it never came untrue or head bearing issues. The wheelset's major faults didn't come from the strength of the carbon (although I'll add to that later)... rather the axle was welded together, and they would snap all the time. I broke three. The hubshell would also separate from the actual body of the wheel, and the whole non-driveside would flop around. You could actually ride for quite awhile with it in this condition. Adding a disc like the later models just accelerated the issue.
I also owned a set of the road wheels and loved them. The rear died too, but only after a strong hit from a pothole in a race, and even then the rim folded, but the carbon stayed intact.
Regarding the strength of the carbon, although I never broke a single carbon spoke, I had many teammates who completely exploded Rev-X ROX. This was from standard offroad use. If you could stand up and make some serious wattage on a climb, and the terrain suddenly became rough, chances are you could snap the rear wheel (axle or hub).
This caught my attention:
Marin Man":2jr316jw said:
Have you found a pic as I stated above.....obviously not......and for your information I dont ride on bike paths and they were not made for hard downhill ridng.....light cross country use is fine.....
I'm curious about where this info comes from. Please tell.
We met with the designers from Connecticut a few times as well to discuss the benefits and flaws. These wheels were talked up like the next best thing in race technology. I believe the word "bombproof" was dropped more than one time, so yes, the design intentions were for hard offroad riding. Years later I ran into one of the designers and we both still had Rev-X ROX on our town bikes. The rear hub on mine was JB-welded together (a surprisingly solid fix for town use). My friend admitted that the wheels were good at handling direct forces, but the hubshells could never withstand the side-to-side abuse that serious off-road riding delivers. History has likely given them a bad rap because when they failed it was usually catastrophic. Imagine that out of a mid-90's bike company?
In summary, I always thought these wheels were cool because they bring me back to those racing years. But sadly I'm a grown up now and no one's giving me bike parts to thrash. If the "look" is your thing, then that's fine. Personally I think few parts work harder to uglify a bike. But for me, actively using a set of Rev-X ROX is like strapping yourself to a ticking time bomb. Which is why this auction is appropriate.
Again, my $.02 only.
:roll:
:evil: :shock: :?
