Summary: I'm training for the California deathride and I bought the Immortal Spirit Carbon from BikesDirect.com - great price, great bike. Ironically, after reading several worrying reviews about spoke problems with these wheels, I had a spoke blow out on me this morning. I don't know if it's the nipple or what, but I only had 140 miles on the rear wheel. I'm 185pounds, but I don't think that should matter. I can't afford a questionable wheel set now. I'm hoping Ritchey will warranty it.
Strengths: Seem light and fast. I like the concept of the design.
Weaknesses: uhm, the spokes break. Unreliable.
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Bike Setup: Mercier Serpens with columbus zonal, ultegra, richey wcs (the bars&stems are great)
Summary: This review is for the Ritchey WCS Protocol clincher wheelset.
Wheels came with a Bikes Direct bike. They performed well initially, light but reasonably stiff and stayed true over some big bumps. After 3mo/1500miles I lost my first spoke on the rear, basically the nipple cracked, spoke was fine. Replaced and retrued -all was well. Happened 3 more times, always broken nipple, never the spoke head breaking, last time the spoke got chewed up in the driveline. On taking off the cassette to replace the spoke found the freehub body to be chewed up, either the metal was too soft or cassette not tight, but I had a heck of a job unseating the casette so I think too soft.
Anyway, rebuilt&retrued I was off again when the rear bearing essentially failed, very stiff with graunching noises. Not user serviceable as far as I could see.
At this point contacted ritchey for warranty service, they responded that wheels bought mail order were not covered by them, so I was essentially SOL.
I wasnt going to put any more into paid rebuilds in order to continue with the regular broken spokes, so wheels done within 9mo 4000miles.
Strengths: Light and stiff. Pretty.
Weaknesses: Long term durability is dire
Similar Products Used: Replaced with Mavic Aksium as a stopgap thats turned into a longer term thing. More durable by far.
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Summary: I purchased these wheels purely for racing, and if I were to be honest beacuse the Ksyrium SL's were so expensive but seemed the same weight. These wheels are very stiff, but don't seem to make a great contact with the road in rough condition ie they tend to skip around a fair bit. After only about 2 000 km of use I was shocked to see that virtually every rear spoke hole and several front spoke holes had multiple cracks. They basically then had to be thrown in the bin.
Strengths: Light, stiff, aero.
Weaknesses: They break far too easily.
Similar Products Used: Mavic Ksyrium SL, equipes.
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Bike Setup: Tarmac Pro, Durac-ace, Bontrager bars and seat post, Fizik Arione seat.
Summary: These wheels were purchased as race only wheels, and for this they functioned reasonably well. They were aero as advertised, nice and light, and fairly responsive. The trouble is, after only about 1 000 km I was shocked [although shouldn't be after reading the other reviews] that virtually every rear spoke hole had a substantial crack through it. Even a number of the front spoke holes were cracked. I initially bought these as I couldn't afford Ksyrium SL's, but I guess light - strong -cheap --pick two certainly applies to these wheels. I guess there is a good reason these wheels aren't used by pros. By the way, I weigh 75 kg.
Strengths: Light, aero
Weaknesses: They break after minimal use.
Similar Products Used: Mavic Ksyrium Equipe [20 000km before rear rim cracked] & Ksyrium SL still going strong.
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Summary: These wheels came on a recent purchase, 20 1 cross front, 24 two cross rear. On high speed descents, they track funny and are not felt to be safe. Eight hundred miles of use, and a nipple sheared off 15 miles from home. The spoke was fine, but the nipple was broken off at the head. I'm very disappointed in these wheels. I weigh 165 pounds and ride on good roads. There is no good reason for the rear to fail like that.
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Poor lateral stiffness, early spoke failure, poor tracking at speed. (Note: it's the wheels, not the frame. With a different wheelset, the bike tracks fine at speed.)
Similar Products Used: Over 30 years of handmade Campagnolo wheelsets.
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