# Reynolds Solitude experience?



## mkubota (Nov 27, 2005)

On paper, these look unbeatable. Anyone have experience with these?


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## TACSTS (Feb 4, 2004)

It's my impression that these replaced the Alta Races from last year. If so they're great wheels for the $$. In years past Reynolds made a few alloy clincher wheelsets under the "Alta" name. Comps, Races, and even a really rare Alta Pro. All were great for the $$, but with Reynolds quickly becoming a bigger player in the carbon wheelset market they D/C'd the Alta line and replaced it with one alloy clincher model, the Solitude, which is basically an Alta Race with a black ano rim instead of silver. 

I've got 2 sets of Alta Races, and my gf has a set of Comps. I've been very pleased with them, and Reynolds customer serivce (switching freehub bodies).


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

I just got a set last week. I have been cycling for about a year (former competitive runner)so I am no expert. I replaced the Bontrager selects on my Trek 1500 with these and I was blown away by the difference, mostly the bike seems to roll so much better. I recently swapped out my saddle so the Trek 1500 triple is down to 18.75 lbs since I added this wheel set

They are still very new but after about 100 miles on them they still are perfect. That being said I am not one to test durability as I weigh in at 130 lbs.

IMO so far this is an incredible value


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## Dizzy812 (Feb 20, 2007)

I'm happy with the performance of mine, and the price. Light, not super stiff, but a good compromise. 

However, I'm onto my 3rd front wheel due to unacceptable brake performance - pulsing.

I'll post a report when I test ride the new front wheel!


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

Interesting about the brake performance. I have not run across that. What I did run across this weekend was some pretty good potholes. When I got home I was suprised to find the wheels still perfectly in true


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## pl8ster (Nov 30, 2006)

I can certainly vouch for Reynolds' customer service. I have some Alta Comps on my Airborne, which I bought with 3 miles on it. Techincally, I'm not the original owner, but when my rear wheel lost 3 spokes in the first two months of ownership and wouldn't stay true, they offered to rebuild the wheel if I paid shipping both ways (about $15).

Aside from the Alta Comps, I've heard good things about their wheels.


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## MTBRBrian (Feb 5, 2005)

TACSTS said:


> ...and Reynolds customer serivce (switching freehub bodies).



What issues have you been having with the freehub body? I have a set of Alta Races that the cassette dug notches into. I didn't notice until I went to take it off when it was worn and was not able to. I had to really pry the gears off once I had the lockring off as they had dug in pretty well. Is this what you were experiencing? I was able to file down the notches to get a new cassette on again but I'm sure the problem will compound itself further. What is your take on this?

Brian


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## pl8ster (Nov 30, 2006)

Just checking to make sure the Solitude experiences are still good since the RBR reviews are not exactly glowing. My rebuilt Alta Comp rear wheel is done after about 100 miles (freehub is catching and another broken spoke) and Reynolds, to their credit, is offering me a discount on a new Reynolds wheelset. Wondering if I should take them up on a set of Solitudes since I don't think I can move up to one of their all-carbon offerings. It's either a set of Solitudes at a discount or stick with the Rol Volants that I'd planned on getting.

EDIT: I'm about 190# and a club rider


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

I am one of the reviewers. I gave them 4 stars. The Solitude is a great wheelset. Mine are still running very true and have no other issues. If you go with the solitude make sure that they can guarantee the cassette will fit properly. As you have read in the reviews there are issues with this. One reviewer could not get the 12t cog to engage in the spines. Mine barely engaged and had a little slop but when the lock ring was torqued down it seemed to lock in.

I contacted Reynolds about my concerns and they informed me that this is how it should work with the Lock ring compressing the 12t cog and my installation should be considered a "normal" installation.

So far my experience is that this wheelset is an incredible value. I check the wheels after most rides and they look and spin like new. I have about 1000 miles on them. I am about 5' 6"/ 135 lbs so probably with my size I do not test the wheels as others can. I plan on following up on my initial review shortly.


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## pl8ster (Nov 30, 2006)

The Revolution spokes on the Solitude make me a little nervous, especially since there are only 24 in the back (see weight comment above). To move up to Competition spokes, I'd have to move up to the all-carbon Attack and even at a discount, I think it's well out of my league. But they may be comparable spokes, I don't know.

Anyone have any idea if my Alta Comps used Revolution spokes too?


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

there are still some alta races floating around for very cheap (under 250). These are basically the same as the solitude except a silver rim. Reynolds has impressed me with their customer service as well.


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## rruff (Feb 28, 2006)

pl8ster said:


> The Revolution spokes on the Solitude make me a little nervous, especially since there are only 24 in the back (see weight comment above).


Aren't they DT Comps on the drive rear? The Revs are a lighter spoke, but should actually have better fatigue life. I think that with only 12 crossed spokes on the back the Revs might be a little "light" for your torque output.


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## pl8ster (Nov 30, 2006)

That's my point exactly about the torque. The guy I've been e-mailing me at Reynolds made the point about the Revs being lighter and therefore being able to flex more and thus resist fatigue better. It's not like I'm a torque monster but I do like to climb and just based on my weight, I'm putting a certain amount of power to the rear wheel.

Waiting to see about the discount. Interestingly, the Rol Volants I was just about commited to only have 24 spokes on the rear as well, though they're bladed (does that make a difference?):
http://www.rolwheels.com/wheels/2007/volant.html

And the Solitudes:
http://www.reynoldscycling.com/products_wheels_solitude.html
(you're right, they are DT Comps on the drive rear)


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## eponymous (Jul 13, 2009)

Anyone use these wheels for cross?


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## Blue CheeseHead (Jul 14, 2008)

pl8ster said:


> That's my point exactly about the torque. The guy I've been e-mailing me at Reynolds made the point about the Revs being lighter and therefore being able to flex more and thus resist fatigue better. It's not like I'm a torque monster but I do like to climb and just based on my weight, I'm putting a certain amount of power to the rear wheel.
> 
> Waiting to see about the discount. Interestingly, the Rol Volants I was just about commited to only have 24 spokes on the rear as well, though they're bladed (does that make a difference?):
> http://www.rolwheels.com/wheels/2007/volant.html
> ...


Bladed spokes do not make a difference. I am 195# and after 10,000 miles I pulled 2 spokes w/nipples right through the rim of my 2004 Rolf Prima Elan rear wheel on a steep climb. I am having a new RS Elan rim installed. The Elan's are only 24 spokes on the rear. In order to get back on the road I bought a set of Easton EA90 SL's and with 24f and 28r spokes, they feel very solid.


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## yashashana (Nov 4, 2005)

*Reynolds Solitude Problems*

I have had nothing but trouble with these wheels. Initially the splines on the freehub was not machined correctly(direct words from Reynolds) and they were too short so the 12 cog did not have any spline to catch on to, so it just spun freely even when the lockring was tightened to spec. eventually when I sent them some pictures they asked me to send back the wheelset so they could change out the mechanism, but they wanted me to pay shipping back and forth (around $60 at the time). 

I thought the customer service at the time was pretty terrible and slow, but it seems that others have had great experiences, so maybe I just caught them at a bad time. 

Beside the hub issue I had 4 spokes break at the rim in 6 months of road riding. Overall, this was a very dissapointing wheel. The front wheel seems to have no problems at all though, but the internal nipple design makes it just that much harder to keep these wheel true. I ride in Boston which has a bunch of pot holes, but my 32 spoke king wheels laced to some DT R1.1 seems to be doing just fine.

I would not buy these wheels. Just last week, I saw a guy in concord center with a broken rear wheel waiting for his wife to pick him up.


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

Well my Solitudes are still going great, I have several thousand miles on them but as I said before I weigh in at at mere 130 and do not have the weight or the power to stress a wheel set. I recently purchased some Nuevation wheels and they seem to be bomb proof and of course you can not beat their price.


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## lockwood1 (Nov 5, 2008)

82zman said:


> Well my Solitudes are still going great, I have several thousand miles on them but as I said before I weigh in at at mere 130 and do not have the weight or the power to stress a wheel set. I recently purchased some Nuevation wheels and they seem to be bomb proof and of course you can not beat their price.


Wich Neuvation"s did you get?


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

I got a R28 SL5 front with a Neuvation Powertap Pro+ rear which is built from a R28 Aero4 rear rim drilled 24H. Could not be happier with the wheels and the power tap power meter. I have about 2k on them now with no issues.


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## athletic91 (May 28, 2009)

They look good and spin well. i intend to rebuild my set with bladed spokes soon. only issue i had was that the freehub gets eaten by the cassette pretty fast


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## DHSlammer (Oct 26, 2009)

athletic91 said:


> They look good and spin well. i intend to rebuild my set with bladed spokes soon. only issue i had was that the freehub gets eaten by the cassette pretty fast


Sharp looking bike! I got one of those frame/fork/seatpost kits for a friend a few months back. How is the fork stiffness under braking?

The only difference bladed spokes make is weight e.g. bladed weighs more and are not any stronger. They are NOT any more aerodynamic but will increase cross wind steering.

Make sure the cassette lockring is very tight to minimize the cog digging into the aluminum freehub body. All aluminum freehub bodies have this happen to a certain degree, Ti is a better material application but also more expensive.


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## proguy747 (Jul 26, 2009)

nice rolling wheels. They did flex alot under my fat ass #280lbs..

Get custom builts. cheaper, faster and better build quality


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

athletic91 said:


> Only issue I had was that the freehub gets eaten by the cassette pretty fast.


Man, what a deal-breaker...I just almost bought these wheels, until I heard about the bad freehub issue for the THIRD TIME. Whats the freehub body made of, potatoes?

Count me out of these wheels. I'll get Ksyrium SSC SL before I ever get these...


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## benvoncamp (Dec 10, 2009)

*so do i really need these*

well, i went ahead and bought a pair of solitudes from bikewagon.com for a great price. Some other sellers are listing these wheels with reynolds specific brake pads in the sale. Mine do NOT come with any special pads. After reading about the problems people have had with the braking surface I am a little worried. I need these to last as any replacement would be a marriage ender. Anyone have the reynolds pads? not have them but something else that you are happy with? Ok, after 3000 km, I now have bad braking, a cassette that won't come off, and 2 broken non drive rear spokes. get what you pay for


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## yongkun (Aug 9, 2010)

Wow, the reviews on this wheels are quite bad. was thinking of getting one. any positive reviews?


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## DHSlammer (Oct 26, 2009)

yongkun said:


> Wow, the reviews on this wheels are quite bad. was thinking of getting one. any positive reviews?


Have been running these for 6+ months, best wheel for the $$ IMO. 

I over torqued the lockring and pulled the threads out. Made RMA on Reynolds web site, sent em back and reynolds replaced freehub for FREE. They also cleaned rims and replaced all bearings FRONT AND REAR! Applied new rimdecals and trued wheels as well.

I have 2 sets of Reynolds, these solitude and a set of Assaults. Both wheels use the same hubs, spokes and nipples only the rim is different between the 2 wheel sets. Both wheel sets have held up VERy well under a lot of use. I weigh 180lbs and ride relatively smoothly.

The rims did have a strange "oxidized" surface when new that flaked off badly at first. Since the original wear there has been no significant additional wear. I use standard Shimano 7900 brake pads without issue - in fact the braking performance is phenominal.

I did however break a spoke last week riding on flat ground soft pedaling. It was right after I got the wheels back from Reynolds and I believe it was due to the spokes being over tentioned while at Reynolds factory.

Otherwise I would buy either or both of these wheels again, from what I have seen they dont have any more or fewer problems than I have had and seen with Mavic Ksyrium SLs... And they are WAYYYYYYY cheaper for a very similar functioning wheel set.


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

well mine are over three years old now and have been bomb proof, thousands of miles and only one true, experience with these is varied but mine perform as new


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## J_Greer (Aug 24, 2005)

*Reynolds Solitude wheels amazing performance!*

These are an amazing set of wheel. Everything just works perfect. I believe the people that have had issue with spoke relates more to heavy riders. If you weight in the 200 pound range you should be running a different wheelset. Something with 32 hole 3x build.


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## benvoncamp (Dec 10, 2009)

I went back and reread my original post. It was accurate but I am now coming around on these wheels. Since my last spoke break I have had no more problems. The hubs run perfectly smooth. I mean REALLY smooth. The rear has absolutly NO play in the freewheel body. My Mavics on my mountain bike have however blown up in a much shorter time. 

I have ridden them now year round for a complete year and as I live in Germany it is not possible to keep them dry. Here it is either raining, just finishing, or just about to. The breaking surface, once I stopped worrying about it, performs exceptionally. going on 10K kms this month and have trued them (myself) once a few months ago and all is still good to go. Maybe you can have all three: Cheap, Strong, Light. Cheers, Ben


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL3 is 20g lighter....but worlds stiffer(I'm 165lbs).


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## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

Duplicate Post - Delete


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## benvoncamp (Dec 10, 2009)

*CHEAP, light, strong*

20 g lighter and $600 more expensive = $30 per gram.  What's the street value of blow these days? Both are an expensive addiction!


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## jared_j (Jun 11, 2009)

Are the logos on the rim stickers? I'm looking at buying a pair of these, and I'd want to de-badge them if possible.


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## 82zman (Oct 9, 2006)

My 2007 Solitudes have stickers, Cant speak about the new ones but I would be surprised if they did not have stickers


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