# Vuelta Rims - product review



## bimini (Jul 2, 2003)

After ruining my OP rims on my training wheels last year on a curb (yeah I know, I also shreaded a shirt, a helmet and some skin) I decided to go with some cheap "disposable" rims on my training wheels.

I purchased a pair of 32 hole Red Vuelta Airliner 2 rims on ebay for about $45. These are always cheap on ebay. 

First impressions - The red is paint vs. annodizing but looks very nice. I like Red and these were the cheapest red rims I could find. The rims were very flat and round out of the box. They are solid rims, should take a pounding but a little on the heavy side, but that's okay for training wheels. Double wall construction and a little deeper section than the OPs. The eyelets are single instead of the doubles on the the OPs but not a problem. The seam is not nearly as nice as the OPs. I am not even sure if the seam is welded. There is a bar inside the rim that is rivited to either side of the seam. The wheels have a machined braking surface on both sides that is very true. It also has a wear indicator stripe.

Wheel build up - Being a little deeper than the OPs I had to use shorter spokes (about 3 mm shorter). I was hoping to reuse the old spokes but they were too long. I built the front wheel up using cheap straight gauge #14 SS spokes in a 3x pattern (bomb proof and cheap). I built the rear using cheap #14 Straights 3x on the drive side and DT #14/15/14 butted spokes 3x on the non-drive side. The wheels built up easily and nice.

Wheels came in very true (less than 1mm both dirrections) with even tension all around and no hops or other problems. Closer to perfect than my old OP wheels.

After two rides on rough roads the wheels are still perfectly true. I was worried about the seam, but it is not a problem. I could not feel it during braking. I'm not sure if it could turn into a problem down the road.

I am happy with the rims. Very solid bomb proof wheels. If I hit a curb again, no great loss, buy another pair and rebuild the wheels. Fine for putting the miles on and an attractive looking wheel. Red bike, red rims, red tires and red rider.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Thanks for the review. I've wondered about those rims for a while. Did you get them from Icycles on Ebay?


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## bimini (Jul 2, 2003)

*Yes, Icycles*

I got the spokes from them also, they had the cheapest prices around. I had the rims in two days and the custom cut spokes in 3 days. Hard to tell the difference between the no name spokes and the DT's, they just don't have the butted spokes in no name.


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## DaveLobster (Feb 5, 2004)

*You really hit on it...*



bimini said:


> I am happy with the rims. Very solid bomb proof wheels. If I hit a curb again, no great loss, buy another pair and rebuild the wheels.


Isn't it amazing how empowering building your own wheels can be? 

I was on a ride and one of my buddy's hits a storm sewer grate with his $1000 TdF special edition Ksyriums (one yellow spoke!?), scraping the hell out of the rear rim's sidewall. I think he can probably just sand it out, but jeez, can you imagine if it was destroyed? Who knows how much it would cost to rebuild the wheel with a new rim. 

On the other hand, even my fanciest, lightest homebuilt wheels are only made with $40 rims (Velocity aerohead), so the most I could be out is that plus the cost of new spokes. I just couldn't enjoy $1000 wheels that I couldn't fix myself, no matter how great they ride because I'd be too worried about anything happening to them. 

-Dave


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