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Submitted by
jwork
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2009 | | Favorite Trail: | Sandia Foothills | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$125.00 | | Purchased At: | used craigslist | | Strengths: | Fast, true, strong, look cool, light weight, very stiff, unbreakable. | | Weaknesses: | getting people to work on them. not willing to move on to newer parts, cant let go. | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Fisher opie frame set-up for XC | | Bottom Line: | I haven't had to deal with customer service with these wheels ever. In fact, when i bought these wheels from the previous owner, he assured me he had 1200 miles on them. since then i've put close to another thousand and have had to true them once, never replaced a bearing, and never make any adjustments. To me thats bomb-proof. i weigh 170, ride over anything, take regular rides down flights of stairs, and never ever have any trouble with these things. if you are having bearing trouble, strength troubles, or any troubles you or someone else is doing something wrong. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Steve
a Cross Country Rider
from Pennsylvania
Date Reviewed: August 8, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Broad Mountain Loop | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | www.ColoradoCyclist.com | | Strengths: | Very cool looks. I get a lot of comments on the yellow spokes and overall design. I bought this SPOX wheelset new. They were very smooth for the first few hundred miles. They do absorb a lot of the road "bump". Very fast wheel. | | Weaknesses: | Very difficult to adjust. The two wrenches that Spinergy supplied with the wheelset are the smallest. They are almost impossible to get into the tight space on the rear hub. I've had 3 of the "barrel" nuts crack and snap. Nobody in my area will service or carry spare parts for these wheels, so make sure you are a very patient person. The rear hub completely seized up on my out on a ride. It felt like being on a stationary bike with the resistance turned to the max. I was able to free it enough to get home. I've never encountered a problem like this before. It basically desintegrated. Amazing. I wasn't going to spend top dollar to rebuild not knowing how long a rebuid would last. I basically cannibalized the rear wheel and have been selling off the parts. If you need any yellow spokes and nuts, or a spare rim for a rear SPOX wheel, contact me. I am also selling the complete front wheel. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic, Bontrager | | Bike Setup: | Giant TCR-2 Compact Road. | | Bottom Line: | You'll love them when you first get them. You'll think they look and feel great....for the first few hundred miles. I've never had to deal with Spinergy customer service, so I can't say "yay" or "nay" there. I have just read all of the horror stories surrounding Spinergy and thank God that I didn't put myself through that. I got mine on an end of season clearance throught Colorado Cyclist. The price was decent. Regular price is outrageous. I will give a value rating of 3 because they are a fast wheel. My overall rating is a two due to the product not holding up. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tiemo Brand
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto
Date Reviewed: June 28, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | 4-corners, Collingwood | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike show | | Strengths: | I cracked 3 Cannondale frames and not needed any repairs to these great wheels over the past 5 years. I've heard that the hubs were sensitive but I've not encountered such problems. | | Weaknesses: | Spoke wrenches suck. If you have to adjust your spox, you've done something really bad - get somebody who knows how to set the tension right | | Bike Setup: | Crack and Fail | | Bottom Line: | I just blew out the sidewalls last weekend. Am looking for another set when I buy a new bike but the reviews below are almost scaring me off.
Can such a good concept and product be so poorly managed?My only complaint is the price. If they dropped the price, dealt with their quality issues, they would sell more and make more profit - like any business should. Non? | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Berchman Pagan
a Racer
from Ponce, PR
Date Reviewed: May 10, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | 7 lagos | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | Ohio | | Strengths: | Basically anything you throw at them. they stay true always | | Weaknesses: | They are addicting. Oh thats a stregth, sorry, what weakness??? | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Heliums, no contest. SPOK rule. | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale F1000, XTR All around Fatty Headshock Si. Ti Assecories... | | Bottom Line: | I got my hands on the first set to come into the shop back in 96. I have not let go of them since. I have raced and used them daily. I freaquently jump them and they stay true always, very minimal trueing. Cant say enough good things about them... I Love them. The overall buyer for these is anyone with a bike. SPOKs are stronger than steel, lighter and cheaper than ti. You will not only see the difference but feel it in your ride. You will ride longer and faster. I almost didn't believe it until I threw a leg over my ride with them installed. Like I said before and I will repeat always, I LOVE THEM, SPOKs rule.... Oh and by the way, they kick butt! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Michael Foreman
a Weekend Warrior
from Oakland
Date Reviewed: October 24, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Any & all singletrack in East Bay & Marin | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$800.00 | | Purchased At: | Performance | | Strengths: | Strong as an ox, super cool looks, great acceleration & even faster stopping. | | Weaknesses: | Rear free hub body! | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic, KK, Ringle & all Shimano | | Bike Setup: | Airborne Ti Hardtail, Rock Shox SID WC, mostly XT (some XTR) carbon post & bar | | Bottom Line: | These wheels are most awsome. It did help that I lost weight (from about 190 down to about 165). They are fast as h*ll, stop on a dime. They're really stiff and corner great. Hold a line really well and look super cool. I set mine up with all black spokes - Oh, Baby!
Oh, the poor rear free hub body. I've gone through about 3 of them so far. I figure I'll have to replace it once a year. Fortunetly, my LBS is an authorized dealer, so they are familiar with the set and work on them.
I hate to contradict my fellow riders, but my experience with the customer service has not been that bad. Perfomance really sucked, but I ditched them quickly.
At Spinergy, try to call Ben Bowers (sorry, dude...but I'm putting your name out there!), he's cool and took care of me in a timely manner. His number is: 760-517-4500 (ex# 111). I hope he gets a raise from this!
Mike
| Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chad Wojahn
a
from Coon Rapids, Mn. USA
Date Reviewed: February 20, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | any thing dirt that takes skill | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | schwinn | | Strengths: | verry forgiving, super quick, lite as hell, jaw droping looks. | | Weaknesses: | bearings what bearings? mine fell apart after my first mud bath. | | Similar Products Used: | shimano XTR | | Bike Setup: | Mountain Cycle San Andreas and Mountain Cycle shock wave 9.5
both have XTR shift/brake setup. Cris King head set Hell bent Titec bars, WTB titianum seats, My shock wave has a soft ride stem | | Bottom Line: | I use to have my rides set up with the spinergy rox but Itried to true a wheel on a trail on day and broke the screw
Spinergy replaced the set with a set of yellow and blue spox for a mere $150 more. They lasted a month and the bearings went to hell after a mud bath.
Fortunatly I own a costom welding/fab shop and called one of my suppliers and found some class 5 sealed bearings that fit for under $5 each!! I replaced all..including front with these never a problem since!! that was over 6 years ago
In fact I like the spox so much I have 4 sets,two for each ride one winter and one summer set !!! Ride on | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt
a
from Ajax, Ont
Date Reviewed: January 21, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Looks Cool, nice yellow and blue spokes. Fairly strong. | | Weaknesses: | Hard to true. Whenches supplies are $hit | | Bottom Line: | A very nice wheelset. Great for using rim brakes. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bill
a Cross Country Rider
from Omaha, NE
Date Reviewed: July 24, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Anything in Fruita | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$250.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Bulletproof | | Weaknesses: | None that I have found | | Similar Products Used: | XTR/517 | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Superlight/XTR | | Bottom Line: | I have read a lot of bad reviews on these wheels but since I have owned this set I have not had one problem. I ride at about 190lbs so I am not a light rider. I have hit all kinds of debris on the trail baby heads, log crossings, you name it and they have remained aas true as the day I bought them. I have never had to deal with Spinergy customer service so I consider myself lucky. I guess I got lucky and got a good set. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Peter
a Cross Country Rider
from Oakland, Ca.
Date Reviewed: May 15, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$1.00 | | Purchased At: | Came on a used bike | | Strengths: | Light weight, smooth ride | | Weaknesses: | Everything else. Poor design, weak bearings, impossible to true with inferior tools, no parts available, even at extortion pricing, crap for customer support, | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Kysyrium Elite, Open Pro on Dura-Ace | | Bike Setup: | Cyclocross/Commuter | | Bottom Line: | My wheel set came straight from a factory rebuild to me. The bearings were set up horribly, they came out of true after one short ride on pavement, then got ugly after another ten mile ride on smooth gravel roads in Marin. My last outing on city streets, the spoke blew through the rim like a .45 magnum, tore a hole about three quartes of an inch in the rim and destroyed the top of the spoke too. Thank god I was just riding around town and not out on a trail or racing!
Click on the links to buy from them. Up comes a window. Click on Service? Not available! Don't look surprised. If they answered all the service issues, they wouldn't have time to build and sell any more of the crap they produce.
Dealers listed on their own page won't get tools or parts for you because they suck so hard.
Anyone need a recently rebuilt SPOX front wheel? Available cheap.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Edwardo
a Racer
from Manassas
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | nashbar | | Strengths: | I have the 650c road version. I really like these wheels!!! Not very stiff, but the ride is silky smooth. | | Weaknesses: | The hub is funny looking, but works pretty good. Difficult to true. | | Similar Products Used: | Nothing like 'em. | | Bike Setup: | Kestrel 500 SCI | | Bottom Line: | I am impressed with the 650C road version of this wheel. It is fairly light and durable. The ride is very smooth and fairly maintenance free. You have to take good care of these wheels, but the performance has been very good. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt Blackburn
a
from atlanta, ga
Date Reviewed: March 5, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | NONE | | Weaknesses: | The design or lack thereof. They literally fell apart. Oh and just for a couple hours of torture try to rebuild one. The two spoke wrenches are made from the softest metal known to man. Real Genius.
| | Bike Setup: | Specialized FSR XC | | Bottom Line: | These wheels are the biggest piece of @$%! they are overpriced
for what you get, unless you like to pay through the nose for @$%!
The smartest thing they did was save money on R&D,"We'll just put them out there and see what happens." Notice this (I refuse to call it design)was fazed out. Anyone who says these wheels are great, good or even o.k. have lost too many brain cells. If you are even considering spinergy,don't. If everyone operated under the spinergy business model we'd still be killing our own food.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom
a Racer
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: October 6, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Strengths: | It looked nice, pretty yellow and blue spokes, and pretty light. | | Weaknesses: | They are not made to actually be ridden, at least the rear one isn't. The rear freehub is a very poor design. The fact that a company can have such poor customer service and still be in business is amazing. | | Similar Products Used: | Hand built wheels just lx hub with sun sub 0 rim, dt spokes.
On road Mavic Cosmics, Specialized tri-spokes, Velomax Orion Comps, and many hand built wheels (Sun Venus rims rule!) | | Bike Setup: | Schwinn Project Underground | | Bottom Line: | I got the rear wheel for super cheap from a friend who owns a shop, if I had paid retail I would have really been pissed. The wheel lasted for 3 whole rides before the rear freehub came apart, and the rides where just comutes to work the wheel never even saw any dirt. Anyway Spinergy refused to replace the part, trying to claim it was misused. They are the worst company I have ever delt with, and I used to work in a shop, and I used to think Rock Shox was the king of poor customer service but their crown has been taken, and Spinergy has redefined poor customer service. Please do not support them!!
While I'm on customer service let me name some companies you should support Smith or Spy sunglasses I've seen both of these companies warranty things that they shouldn't have. And Hadley, they used to make hubs for GT, there hub wasn't the best design but they stood behind it. I had a customer whos rear freehub quit working and Hadley sent me a complete rebuild kit via Fed-X overnight.
So to sum things up Spinergy SUX!!! I mean they really, really, suck. Smith, Spy, Hadley Good. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tom
a Cross Country Rider
from strongsville ohio
Date Reviewed: August 3, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | towpath | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | bike shop | | Strengths: | look good hold true well absorbs shocks well | | Weaknesses: | bearings people at spinergy bearings um service did i say bearings | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | cannondale cad4 with full campy record minus rims with poor bearings | | Bottom Line: | rims are well built but the bearings must be from a taiwan reject | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris G
a Cross Country Rider
from Charlotte
Date Reviewed: June 24, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Catawba | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Shop in Colorado | | Strengths: | Light, good looking | | Weaknesses: | Poorly designed | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic | | Bike Setup: | Trek Y33, XT Group | | Bottom Line: | DO NOT BUY SPINERGY. Spinergy Customer Service is the worst that I have ever dealt with in any industry! Spinergy Sux. Bikeline in Charlotte Sucks. I rode maybe 30 miles on the new Spinergy Spox (R1) wheel, the rear axle cone disintegrated. I put the wheels away for a while disappointed. Finally, I got motivated to warranty fix and Spinergy would not fix. $600 wheels and $150 to fix a $10 part! Bikeline bike shop in Charlotte did nothing to help me and actually called me a liar saying they had to be ridden more - as if it mattered, but they were wrong anyway and did not help. 20 miles after the repair - the same problem. I now have a local bike shop I will not deal with and Spinergy who insists on working wiht a local dealer. DO NOT BUY SPINERGY. Spinergey Sucks. Customer Service is the worst I have ever dealt with in any industry! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jimbo
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Light, Shock absorbing, Good acceleration | | Weaknesses: | lateral flex. Low quality bearings. | | Bottom Line: | Nice wheels. I am light (150lbs) and can flex these in a corner so much that the brakes drag on the rim and noticably scrub off speed. This only happens when I push it really hard though. The bearings wore out and started creaking in less than 200 miles. Adjustments didn't help. I removed the bearings and tried to get new ones. Good luck from Spinergy. I eventually took them to an industrial bearing supply house to get new ones. They aren't expensive, and are a commonly stocked bearing. The comment from the bearing shop was that the OEM bearings are garbage (their words), and one seal had actually been damaged badly in initial factory installation. Considering how inexpensive those particular bearings actually are, why did Spinergy use junk? I had cause to call Spinergy regarding a minor rim question. The horror stories from years ago regarding their customer service still hold true today. Horrible customer service seems to be the rule there. Perhaps if they hired people who didn't say "dude" and had actually completed high school, they might score better with customers. The product is good. I really like these wheels, but cheaping out on bearings? The darn things cost all of $20 per wheel for the best you can buy. Replace yours from a bearing shop. Don't even think of having someone order them for you from Spinergy. I can't say much about the longevity of these wheels, as I ended up using my old Bontrager MA40s with Campy Record hubs for most of the time last year while dealing with the bearing issues (indestructable, bombproof combination that I haven't managed to damage in the slightest over the last 12 years - I even went so far as to upgrade to an 8-speed Record rear hub a few years back - I like them that much)
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dwayne
a Racer
from State College
Date Reviewed: June 13, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Stiff, durable, great looks | | Weaknesses: | Not easy to true, freewheel develops a lot of play | | Similar Products Used: | Pulsar Hubs with Conbrio, Mavic rims, Bontrager wheelset | | Bike Setup: | '98 Cannondale SuperV 900Comp, DD60 Headshok, Spinergy Spox, Magura Racelines, Race Face cranks | | Bottom Line: | I've read quite a few reviews that label these wheels as very weak, which I have not found to be the case. I'm a fairly good size rider at 205 pounds, and have been using these wheels almost every day for two years now, putting about 6000 miles on them (and they have previous miles on them from the friend I bought the bike from to replace my 25,000+ mile hardtail). Every single previous wheel I've used before was handbuilt by me, and worked fine. These wheels accelerate amazingly well since they have a low inertia (most of the weight is at the center). I've also raced with these, both XC and DH races, and they've held up very well. Loading docks, flights of stairs, tables... and still rolling. The rear has come a little out of true, which I've been able to fix through truing. However, truing this set of wheels has not been fun, the spoke wrench does not fit well between the spokes, and often the entire spoke twists, so it becomes difficult to incorporate any kind of precision. The shop I work at has had issues with Spinergy's customer service, but since I haven't had to deal with the service with my wheels, I'll leave out comments about that. The freewheel on the rear also develops a lot of internal play, and tends to need fairly frequent maintainance. Since it's a non-standard freewheel, you have to get it through Spinergy. Aluminum freehub body saves weight, but might be the cause for the play in it. Overall I love these wheels (the stickers peel off easily, but eh), they're stiff, strong, and look great (you'd be surprised how many people ask questions when they see them). For the money, a little expensive though. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tommy
a
from TN
Date Reviewed: May 17, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | some dude | | Strengths: | light, looks hella cool, remains pretty true | | Weaknesses: | the aluminum part of the hubs corrode, the cones and bearing also corrode and are warped out of shape | | Similar Products Used: | chris king, xtr | | Bike Setup: | Trek Y-11 | | Bottom Line: | I was pretty satisfied with these wheels till it started corroding. I don't know what happened. I rebuild the wheels occasionally. The last time I took it apart, the cones were rusted and warped. So was the bearings. I now have one noisy and rough rear wheel.
What everyone here said about the customer service of Spinergy is dead-on though. They suck monkey's .... ummm
Let's just say that their customer service is non-existent. You have to go through their authorized dealers, or that's what it says on their web site. I can't even find a freakin bike shop where I live let alone a "Spinergy Authorized Dealer."
I e-mailed Spinergy and ... nothing. I would be satisfied with a reply saying something like, "HA HA YOU'RE SCREWED! We got your money and now we don't care," but... nothing. I just wanted to know if they have the parts I needed or at least where I can get them from. I mean at least ackowledge my existance damn it! :D
Anywho... if you want to get these wheels go ahead. They're pretty cool. You'll probably have to throw them away if something goes wrong though.
I'll give these wheels 2 burning turds because they're light and looks hella cool. Screw that... I'll give 1 burning turd cause Spinergy sucks. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom Weidaw
a Cross Country Rider
from Athens, OH
Date Reviewed: May 16, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Vulture's Knob, Wooster Ohio | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$550.00 | | Purchased At: | Price Point | | Strengths: | Light, quick out of the box, look cool. | | Weaknesses: | Rear bearings blew out. Require maintenance to keep quickness. | | Bike Setup: | Supercaliber, all XTR, SID sl | | Bottom Line: | Loved these wheels when I first got them. They look cool as hell but are a bit pricy. They're strong, but when they do get out of true they're a pain to fix and they require frequent tightening. If you're looking for a carefree, beat 'em up everyday wheel this isn't it. If you've got a few bucks to drop and don't mind working on them occasionally, they're a good buy. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Steve Vesco
a Cross Country Rider
from Stafford Springs, CT
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Soap Stone Mnt. | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$250.00 | | Purchased At: | Bicycles Unlimited, Greenfield, Ma, | | Strengths: | Very strong and holds up to a beating. I weigh 230 lbs and didn't have to true the rear wheel for over a year. Absorbs impacts well. | | Weaknesses: | Price and maintenance on bearings. I blew the rear bearings out after 1 year of hard riding. Lucky I purchased theses wheels from a great shop that takes care of their customers!! | | Similar Products Used: | Spinergy RoX | | Bike Setup: | K2 Carbon 5500 | | Bottom Line: | Great rims if you get a great deal on them. I've dealt with Spinergy's customer service on my last wheel set. I called them direct and got the ball rolling. I had a set of Rox wheels. I killed the rear wheel and they upgraded me to the Spox for $150 on a crash replacement. Make sure you deal with a shop who will take care of you if you purchase theses wheels. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Thomas David Kehoe
a Weekend Warrior
from Boulder, Colorado
Date Reviewed: February 23, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Coal Creek Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | None. | | Weaknesses: | Wind drag, weight. Freewheel mechanism was loud and felt "clunky." | | Similar Products Used: | DT Revolution spokes. | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale Silk Road. | | Bottom Line: | Spinergy Xaero road wheels' spokes are 2.5mm in diameter! I usually build wheels using DT Revolution spokes (regular steel spokes), which are 1.5mm in diameter. Bladed spokes are between 0.9 and 1.2mm. Do the math -- the Xaeros have 16 spokes front, 20 rear, with the same wind drag as 28 spokes front, 32 rear regular wheels. The Xaero Lite wheels (18 front, 24 rear) have the same wind drag as 36-spoke wheels! Plus the Xaero rim is heavy. The spokes and hub are light, but it's the rim that matters for acceleration. The Xaero Lite rim is light, but it's not aero. Spinergy claims these wheels absorb shock -- so do DT Revolutions. The Xaeros have no advantage over standard wheels costing 1/3 the price. Also, I bought these on eBay. The seller said the wheels were Xaero Lites when they were standard Xaeros. And he didn't include the QR skewers or the truing tool. And the front wheel had black spokes, the rear yellow. Luckily I'd used Escrow.com, so I clicked REJECT PAYMENT and shipped the wheels back. He'd tried to talk me out of using escrow, asking for a check and insisting he was honest! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Washington, DC
Date Reviewed: January 29, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Wakfield/Accotink | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$280.00 | | Purchased At: | Supergo | | Strengths: | fairly light, lateraly rigid | | Weaknesses: | hub | | Similar Products Used: | WTB powerbeam wheelset (pre dates the newer laserbeam) | | Bike Setup: | GT frame/mix of XT and XTR components | | Bottom Line: | DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM SPINERGY!!!!! I purchased this wheelset with high hopes, only to be let down big time. The rear hub blew out on me after about 50 miles. I returned the wheel to Supergo and they sent it back to Spinergy for warranty work. That's the last time I laid eyes on it. After fighting with Supergo for 7 months they finally refunded my money. Spinergy is notorious for taking unreasonably long time periods for returning busted wheels to thier owners. I had heard the horror stories about Spinergy's customer service, but thought "Not me". Boy was I wrong. In the end Supergo made the situation right, and I couldn't find any Spinergy products on thier website the last time I looked. Bottom line-if you buy Spinergy wheels make sure you hang on to your old wheelset. You're gonna need 'em. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rob Gueterman
a Cross Country Rider
from Tampa, FL
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Any of Tsali trail network | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light weight, spins forever, good shock absorption | | Weaknesses: | Rear hub bearings always need maintainance | | Similar Products Used: | Too many | | Bike Setup: | FSR S-works, Mars CL, Race Face, XT Drivetrain | | Bottom Line: | These puppies love to roll. Excelerating out of switchbacks is incredible. Can always use a higher gear. HOWEVER, there is always a price to pay when something is this fast. Gone through two sets of rear hubs and waiting for the third. Luckily, my LBS always takes care of me and replaces them on the spot. (Pretty rare!) These hubs do not like mud, sand, slop and don't even think about pointing a hose at them. After this set of hubs I will go back to XTR's with Mavic Rims. You can just install Shimano's and forget about them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a
from north branford, ct
Date Reviewed: January 18, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Strengths: | good front wheel, lite, strong | | Weaknesses: | they got my rear hub fixed after the 3rd try. there C.S. isnt that bad. the thing is that the bike shop didnt ship out my rear wheel for 14 days after i gave it to them to ship to spinergy. then i got it back in 10 days. that was a big +. if it wasnt of the bike shop i would have been able to finsh better than 5th place b/c i have to use a crap rear wheel | | Bottom Line: | the wheel are fine, they are like Jags. they alwas need care. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Frank Goeckler
a Cross Country Rider
from Columbia
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Wells Woods | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | supergo | | Strengths: | Light, Strong, no maintenence | | Weaknesses: | bearnings suck (sealed on one side, ball on the other) they wore our on the rear rim in one season, $47 for replacement bearings, if you can get Spinergy to send them which echos every other review on this page. CUSTOMER SERVIE IS BEYOND HORRIBLE. My girlfriends rear wheel got sent back for a bearing ALMOST 6 MONTHS AGO!! Still not back. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic 517/XT | | Bike Setup: | Jamis Dakar | | Bottom Line: | BL is that I have no complaints about the rims, a 200 lb freerider. Rims take regular drops and hits and have never needed to be trued, however, companies have got to stand behind their product and Spinergy fails badly at any attempt to keep customers loyal. Buy them used if you can, but ask the seller about the bearins before you do or get in line to bash the customer service dept. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark Lasch
a Cross Country Rider
from Friendswood, TX,, USA
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Ant Hills | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$225.00 | | Purchased At: | Factory | | Strengths: | Strong and True...Light and cool looking | | Weaknesses: | Spinergy customer service | | Similar Products Used: | Mav 517, XT | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale Super V 900, XTR, XT, Carbon Bar, Hutchinson Mosquito tires... | | Bottom Line: | I bought these M2 Spokes a year and 6 mo. ago as an E.P. I had been looking at them in the shop and thought they appeared strong enough to take the big hits that come from a 6'3" 205 lb. guy. I was right. They have stayed straight and true. They are light and fast. I have not had to touch them the entire time I have owned them. The factory told me to up the tention to between 205-225 pounds but I never did...took one look at those tools and how complicated the truing process looked and thought I would do it when they needed truing. They never did. Guess thats a good thing! Anyway, I love them. They have noticably improved the performance of my bike. The wheels have not caused me any problems, but in dealing with the Spinergy Customer Service when they sent me 2 sets of wheels and charged me for both I did have some frustration. They were not quick to take the 2nd set back, and they were equally as slow in crediting my credit card. I guess even the best roses must have a thorn! Go buy these wheels! Go ride your bike! Stop reading this review! Now! Go! Get out of here!... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jim Peterson
a
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$650.00 | | Strengths: | light (though lots of wheelsets now are just as light)
very, very low rotatioal inertia (no one is better or even close here) | | Weaknesses: | weak
very difficult to maintain | | Similar Products Used: | XT, XTR, DT Hugi, with various rims | | Bike Setup: | CC racing. Titanium frame, Sid shock, SRAM and XTR drivetrain. | | Bottom Line: | These are probably the fastest accelerating wheels you can get. I tested them for rotational acceleration characteristics and they outclass every wheel I've compared them with.
BUT
Way too expensive compated to the competition. A set of American Classics is tougher and costs half as much.
You have to tension them up very, very tightly and that's a major pain. Find some wheel guru and pay him whatever he asks to set these up and keep them straight for you. A nice idea these spline drive nipple systems but truing from the hub is very difficult. And these geekly little tools they provide strip out in no time.
The wheels are not that strong. A hard hit can majorly throw them out of wack and require a long time to put straight. Again, pay someone else to do it and save yourself the headache. Though after a while that mechanic may never want to see you again.
And the very worst, awful thing about this wheelset is Spinergy's customer service.
I actually had the chance to meet and talk to some of Spinergy's people at interbike where they made comments and promises that they never kept. Very disappointing. This is serious enough, and based on the comments I see from others it seems to be very major, it will likely sink the company. A shame as they have an innovative product that could pave the way for interesting new directions in wheel technology. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jim Peterson
a
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$650.00 | | Strengths: | light (though lots of wheelsets now are just as light)
very, very low rotatioal inertia (no one is better or even close here) | | Weaknesses: | weak
very difficult to maintain | | Similar Products Used: | XT, XTR, DT Hugi, with various rims | | Bike Setup: | CC racing. Titanium frame, Sid shock, SRAM and XTR drivetrain. | | Bottom Line: | These are probably the fastest accelerating wheels you can get. I tested them for rotational acceleration characteristics and they outclass every wheel I've compared them with.
BUT
Way too expensive compated to the competition. A set of American Classics is tougher and costs half as much.
You have to tension them up very, very tightly and that's a major pain. Find some wheel guru and pay him whatever he asks to set these up and keep them straight for you. A nice idea these spline drive nipple systems but truing from the hub is very difficult. And these geekly little tools they provide strip out in no time.
The wheels are not that strong. A hard hit can majorly throw them out of wack and require a long time to put straight. Again, pay someone else to do it and save yourself the headache. Though after a while that mechanic may never want to see you again.
And the very worst, awful thing about this wheelset is Spinergy's customer service.
I actually had the chance to meet and talk to some of Spinergy's people at interbike where they made comments and promises that they never kept. Very disappointing. This is serious enough, and based on the comments I see from others it seems to be very major, it will likely sink the company. A shame as they have an innovative product that could pave the way for interesting new directions in wheel technology. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
johnny smoothe
a Racer
from 1234 main street
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | black mountain | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | supergo | | Strengths: | design (which Spinergy had nothing to do with) | | Weaknesses: | Spinergy as a company, more specifically their customer service | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic 517's XTR combo | | Bike Setup: | DEAN Col with Marzocchi x-fly, raceface cranks, xtr & sram 9.0 sl | | Bottom Line: | BL is the wheels were design by some small, under- capitalized FL company (Dukuni wheels) that Spinergy aquired the rights to the design. In any event, the wheel itself is a good design, however after dealing with Spinergy's customer service dept. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOHTER SPINERGY PRODUCT!! And if you expect any parts without being price gouged (if they can even provide it). Case in point, I needed some spokes (what they call Vectran)and they wouldn't sell them to me direct. "Told me go to the place where I bought them and buy them there or anohter authourized dealer." Well, Spinergy sells a bag of these spokes (5) in a bag, for $9.99, the dealer wanted, are you ready for this $ 6.99 per spoke. Good thing I don't have to respoke both wheels, I might need to take out a 2nd mortgage. Again, bottom line is don't buy these wheels if you expect any kind of customer servive from Spinergy, they are easily the worse company I have ever had to deal with on any kind of purchase. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave Van Baelen
a Weekend Warrior
from Denville,NJ 07834
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Supergo | | Strengths: | Light, strong wheels, good ride. Stay fairly true with broken spoke/nipple. Easy to replace broken adjusting nipples. | | Weaknesses: | Customer Service is terrible, as is parts availability. Adjustable spoke nipples are breaking regularly under light riding. Bearings were shot after less then one year. | | Similar Products Used: | XTR/MAVIC | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale hardtail used for medium fast XC. | | Bottom Line: | Do not pay full price for these wheels. A light rider might have better luck with durability, but considering these wheels haven't been pushed hard I doubt it. The real weak point is the company's customer service as has been noted a number of times. This will stop me from purchasing future products from them. However, if you want a light pair of wheels and can afford to wait for parts or service and aren't overly heavy, AND only pay half of list you might want to try them and decide for yourself. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a Cross Country Rider
from no. branford,ct usa
Date Reviewed: July 18, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | www.supergo.com | | Strengths: | good @ 1st i gave All 5's | | Weaknesses: | after 6 months of riding and racing hard on this wheels. i broke a spox, and my barrings are shot in my rear hub. i shated to hear this gringing sound. i went to my LBS abd i have to send it away to spinergy.the only 2 goood things about this is that i might get a hub and the time of this b/c im going out of town for a week. by the way im only 125 pounds. | | Bottom Line: | my rear wheel is going fast | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a Cross Country Rider
from no. branford,ct usa
Date Reviewed: July 18, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | www.supergo.com | | Strengths: | good @ 1st i gave All 5's | | Weaknesses: | after 6 months of riding and racing hard on this wheels. i broke a spox, and my barrings are shot in my rear hub. i shated to hear this gringing sound. i went to my LBS abd i have to send it away to spinergy.the only 2 goood things about this is that i might get a hub and the time of this b/c im going out of town for a week. | | Bottom Line: | my rear wheel is going fast | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Don Johnson
a Cross Country Rider
from Novato
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Tam Rancho | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Class Cycle | | Strengths: | light weight,cool factor | | Weaknesses: | Poor rim quality( weak,wear fast)spokes not compatible with Mavic rims, broke front rim due to braking surface, must use soft brake pads??? | | Similar Products Used: | xt,lt | | Bike Setup: | Marin Mount vision ( stock except junk spox wheels ) using | | Bottom Line: | Don't buy for recreation use or training, may be good lite racing. customer service is bad, before buying any product check customer service. Our you listening spinergy | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rich T
a Weekend Warrior
from Cincinnati, OH
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Harbin, Huston, Landen, Ceasar | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | Wright Brothers - Cincinnati | | Strengths: | Lightweight, quality, engineering and rigid... no flex!!! Nice color selections. | | Weaknesses: | None!!! Maybe pricey if you do not take the time to shop for the best price. You should be able to get them for uner $500/set. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavics | | Bike Setup: | I have two bikes:
1999 Mongoose NX 8.1, Upgraded components: Chris King Headset, K2 Smart Fork, Easton stem, Easton Monkey Lite CT2 Carbon Fiber riser bars, Shimano XTR Rapid Rise Rear Derail., XT Crankset, XT Bottom Bracket, XTR Rapidfire shifter/brake lever combo, XTR 8 spd cassette, Wellgo 505 clipless pedals (will upgrade soon to Time Atacs when wellgos die...hehe), Spinergy SPOX M1(RED)Wheel Set(SWEET!!!), Michelin Wildgripper Hot S (red), Selle Italia Flite Gel Titanium saddle.
I have a new second bike now (June 2001). The Giant XTC NRS 1 - Bike of the Year 2001. I will be placing my review on the bike soon. Only upgrades were the Easton Monkeylite low riser bar and XTR shifter pods. SWEEET! | | Bottom Line: | I read alot about these wheels and researched da heck outta them. They're GREAT!!! Still pretty true after 2 years of riding. I am only 160 lbs so that may help. Not sure how heavier riders may have experienced.
I will be purchasing my second set when Spinergy comes out with the Disc UST Tubeless version of the new Xyclones... gonna get the radical YELLOW to match my new 2001 Giant XTC NRS 1... SWEEEEET!!! Until then, I will use the stock Mavic Crossroc UST wheels.
If someone is looking for a quality wheelset and innovative engineering... wheels that function excellently and look great, too... then these are the wheels for YOU!!!
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
don johnson
a Cross Country Rider
from novato,ca,usa
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | tam rancho | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | class cycle | | Strengths: | light weight,looks, wheel still true with 1 broken spoke | | Weaknesses: | rear bearings wear fast, bad custormer. broke spoke wrong spoke sent to shop, slow and no response to shop. price | | Similar Products Used: | stock xt wheels | | Bottom Line: | due to bad custormer service I would not buy these wheels wheels should come with extra spooks, need better rear bearings | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bret
a Racer
from Colorado
Date Reviewed: May 8, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | newsgroups | | Strengths: | These wheels rock. Very light! No problems so far. I would not ride these wheels or any of these light mtb products if you are "big" that's over 175 lbs. Thats the problem with most of these reviews, people are just too big to be riding some of this light weight stuff and bombing down hill breaking these light weight products. | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Similar Products Used: | Lotsa wheels | | Bike Setup: | xtr, sid race | | Bottom Line: | Don't ride if your a "big" person | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Crash
a Cross Country Rider
from Gloucester, VA
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Brush Mountain | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | Here! | | Strengths: | Light weight, low rotational mass, trick-looking | | Weaknesses: | flexy spokes; exceptionally hard to true, come out of true easily | | Similar Products Used: | Bontrager Mavericks, Mustangs; Shimano, Araya, Weinmann, Mavic. | | Bike Setup: | Trek y-33 SL Manitou fork, stratos rear, XT-XTR setup with Panaracer Magic tires. | | Bottom Line: | Pretty good wheelset, as long as you don't pay full retail. They accelerate like mad and stop on farthings, but they are like an old british sports car; for every few hours of riding, you spend about 1/4-1/2 the time tuning them. Since you have to use their tools, and they charge (Spinergy) about $20 for them. They are really flexy, and with me tipping the scales at 150 they should not have been. They were trued and tensioned by a master wheelsmith in my area, and even after tensioning to Spinergy specks they were flexy. Just abit, but still flexy. Of all the wheels I've ridden, these accelerate faster than anything else, and stop quicker as well. You will notice yourself slowing down more rapidly going up hills, and also wheelspin will easier to incur. They are worth the extra effort if you enjoy working on your bike, but if you want "ride and forget" gear then I would recommend something else. Also, since the spokes are hard to come by and cost about $6.00 each, if you're hard on your gear look at something else as well. Basically, it's all in what you want in a wheel. If you want a Ferrari, then you have to take it to the shop alot and pay the extras for it. If you want something that's almost as fast and almost as flashy, then look at a corvette or buy a Mustang/Camero and mod the daylights out of it. Its a great wheelset if you can live with the quirks. I only wish I had gotten to ride mine longer before a Nissan destroyed my rear for me.
4.5 for trick value, turning, and speed
2.5 for truing hassle and cost
4.0 total from me. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a Cross Country Rider
from north branford
Date Reviewed: May 4, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | www.supergo.com | | Strengths: | light weaght, 48 haour trun around serves acording the nantional sales deriector, eric. i meet him on a ride in westwoods in gilford, ct. this year they 2x there staf | | Weaknesses: | spokes come lose same w/ the hub | | Bike Setup: | 99 mesa gsx, 00 judy front shock, spinergys m-1, clud roost bars, titec big al stem, fsa afterbuner crank, raceface bb, and adive speed 7 brake set | | Bottom Line: | i love the vary light, i bent my front by going off a 5 foot clif | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brad
a Racer
from Omaha, NE
Date Reviewed: May 1, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | PORCUPINE RIM | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | The Bike Way | | Strengths: | I'm reviewing the 01 Spynergy Xyclone wheelset....I stongly feel these wheels are great. For 1 mo. I was riding Mavic Crossmax wheels, which are pretty good whells, but I could notice some flex. Not with the Spynergy Xyclone wheels. These wheels will take any line that I point the handle bar at. I feel much more confident with these wheels than I did with the Mavic Crossmax wheels. | | Weaknesses: | None yet. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Crossmax (non UST and the UST wheels), Mavic Crosslink, and Mavic/Shimano XT wheels. | | Bike Setup: | 01 Ellsworth Aeon SL, 01 SID 100, Thompson, Easton Monkeylite, Avid Ultimate, Avid Mag brakes, Shimano XTR. | | Bottom Line: | As noted above; these wheels are great. I wish I would of had them on my bike earlier this year when I was in Moab, instead of the Mavic Crossmax wheels. The ceramic brake surface coating, I feel is better than the Crossmax also. These wheels, you point and go. I'll give these wheels more time, and post a rating if my opinion of these wheels should change. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Manny
a Weekend Warrior
from Fall River, Ma., USA
Date Reviewed: April 14, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Arcadia Forest, RI | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Silver City Bicycles, Ma. | | Strengths: | Awesome looking, stays true, light and strong. | | Weaknesses: | Dealing with Spinergy when you need something. Poor customer service. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic | | Bottom Line: | Great wheels until you need to deal with Spinergy for any reason. Went 6 months without my rear wheel. Bent the rim on my Spinergy M1 Spox. I thought no big deal, order one from Spinergy, Right? Wrong! They conveniently no longer make the M1 wheel (less spokes), but they don't tell you this up front. They send a M2 model rim with Xtra spoke holes in them a month later. Then you need to send back the rim and wait another month or so for the right rim. After several calls to Spinergy without an answer, they tell you to send your old M1 wheel and they will send you a new M2 rear wheel at cost. Okay, no big deal, getting a new and stronger wheel? Wrong!! I waited another month and half for it. What was nice, was after some phone calls and some discontent comments, they gave me the new wheel for free. Nice, but no wheel for months!!! 2 Flamin chilis due to poor service of Spinergy. 3 Flamin Chilis overall because it is a nice product. IMPROVE THE COSTUMER SERVICE AND ALL WILL BE GOOD!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
alan
a Cross Country Rider
from san antonio
Date Reviewed: April 13, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | 700 Acres | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | Has the physics of motion on it's side. Accellerates like no other | | Weaknesses: | poorly executed physics by Spinergy | | Similar Products Used: | XT wheelset, King/Bontrager Custom build | | Bike Setup: | Steel Kona Caldera Hardtail with a smattering of RaceFace, Synchros, Thompson and XTR. Now with the King/Bontrager wheels. | | Bottom Line: | If you crap money and consider wheels disposable then get them. My wheels were fast and held their true. BUT when it came time for the hubs to be overhauled my local wheelsmith couldn't even get them apart. AND like many other posts have described.... POOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT.
My current wheels Chris King hubs, Bontrager Valiant rims and DT spokes were a little more than 1/2 the price and will be rebuildable for many, many years to come.
Good for a race specific wheelset, but who has that kinda money?
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Vladimir Staffa
a Cross Country Rider
from Chicago, Illinois, USA
Date Reviewed: March 5, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Lysa Hora, Beskydy, Czech Republic | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | Supergo.com | | Strengths: | lightweight, strong, easy to true the wheels, physics really works | | Weaknesses: | none so far | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic x618 with DT duble butted spokes 3cross rear, radial front on XTR hubs | | Bike Setup: | Mongoose Newman PRO FS frame, Tioga Alchemy headset, Ringle Zooka stem, Titec hellbent handlebars, XT BB, crankset and rear derraileur, XTR front derraileur and 8-speed cassette,
Shimano SPD 585 pedals, XTR V-brakes and levers | | Bottom Line: | all right - as I went through the reviews before I bought this product I noticed that lots of them have problems about truing - from my experience - I detrued and re-trued this wheel - just to find out and it is really easy, just different from trgular wheels, as concerning performance - I am 177 lb really hardcore rider who knows when it is necessary to jump or rather go around, just rational and thinking not abusive to my bike .believe it or not this Spinergys aretheoretical physics in practical package and You can really tell the difference, I've been riding for 10 years sticked to regular rims and hubs and these Spinergy wheels are just great - + the price paid of course - for 700 hundred bucks I'd rather buy two wheelsets of Bontrager ASYM on XTR, but as I'm saying - for 269 bucks - go get some | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TDAC
a Weekend Warrior
from Alameda, CA
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | honker bay @ Lake Chabot | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | supergo.com | | Strengths: | super light weight, shock absorbing qualities. | | Weaknesses: | none so far. | | Similar Products Used: | sun | | Bike Setup: | Kestrel Rubicon SX, Bomber Atom 80 fork, syncros, raceface, esp 9.0, etc. | | Bottom Line: | I've seen lots of people complain about spinergy as a company and so far, I have not needed to contact them for any problems I've experienced with my Spox. I am a LARGE person @ 6'2", 250lbs and I don't do any gnarly jumping or anything like that, but I do alot of semi-hard offroad riding in the hills of the San Francisco east and south bay areas. This means LOTS of climbing and lots of downhilling. These wheels spin great, are very light and I have never had a problem with them becoming untrue. This is my 2nd season with them and so far, so good. I don't know if I'm lucky and got a good set of them, or the rest of you are really riding SUPER HARD. At my size and riding style, I cannot complain about this wheelset at all. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cor
a Cross Country Rider
from Calgary, Alberta Canada
Date Reviewed: January 11, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Baldy Pass | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | SuperGo | | Strengths: | Light, Responsive, and the coolest looking wheels on the face of this earth! Low rolling resistance makes these wheels fast, and fast they are. The click free rear hub is an added bonus also. (00' M1's) | | Weaknesses: | Truing is a little bit more difficult, a little patients helps though. | | Similar Products Used: | 517 with XT, and XTR, 317 Disk XT, Bontranger Race Lite, | | Bike Setup: | Klein Attitude Race, MARS CL, Race Face, Easton CT, TIME, XTR. | | Bottom Line: | They ride excellent, and look even better. What else do you want for 350US. The parts apparently are difficult to get and expensive, but that's the price you pay for exotic wheels. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Michael
a Cross Country Rider
from Hartford, CT, USA
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | None. SPINERGY SUCKS ASS! | | Weaknesses: | ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE, PERIOD! | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic, Rolf, WTB | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Specialized Stumpjumper Comp | | Bottom Line: | Getting a call back form these guy's is like winning the lottery! Good Luck! Wheels sent in for repair and basically sat around for over three months. Nice eh? When I did get thru no one knew a damn thing. They could have the best product in the world, but with such s*#t service SPINERGY ain't long for this world.......... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dan Shaw
a Cross Country Rider
from Oshawa
Date Reviewed: December 1, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | single track | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Bay Cycle | | Strengths: | This is my second review,My rear hub exploded sent back to manufacture, four weeks turn around time.After reading other reviews of bad customer service,I have experenced excellent service.Before installing the SPOXS on my bike I had crossmax dics complete hayes hydraulic brake system that ruled.Spox ceramic c/w avid 2.5 V-brakes are light fast,I find they absorb a lot of trail shock.In dry conditions the brakes work well, | | Weaknesses: | Water snow and mud this is not a good mix | | Similar Products Used: | All | | Bike Setup: | Full suspension carbon fiber Jamis | | Bottom Line: | I feel this is a good set up if you choose not ride dics brakes.These wheels are light and strong, truing is a pain | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dan Shaw
a Cross Country Rider
from Canada
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Single track | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Bay cycle | | Strengths: | Light,fast ceramic brake surface | | Weaknesses: | Rear hub exploded,that's great | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Cross Max | | Bike Setup: | Plastic Jamis RF next LP TI Bottom Bracket Time Carbon Pedals Syncros HS and Stem,XTR shifter levers and changers rear derailer.Easton carbon Bar, LP composite seat post, SDG TI Belair saddle Avid 2.5 Brakes. Fox Float Vanilla R. 3" 2000 z-2 air X-fly | | Bottom Line: | Rear wheel has been gone for two weeks,I here from other reviews the service sucks, If so back to a proven wheel, Cross Max | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Leo
a Racer
from Bend, Oregon
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | they are light, have held up well for me considering they were used when I bought them and had no idea of what they had been through. Me=200lbs. and have noticed very little flex, but then again, my fork is a Marzocchi not a RS. They look cool. | | Weaknesses: | Spinergy customer service is HORRIBLE!! | | Similar Products Used: | XT/Mavic, Deore/Sub IV, others | | Bike Setup: | nice shiz | | Bottom Line: | bought my wheels used (swapped my beat up xt/517's and $50.00) so I had no idea what they had been through. I've since put many thousands of miles on them with no problems whatsoever. I knew though that soon the rear hub would need some attention. On 10/17 I sent my rear wheel to Spinergy for some new spokes and a hub overhaul. No problem I thought, they'll fix it and send it back out.
It's been a month, no wheel, and nothing but the run-around from Spinergy. At one point I was told that the work had been completed and the wheel was in the mail, then about a week later I was told that they hadn't started working on my wheel because the parts that were needed were back-ordered? I asked the guy helping me if I could get the tracking # for the replacement wheel he said was shipped to me and he wouldn't give it to me! He told me that the shipping dept. would be notified of my request, what the fock is that all about? So here I am waiting with no idea if they sent a wheel and having to trust that I wasn't lied to (again). If you plan on spending $500.00 (brand new) for a set of wheels, do so; but don't buy Spinergy. They are a poor company. Spend your money on the Mavic pre-built wheels, they are MUCH better than Spinergy.
At one point I was planning on buying a set for my road bike and my other mtn. bike, but screw that idea. This company will be out of business soon because they don't follow the Golden Rule. My LBS also agrees that they are one of, if not the, most difficult companies to work with. I think they hire crack heads off the street or something....
Because I was refused good customer service on several occasions I'm giving one flaming Spox for my overall rating and value rating. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Christopher
a Cross Country Rider
from England
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Lake District | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Very, very light
Extremely cool looking
Comfy ride on rough ground | | Weaknesses: | Awful build quality
Flimsy
Flexy
Cost | | Similar Products Used: | LX/217, Hope/517 | | Bike Setup: | Specialized S-works fsr, sid race, xtr/sram | | Bottom Line: | OK, first the good points. These wheels make a noticable difference to acceleration and handling because of their light weight. They seem to spin very easily, so for a while, I was very happy with them. They look great, too, very space-age and stealth-bomber-ish. They're also a good choice for a very rigid set up (eg an aluminium hardtail) because they cut out lots of trail buzz.
Right, now the crap stuff. These wheels are very flexible indeed. OK, I know the Spesh fsr and the sid aren't the most rigid bits of kit out there but cornering hard on these wheels can be very disconcerting. However, the flex does give a smooth ride (as described above) so I don't mind adapting too much. More worrying is how weak the spox are. Fair enough, they're xc race wheels and I ride quite rocky trails, but the state of my rear rim is appalling - not out of true, just bashed inwards as if by impacts. I'm not a heavy or reckless rider so it's quite disappointing, especially on a full sus bike. On top of this, the quality of the hubs is rubbish. Both front and rear and very rough and always coming loose. On wheels like this I expected a better design of hub with better sealing and smoother bearings. Finally, these wheels cost about £500 in the UK and that's what kills them off really.
I expect to be replacing the spox before summer, I don't think they'll last. And no, I don't recommend them to anyone, not even lighter riders. One chili for being rubbish and three for being quite good when you first put ride on them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris
a Downhiller
from Virginia
Date Reviewed: October 27, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Peters-Mill 4WD Trail | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike shop | | Strengths: | LIGHT, cool looking, ceramic brake surface, and I bought off of mtbr.com's marketplace unused for $300, that's about it. | | Weaknesses: | I describe myself as a downhiller but I do have to ride up the hill too, so I saw the unique design, good company, and advertised strength, so I blew $300 on these. First of all I've got the M1's and it is nearly impossible to true the back wheel without taking the cassette off (special tool required) and then you need two freakin' poorly designed spoke wrenches to take two hours to finally give up and get pissed off at the damn things. I'm only fourteen and I don't have alot of money to spend, but I saw what a great "deal" I was getting...NOT!!! Other than they're light (so maybe if you are a CC racer and a gram counter they're for you...) they have no purpose. I haven't broken anything and everything works fine but you can easily cut the spokes (they're frickin' string!) and if anything did go wrong nobody knows how to fix it!!! | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | 1998 Cannondal Super V 2000 Raven, full XT, stratos helix pro rear shock, and marzocchi Jr.T fork (special adapter needed) | | Bottom Line: | Don't them unless you like throwing away money...PERIOD!!!
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rainshadow
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego
Date Reviewed: October 26, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Idyllwild's 24hr course | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Soul Cycles | | Strengths: | Strong, fairly light (I'm reviewing the 2000 M2 Spox) | | Weaknesses: | crappy freehubs, noone has replacement spokes nor the expertise to fix the aforementioned crappy freehub | | Bike Setup: | Ibis mojo, atom bomb, xtr, king, raceface, thompson | | Bottom Line: | These wheels seemed pretty cool at first. I busted one spoke and shredded two more on the rear wheel while on a night ride & didn't even notice until I got home; the rear wheel was only about a centimeter out of true. When my LBS /finally/ got the replacement spokes about a month later, it trued back up just fine. Unfortunately, the freewheel started locking up intermittently during a pre-ride for a 24hour race and took the rear totally out of comission. It's going to be sent back to Spinergy shortly; we'll see how long it takes to get it fixed. Oh, and the front bearings are all crunchy after ~800 miles. While the wheels themselves seem plenty tough (many, many hard endos), the mechanicals (bearings, freehub) and ease-of-repair leave something to be desired. That, and the fact that they cost 5 bills makes me think I wouldn't buy them again. We'll see how NukeProof's "War Head" house wheels hold up. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Don
a Cross Country Rider
from Tucson AZ
Date Reviewed: October 23, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | 50 Year Trail | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | bike shop | | Strengths: | Look cool.Light weight | | Weaknesses: | Weak rims, spokes cut easily. Customer service is poor | | Similar Products Used: | A-Syms WTB Wams | | Bike Setup: | Fisher Josuah | | Bottom Line: | The rim on my front wheel folded on a moderate hit. Getting in touch with Spinergy is near impossible. My LBS has been trying for TWO months just to get a replacement rim. I got this set as a replacement for the horrible Rev Roks 6 spoke wheel and that was a fight in itself. They shipped a pair of road wheels at first. I'm a big guy (230 lbs) and thought that the M-2 would be the tough wheelset I needed.
Now I have a new D-Back X-R8 with WAMS but still want my M-2's for my backup Fisher. I Recommend these wheels for light riders but, heavier riders should steer well clear. Spinergy, please be more customer friendly. Deal with the customer and not just third party bike shops. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John Allen
a Cross Country Rider
from Modena NY USA
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Stewart, Ringwood, Hartshorne, Thorpe | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Friend | | Strengths: | Very light | | Weaknesses: | Not stiff at all, crap rims, spox are easily cut, truing is impossible, | | Similar Products Used: | xtr/mavic 517, crossmax | | Bike Setup: | Elsworth Truth SE, Crossmax, Raceface cranks, rings, post, stem; easton monkey light riser bar, xt/xtr stuff; | | Bottom Line: | DO NOT BUY THESE!!! replaced the front rim once, front bearings once, rear the spokes pulled thru the rim on the drive side, got a NEW one free and the axle cracked, bearings wore out, and the rim wore THRU in 7 months!!!!!
they are not stiff so thru the twisties and crankin up hills the wheel will rub the brakes... hit a stick or something? the spokes will get torn up and cut thru... i've replaced 12 or so in the time i've had them... gave up on the truing tools, use a visegrip and pliers... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Barry
a Cross Country Rider
from Athens, OH
Date Reviewed: September 25, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Came with bike | | Strengths: | Spox 1999 wheels. Light and accelerate very well. Cool looking. | | Weaknesses: | Rims are cheap, easy to damage, and very difficult to fix.
Cheap materials except for the spokes, which are horribly expensive.
Truing is a nightmare. The $17 aluminum truing tools last through one truing, which will take a full day. Then you have to buy another set. | | Similar Products Used: | xt shimano hubs and mavic 221 | | Bike Setup: | Litespeed Owl Hollow with full xtr gruppo | | Bottom Line: | I'll never buy these again. They came with the bike. Dented the rear rim on the first outing slowly going over a 6" log. Rim has never been the same. I'm 205 pounds, but would expect a lot more for the money. Truing is a true nightmare. Braking is poor, and off camber feels twitchy.
Don't buy if you are over 150 lbs. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dee
a
from Woodlawn, NY USA
Date Reviewed: September 15, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Funky cool looks, very light, acceleration from a stop is lightning fast, and hills are actually quite fun now! Made my bike noticably faster. | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic crossmax, Sun rims | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale M500 w/no suspension, LX front, rear deraillers, crankset,w/old school cantilevers.
| | Bottom Line: | Took my 4yr,old aluminum frame and replaced everything else. Spox was most expensive addition, but worth the $. I'm a girl, light, 123lbs. and my friends are always behind me on touring rides. The Spox made the bike and me faster. Also use the bike to commute: 10 miles in 35 minutes in traffic! I love this product. Makes lightweight riders fly. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
matt
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Fe, NM
Date Reviewed: September 12, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | internet | | Strengths: | very light, fast, great acceleration, and strong enough | | Weaknesses: | a little flexy in those hard turns | | Similar Products Used: | xtr mavic, crossmax, spinergy rev-x | | Bike Setup: | litespeed ocoee, xtr, mars | | Bottom Line: | well i'm not a big rider, maybe $1.35 after a full meal, and that combined with the way i ride these wheels should be sufficient to support me without having any problems, but i noticed a crack which had formed from each side of one of the nipples along the rim of my back wheel. i don't know if this is some kind of defect in the rim itself or what, but i am going to call spinergy tomorrow and see what they might be able to do for me. after only six months of medium use, two months of which i rode maybe once, and for the price of these wheels, something like this should not happen to such a light rider like me. depending on what happens with the company, i will repost another review. these are great wheels, but there is no way that i'm going to ride them when they are cracked, and this is something that you would expect not to happen on a $700 pair of wheels, so i'm going to have to give them a negative review. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
JJ
a Weekend Warrior
from CT
Date Reviewed: September 5, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | hilly country road | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Hype | | Weaknesses: | Small braking surfaces, dificult to adjust rear hub, difficult to true, weak materials. | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Eddy Merckx full Campy | | Bottom Line: | I have been a serious cyclist for more than thirty years, have owned two bike shops, imported Italian frames(Colnago, De Rosa, Galmozzi)and English frames(Knight and Tonard), sponsored a cycling team, and served as a mechanic to the US team(with the late Bill Woodall). In the three months I have had my Spox road wheels I have had a blow out caudes by the cheap rim tape supplied with the wheels; have gone over the bars, landed on my head, cracked my helmet, and scratched the Oakleys when the cheap skewers failed; and had the head pop of of two nipples on the drive side of the rear wheel. I have never broken a spoke or nipple in over thirty years, of course I built most of those wheels.
It took three weeks to get the nipple replaced the first time, largely due to the jerks at Spinergy sneding the wrong nipple in two days, then taking their time with the right nipple. The second nipple failure caused the vectran spoke to whip around knocking the paint of of the seat and chain stays in dozens of spots. The nipples seem to be so soft that I am affraid that they will fail each time I go out. Who knows when one will let go on a 40 mph decent! Can't live like that, too dangerous. Got to think of the wife and kids.
Spinergy says that they now want to replace the wheel, which should take about two weeks. They seem not to understand that we have bikes so that we can spend our time riding them not repairing them. Could their quality control be so bad that wheels of the same model are either bullet-proof or rolling pieces of junk?
Think twice before you buy any thing from Spinergy. Cool design and innovation are great but poor quality in something as important as a bicycle wheel can get you hurt, or worse! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
scott bays
a Cross Country Rider
from bonneau, sc
Date Reviewed: September 4, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Tsali, Thompson loop | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | performance | | Strengths: | Light, Low rotational weight | | Weaknesses: | Bearing durability | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic | | Bike Setup: | Litespeed | | Bottom Line: | This is an update from a previous review (march). I noticed some back and forth flex on the rear wheel so I took it to the shop and they showed me where the bearing cone was actually broken and the race was damaged to the tune of about $70 dollars(all this in 7 months). I do weigh in at just under 200 lbs, but I'd expect more durability from this costly a product. Low rating here to balance out to about 3 chilies. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
SCOTTY G
a Weekend Warrior
from BENTON. LA
Date Reviewed: July 28, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | lincoln parish | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | LOOKS, MATCHES THE TRIM PAINT | | Weaknesses: | NO LATERAL STIFFNESS CUSTOMER SERVICE | | Similar Products Used: | MAVIC 318,517 SPINERGY REV X ROKS | | Bike Setup: | TREK Y-33 WITH THE TRIMMINGS | | Bottom Line: | MY SECOND SPINERGY PRODUCT, AND MY SECOND FAILURE FIRST WAS REV X ROKS "CHECK PREVIOUS REVIEW" BROKE 366 DAYS AFTER A365 DAY WARR. TOLD ME I COULD SEND THEM MY BROKEN PAIR FOR TRADE ON A PAIR OF SPOX AT A REDUCED PRICE. I FEEL I HAD NO CHOICE BECOUSE THE CARBON FIBER REV X ROKS ARE UNREPAIRABLE.APROX 100 MILES DOWN THE TRAIL THE FREEWHEEL LOCKED UP. SPINERGY SAID THEY NEVER HEARD OF SUCH . BUT IFYOU READ THE REVIEWS IT SEEMED TO HAPPEN ALL THE TIME. ALSO BRAKES RUB DUE TO LACK OF LATERAL STIFFNESS . DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Josh
a Racer
from Austin
Date Reviewed: July 26, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Greenbelt | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Great looks, supple ride, strong | | Weaknesses: | hmmmn... | | Similar Products Used: | Tubeless Xmax, xtr/mavic | | Bike Setup: | Kona Explosif Scandium, Sid SL, riser | | Bottom Line: | These wheels ride great. They are forgiving and strong. They look great and stay true. The front wheels is absolutely trouble free and absorbs small bumps very well. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeffery
a Cross Country Rider
from Ma
Date Reviewed: July 24, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | trail of tears | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Fast,light, low rotating weight=massive gains in acceleration, customer service. | | Weaknesses: | My ridding buddies get sick of seeing my backside. | | Similar Products Used: | Chris King/Bontrager mustang, Mavic Crossmax, Rolf Propel, Shimano | | Bike Setup: | Specialized S-Works M4 hardtail, Marzocchi Bomber, XTR, Raceface, Easton, Avid Ultimate. | | Bottom Line: | These wheels are the sweetest Ive ever ridden. Period. No brake rub under hard acceleration (unlike the paired spoke and french bretheren). The Vectran spokes Spinergy uses are super light, strong and absorb the baby head impacts at high speed like butta baby. I have had to true them quite a lot less than the Mavics and of course the wobbly Shimano and Rolf designs. Who came up with the lame ass idea of using 16 or 20 spokes on a mountain bike wheel? I dont care how you lace em. Also, the customer service is great at Spinergy. I wore out my bearrings and wanted to get a few replacement spokes, just in case, and the guys at Spinergy got me hooked up with my local dealer and had the parts to me ASAP. (I did pay for overnight) Plain an simple these wheels rule. And the Spokes have a 2 year gaurantee againt breakadge. The "dude" at spinergy even said when Im ready I can trade my wheels in for a discount off a new set!! Im waiting for the Disc specific wheels in 2001 they said they would be burly and weigh 1650gms. If you havent ridden a set dont be affraid of the Spokeydoke look, you gotta try these to understand. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TEW
a
from Canada
Date Reviewed: July 24, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Bottom Line: | Further to my previous msg - Spinergy has contacted me and is now dealing with their Canadian customers directly. The customer service failures can be attributed to a computer virus that ate their system. The problem with the hub may be a loose bolt-on flange or something to do with the carbon fiber.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TEW
a Racer
from Canada
Date Reviewed: July 20, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | - very light rolling weight
| | Weaknesses: | - rear hub makes noises and needs constant work/attention
- the customer service for us Canadians SUCKS (4 emails and a tele call yet NO ONE responds - that is unacceptable for what they are charging)
- | | Similar Products Used: | - Mavic 517 with XTR
| | Bike Setup: | Marin Mt Vision Pro
XTR, Raceface Next, Easton, Syncros, bla, bla, bla | | Bottom Line: | What seemed to be a great product initially has now turned into a customer service nightmare. There is no Canadain distributor so for all you Canucks, think twice about making this purchase. I will most likely keep the front wheel and get a CrossMax/XTR for the rear. The rear hub makes a grinding noise (carbon fiber noise) when applying pressure on the right hand side OR when pushing up long hard climbs.
I am one of 10 Level 2 Mtb coaches in Canada and spend a great deal of time in the saddle so equipment reliability is critical.
All Spinergy had to do was return one message and provide advise or a nugget of info for the 4 mechanics who have looked at the rear wheel and cld not resolve the problem.
Hopefully I will hear from them soon. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TEW
a Racer
from Canada
Date Reviewed: July 20, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | - very light rolling weight
| | Weaknesses: | - rear hub makes noises and needs constant work/attention
- the customer service for us Canadians SUCKS (4 emails and a tele call yet NO ONE responds - that is unacceptable for what they are charging)
- | | Similar Products Used: | - Mavic 517 with XTR
| | Bike Setup: | Marin Mt Vision Pro
XTR, Raceface Next, Easton, Syncros, bla, bla, bla | | Bottom Line: | What seemed to be a great product initially has now turned into a customer service nightmare. There is no Canadain distributor so for all you Canucks, think twice about making this purchase. I will most likely keep the front wheel and get a CrossMax/XTR for the rear. The rear hub makes a grinding noise (carbon fiber noise) when applying pressure on the right hand side OR when pushing up long hard climbs.
I am one of 10 Level 2 Mtb coaches in Canada and spend a great deal of time in the saddle so equipment reliability is critical.
All Spinergy had to do was return one message and provide advise or a nugget of info for the 4 mechanics who have looked at the rear wheel and cld not resolve the problem.
Hopefully I will hear from them soon. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Thomas Straughn
a Cross Country Rider
from Banner Elk, NC
Date Reviewed: July 13, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Yancey's Ridge | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | -Cool looking.
-Stay straight.
-Lightweight. | | Weaknesses: | People will look at your freaky looking wheels. | | Similar Products Used: | XT with mavic rims | | Bike Setup: | Schwinn Moab with only the factory bottom bracket left and that is going to go soon. I have rebuilt everything on this bike. | | Bottom Line: | Great wheels!!! I have the 32 spoke design in the rear and have never had them come out of true. I weight only 145 lbs but for some reason I always destroy wheels, I have never had a problem out of these. I have ridden them for a year and am about to need to true them for the first time for just a tiny wobble. Bottom line, these wheels are great, I got them off of this site for $350 and feel that I have easily gotten my money out of them. If you can get a deal then buy them, I don't know if they would be worth it for full price. If you get a deal then I give value rating 5 but I am basing my rating on full price | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sam Silver
a Racer
from Newton MA
Date Reviewed: June 29, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | The Naked Man | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Front wheel is sick light and super strong.
Hub bearings roll for ever and then a little bit longer.
Light weight around the rim which is where it counts. | | Weaknesses: | Rims chip and scratch real easy.
Rear freewheel is noisy and slows down the rear wheel when you stop peddaling and it engages.
Just about imposible to service if you screw a rim up of dammage the hub when it's not under warranty. | | Similar Products Used: | LX with X517
XTR with X517
Crossmax | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Litespeed Owl Hollow, Z-2 Superflies, Full XTR with Race Face cranks and SRAM rear derailer. | | Bottom Line: | This is the only review you need to read because I'm speaking the honest truth. I have no biases.
That said, this is a 99 wheelset, the same as the 2000 M1 Spox but without the ceramic rims and with carbon hubs. I bought them for $400 and have been racing them for two seasons now with success. The bearings are incredible, and although I'm pretty light at 145 lbs. I've never trued the front wheel in one and half years of racing. It's truely a wheel of the gods. The freewheel on the rear hub however is noisy when it engages and slows down the wheel a lot quicker than the front, It's not bad as freewheels go, but it's no better than an XT, XTR, Chris King, or any other decent wheelsets'. The rear wheel also hasn't been as resilient as the front has. I knocked it out of true on a race in my first season and had to have it trued up, and then again much worse later that season when a tube blew off of a small drop off. After that I had to take it to the profesionals at my LBS to true it up for me, and even they had trouble getting it back to normal, they warned me it wasn't as strong as it once was and at this point it had a decent number of scratches and dents. It held up for the whole off season though but the seccond race into it's seccond season I got some air off a hump which led into an asphalt section and the nicks in the wheel blew the tube. it souded like a shotgun blast, the tube wraped around the hub and stopped it from spinning and the rear wheel skidded for 25 ft. It was pretty screwed after that, it was wobbleing a good 15 to 20 mm left to right and had a HUGE abrasion on a section of the rim. Watchout for snakebites even if you're running high pressures like myself. It's time to get a new rear wheel.
I think that the best price/performance ratio would be to get an XTR with ceramic X517 wheelset with DB spokes. It can be had for around $360 as opposed to the asking price of $700 for most other high end wheels, they would be only a tad heavier, and spin nearly as long. Plus if you have bad luck like myself they're a lot easier and cheaper to service. SPOX are strong, but mishaps occur, and when they do, it doesn't matter what wheel you have, it's still getting wrecked. Right now I'm running an XTR wheel in the back with the SPOX up front. And if my SPOX front wheel ever craps out on me I'll probably replace it with an XTR. And trust me, XTR wheels are plenty respectable on the racing circuit, and I'm doing just as well. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bikeyboy
a Cross Country Rider
from NZ
Date Reviewed: June 26, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Light, cool factor, comfy. | | Weaknesses: | Exspensive, flexy, | | Similar Products Used: | XT/White-217-DT, Spinergy Rev X Roks, Spinergy Spox, XTR-217cd-DTrevolution. | | Bike Setup: | Marin Quake 9.0 FRS with full XTR, Plasma shifters, Magura HS33's, Amp F4blt carbon fork | | Bottom Line: | This is a post in follow up to earlier ones I put here close to a year ago.
I like these wheels for the ride quality in that they tend to be forgiving because of the small amount of flex in them.
This does on the other hand tend to be a slight drawback too because it can give the wheel a slightly vague feeling on off camber surfaces and the like. This may have been accentuated buy their use on my 4" travel bike and I have experimanted with different tire pressures also.
I loved the way that they accelarate when I put my foot down and the cool factor and stares were a bonus too.
I did find that in order to fix the flex it was nessessary to tighten the spokes but I took it too far for the rear wheel and ended up getting cracks around about five eyelets. If this happens to you, you will find that you will not get your warranty to cover the cost of a new rim as I was to find. For the cost of a new rim and build I could get a Mavic 517 ceramic and build.
So, face it that these wheels are a little flexy. BTW I weigh about 76kgs and don't hammer.
I have just made the change back to a more conventional design by getting XTR/217/DT and to be honest, I find that overall, these wheels for me perform better and also have the bonus of being alot easier on my pocket.
Get these wheels if you are light, have lots of money to blow and or are sponsored by Spinergy.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
anonymous
a Racer
from USA
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | appearance | | Weaknesses: | durability of cassette boidy | | Similar Products Used: | Cane Creek WAMs | | Bike Setup: | titanium hard tail, full XTR | | Bottom Line: | Normally I wouldn't write a review but this product has been so disappointing that I had to. I've gone through 3 rear wheels in just 18 hours of riding. Each time I'm given the "We has a bad batch of cassette bodies slip though quality control" excuse. Spinergy has promptly sent replacements in each case, but I've spent more time waiting for replacements than actually riding. At 135lbs, I hardly EVER break anything, let alone cassette bodies, and these things are literally self-destructing after 4-6 hours of hard riding. Just for the sake of fairness though, I will mention that both wheels (f + r) have stayed in true extremely well, at least dutring the limited riding I've gotten to do on them. If the cassette body issue ever gets addressed these would be great wheels. Stay away though until they do. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Darren miffitt
a Cross Country Rider
from marietta, georgia
Date Reviewed: June 10, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | light, fast, stayed true, and looked good. | | Weaknesses: | freehub/axle/cassette problems. | | Bottom Line: | I just spent over 400 dollars on a product that doesn't work. i'm not hard on wheels either, but my cogset is loose, and my rear axle has disengaged from the hub. All this can be yours after only 30 miles. this is not acceptable. C'mon guys. Answer the phone. Spinergy better take care of this or this will have to get legal. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt
a Cross Country Rider
from Minnesota
Date Reviewed: June 4, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Battle Creek | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | cool looking, very strong, stays true | | Weaknesses: | heavier than my old race lights, truing them, otherwise none
| | Similar Products Used: | 99' Bontrager racelights | | Bike Setup: | 99 Procaliber, Mars fork, Fully loaded xtr, titec 118 handlebar, bla bla bla | | Bottom Line: | these wheels are very nice!!!! only had to true them after one ride and they have stayed straight as an arrow after many wipeouts, I love these wheels except they added a pound to my bike( i used to have the racelights) sp they feel a tad slower, but otherwise a very great wheelset! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TT
a Racer
from MD
Date Reviewed: May 30, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Strengths: | Very light, shock absorbing is excellent, looks great, | | Weaknesses: | Poor quality bearings, company has weak commitment to supplying repair parts, propietary nipple design, narrow braking surface | | Similar Products Used: | Spinergy Carbon wheelset | | Bike Setup: | Team Fat City | | Bottom Line: | Spinergy continues to put out excellent innovative designs that I have adapted for Ultra-endurance racing and training.
I put about 22,000 road miles on a set of second generation SPOKS (Mtn.) and they are very comfortable. Long ago I have resolved to not count on the company for repair parts. When I get their wheels, I immediately replace their bearings with higher quality cartridge bearings and I reglue the spoke nipples....and life is good.
I've completely given up on the traditional Spinergy road wheels due to receiving multiple defective, out of true shabby quality wheels. I contend that most of the top quality wheelsets go to race teams. I'd love to stay with their road wheels...but I've been burned too many times guys.
This new set of M2's seem to have better bearings AND the nipples were properly glued. Good for you guys (Spinergy). It is about time, or did I get lucky?
I have no doubt that I'll get another 20,000 + miles out of these wheels and will love their ridability every moment.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gary
a Racer
from Colorado
Date Reviewed: May 10, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Cool looking, light, roll freely | | Weaknesses: | Difficult to true, freehub design is weak, Spinergy customer service | | Similar Products Used: | Hugi, XTR, DX, Mavic, Crossmax | | Bike Setup: | Moots YBB | | Bottom Line: | I am very easy on wheels and I must say that the wheels have stayed true. It is a good thing as well because it is almost impossible to true the rear wheel because you cannot get the spoke wrench on the spline.
The worst part is that my cassette rocks back and forth when the wheel spins. This causes my bike to ghost shift. I do not know if I have a bent axle or a bent freewheel. I sent Spinergy and e-mail and have not had a response in over a week.
Come on guys, how hard is it to respond to an email?
My wife has a set as well and her cassette wobbles as well, but not as badly as mine. I agree that these are nice to hang over the mantle, but are not dependable, even by superlight standards. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
DENNIS
a
from TUCSON AZ.
Date Reviewed: May 9, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | DURABILITY,NICE BREAKING SURFACE,LIGHT!LOW ROTATIONAL WEIGHT
COOL FACTOR | | Weaknesses: | SPECIAL TOOLS REQUIRED TO TRUE, SPECIAL ORDER FOR SPOKES | | Similar Products Used: | KING/RITCHEY OCS, XTR WTB POWER BEAM, KING/MUSTANG | | Bike Setup: | GIANT NRS XTC DS1,9.0 AVID MAG BRAKES, MONKEY LIGHT BARS,24.5LBS | | Bottom Line: | I NEVER THOUGHT THAT SIMULAR PRICED AND WEIGHED WHEELS WOULD MAKE THE BIKE FASTER BUT, THE LOWER ROTATIONAL WEIGHT REALLY DOES MAKE A DIFFERANCE. I WEIGH 265LBS AND WHEN I TALKED TO SPINERGY THEY TOLD ME TO PUT THE TENTION UP TO 200(WHICH IS THE WHOLE SECRET TO THE WHEELS) AND I HAVENT HAD TO TOUCH THEM SINCE.I WOULD ALSO RECOMMEND ORDERING XTRA SPOKES TO HAVE IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT.OVER ALL I DEFENITLY RECOMMEND THESE WHEELS TO ANY XC RIDER. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Doug
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Reviewed: May 2, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Otero Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Fairly light, awesome looks, stays true (M2 version). | | Weaknesses: | Fragile spokes, poor customer service. | | Bike Setup: | K2 5000 | | Bottom Line: | Cool lookin' wheelset (M2 with yellow spokes/blue rim).
Unfortunately, my favorite trail is 19 miles of loose rocks. The rocks are hell on the Spinergy's spokes. Rocks used to flip up and just bounce off my steel spokes, now they slice right through the plastic jacket and spoke fibers. I've had rocks damage spokes twice in the past four months. A friend who also rides M2s has had the same problem.
What's worse is I couldn't find any replacements locally and Spinergy took nearly a month to send some to me! When they DID send replacements, they only sent half of the spokes I needed! You gave me horrible customer service, Spinergy.
Overall I like the Spox. They look good, they've stayed true, and they were a reasonable price ($450). Nevertheless, for the trails I ride it looks like steel is the better spoke choice.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Friendly Rider
a Cross Country Rider
from Brick, NJ
Date Reviewed: April 30, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Anything and everything | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | These wheels are excellent wheels. I have to be one of the hardest riders in my town or in the tri state area and I haven't knocked these things enough outta true to even touch. I'v foled at least 7 sets of "top of the line wheels" and these barely even got a hop in them. | | Weaknesses: | Hard to true. | | Similar Products Used: | Spinergy Rev Roc E's. broke them after 4 months. So Spinergy honered they're warranty and sent me the Spox, in red no less. | | Bike Setup: | Trek 1999 Pro 9.9 full xt. I broke the old 1997 Trek 9700 carbon in half. | | Bottom Line: | These wheels are awesome xc wheels. They're light, strong and backed up by one of the most honerable companies in the business. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
SCOTTY G
a Weekend Warrior
from Benton
Date Reviewed: April 18, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | lincoln parish park | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | THE LOOKS OF SPINERGY PRODUCTS CANNOT BE BEAT AND THE COMPANY'S PROMISSES ARE LIKE POETRY TOK THE EAR. | | Weaknesses: | MY FIRST SPINERGY PRODUCT WAS REV X ROKS @ 700$ A PAIR. THEY BROKE 366 DAYS LATER SO THEY REPLACED THEM WITH A 400$ OF SPOX | | Similar Products Used: | MAVIC 318 MAVIC 517 | | Bike Setup: | TREK Y-33 WITH THE WORKS | | Bottom Line: | DONT BUY A PRODUCT BECAUSE YOU THINK SERVICE AND QUALITY WILL MATCH THE LOOKS.spinergy PRODUCTS ARE LIVING PROOF.BUT BECAUSE THE PRODUCT IS SO BAD I AM BECOMING A MUCH BETTER WHEEL TUNER WITH THE SPOX. ALSO YOU WILL FIND THE SEVICE DEPARTMENT ON PERPETUAL LUNCH. I RECEIVED MY SPOX IN LATE FEB. AT THAT TIME I WAS TOLD I WOULD RECEIVE A FREE JERSEY WITH MY "400 WARRANTY" WELL AS OF 4-17-2000 THEY TOLD ME THEY RAN OUT IN JAN. LYING SACKS OF @$#$^^^%@@!@@$ . NOW I HAVE A SET OF 1100$ BICYCLE RIMS WHAT A DEAL NEVER ANOTHER spinergy PRODUCT | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
bill swire
a Weekend Warrior
from Seattle, WA,USA,EARTH
Date Reviewed: April 17, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Log Jam, Big Bear | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Not a dam thing. Looks cool though, to hang on a wall. | | Weaknesses: | This is the weakest wheel set in the world. It's loose's true from just riding around the bike path at the park. A good hard day of riding will destroy this rim, big time. Use these wheels in rainy inviroments, and the rims will grind real quick. | | Similar Products Used: | cane creek crono, speed freeks, sun rims/lx hubs, spinergy-with the five carbon fiber webs, which are even worese trash, huffy specials "the best" | | Bike Setup: | Canadale V 700, with chubby tribble crown fork, XT,XTR. | | Bottom Line: | I got this wheel as a replacement for the five web piece of trash that broke when a small twig hit it. I think the spingery company is a joke and they sell trash. It took me 8 months for my warrnty replacement. This wheel is good to hang over your fire place, but never use it or you will feel the wrath. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
john v
a Cross Country Rider
from skaneateles,ny
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | light, good looks | | Weaknesses: | not easily servicable, immpsooible to true rear wheel without taking off cassette. | | Bike Setup: | k2 razorback rs | | Bottom Line: | The wheels are light and fairly strong. The front wheel is easy to true. My major beef is the rear wheel. It is nearly impossible to true this thing. Has anybody else had this problem? On one side the spokes cross very close to the hub. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to get both of the little splined trueing wrenches on it. On the other side the cassette blocks most efforts to get the wrenches on. Very poor design. After an hour of frustration I almost smashed the rear wheel. Maybe the newest SPOX have changed the lace pattern of the rear wheel. If you true your own wheels, my advice is to get a lightweight wheelset with traditional spokes instead of these. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott Moir
a Cross Country Rider
from Melrose, MA, US
Date Reviewed: April 6, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Middlesex Fells | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Light, strong | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Similar Products Used: | Sun Sub IV | | Bike Setup: | 2000 GT XCR 2000, XT drivetrain, RS SID 100 up front, Fox Float RC rear, 1999 LX V brakes, Tioga extreme XC tires | | Bottom Line: | Light, strong, stiff. Vibration free. These wheels dropped 2 pounds from he total weight of the bike, bringing it down to the weight of my hard-tail. I have been taking them on technical single track and double track and they have been perfect. I weigh 245# and have bent many rims.. these are wonderful. Most of the truing problems I have read about seem to be the result of setting up the wheel without loc-tite. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Phil
a Cross Country Rider
from Jacksonville, FL
Date Reviewed: April 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Hard Rock Ocala, FL | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Low maintenance, softens ride. | | Weaknesses: | If/whenI notice one, I'll update my review. | | Similar Products Used: | White Industries wheelset | | Bike Setup: | Trek 9.9, White Bros. SC90 PRO, Grip Shift 9.0 | | Bottom Line: | The first thing I noticed when I switched from my White Industry wheelset (@3000 mi and a good amount of upkeep)was the reduction in vibration, much softer ride. I own the upgraded set, have had no problems and haven't had to true them once. I weigh 190 lbs. and don't hammer my bike, but I do race and ride aggressively. I ride rock quarries with 35 - 40 MPH down hills (yes, even Florida has a little elevation), the wheels handle great and braking is fast and controlled. They don't creek or grind like the previous sets did. I can't tolerate a noisy, rattling, creaking, grinding POS, and won't ride one.
If you ride a moderately priced bike you may find the cost a little high. If you plan to upgrade your frame, or ride/race a supper high end bike, the cost is negligible because they last and perform flawlessly. They're worth the $$, ride em and forget em.
If your riding style leans to the forceful, less technical side, go with a heavy wheel with solid spokes.
The wheels have kept me on the trails and out of the bike shop.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
RedDragon
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego, CA
Date Reviewed: March 31, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Ridge Trail (Montana De Oro) | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Light Weight, Strong and Durable. Problem free so far. | | Weaknesses: | Requires a special truing wrench. | | Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Truth, xtr/raceface, Z1 Bam | | Bottom Line: | This is the best wheel set I have ridden. The low inertia and reduced weight is great for hill climbing. I haven't had any problems yet and have only had the wheels trued once by the shop (didn't really need it though). | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Josh K
a
from Austin
Date Reviewed: March 29, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Barton Creek Greenbelt | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | look cool, light | | Weaknesses: | construction, freehub body | | Similar Products Used: | xtr, mavic wheels | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Kona Explosif. | | Bottom Line: | I had to replace the free hub body within 2 months - I've never had to replace a freehub body in 6 years of riding. I have had to true these wheels more often than most. The driveside bearings locked up and I have had to adjust the non-drive side 3 times. Rather troublesome wheels. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Amman Verzosa
a Cross Country Rider
from Seattle, Washington
Date Reviewed: March 16, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Cool looks, very reilable, product support, and light. | | Weaknesses: | None what so ever. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Open w/ Ultegra, Spinergy Rev-X, Rolf Vector-Pro, Mavic CXP33 with Chris King hubs | | Bike Setup: | Ti frame, ti stem, carbon fork, carbon seatpost, and very fast & comfy. | | Bottom Line: | Had my SPOX over a year now. Got it for $499/set. Rode at least 3000 miles on it already. Never had any problems with them. Hit a few bumps here and there, and ride them agresively & leisurely. They never-ever went un-true on me. I heard they had problem with the earlier models, because they were not treated with lock-tite & had lesser spoke count. But my SPOX is not that older model, and again I never had any problems with my SPOX. Another nice thing about this, is that all LBS in my area will service the SPOX (Like it will ever need it).
They ride great, climb great, look great, and priced right. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Otto
a Weekend Warrior
from new jersey
Date Reviewed: March 11, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | jim thorpe | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | none | | Weaknesses: | the spokes & hubs | | Similar Products Used: | spinergy rev x | | Bike Setup: | litespeed obed/ xt | | Bottom Line: | these wheels look really good and that's all.I had my set for three months and during that time the hub broke twice, the vectron spokes get loose and need tighting by the bike shop with a special tool.for the money you spend on these wheels they should be bomb proof. they suck, get a set of mavic 517 w/xtr hub it will save you money head aches and they'll last a lot longer
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Beaver Garza
a Cross Country Rider
from all cities Texas
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | WARDA-TX | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Spinergy Spox r very light | | Weaknesses: | spinergy spox come untrue very easily especially in rough terrain. | | Bike Setup: | Litespeed hiwasee,raceface next lp-cranks,world class bb,syncros stem,syncros post,and switched over to crossmax for the wheels | | Bottom Line: | Spinergy spox i give 2 stars! these wheels are a waste of my time. I spent more time truing than i did riding. regular spinergy's r by far better than the spox's. If you r looking for a light and dependable wheels these r not your wheels. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott Bays
a Cross Country Rider
from Bonneau, SC
Date Reviewed: March 5, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Tsali, Thompson Loop | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Light, Low rotational weight | | Weaknesses: | I haven't found any so far. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic x517, XT hubs | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale Raven | | Bottom Line: | AT 6' 3" and 205 lbs, I was a little worried about the durability, but after 3 months and around 300 miles, I have yet to need to put a truing wrench on them. The biggest difference in the weight is evident on short, step climbs and powering through mudd and such. I love 'em.
Everyone (that can cough up $400 bucks) should buy 'em. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris
a Racer
from CT
Date Reviewed: February 14, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | all uv em | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Light durable awsome looking | | Weaknesses: | Yeah Sure whatever | | Similar Products Used: | XTR/vilaiant | | Bike Setup: | Rocky moutnain w/ xtrgroupo | | Bottom Line: | Way awsome wheel set. Very fast in acceleration. Low rotaional weight. Very cool looking. I was skeptical putting them on a ful suspension but they are great.Little exspensive that is it.I highly recomend them. Spinergys pr is lacking but it is worth it. Definatley a race worthy wheel. Very strong. Although a DHER would not want them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark Wein
a Racer
from Novato, CA USA
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Pine Mtn | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Light | | Weaknesses: | Spoke adjustment requires lots of patience. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Heliums | | Bike Setup: | Ibis ti with Dura Ace | | Bottom Line: | I posted a unfavorable review of the 700c Spoxs in Nov 99. From that review I received an eamil from Spinergy wanting to talk to me regarding my problems, and what they could do to remedy the problems. Guess what Spinergy provided me with new bearings, spokes, and free computer sensor mag and Spinergy Jersey. I have now put 2500 mile on the wheels with out any problems. I still contend spoke adjustment is a dredful job, but Spinergy has informed me of a new spoke tool they have coming out that will make it less painful. The other complant I still have is the rim braking surface is too narrow. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
William Cheramie
a Cross Country Rider
from Louisiana
Date Reviewed: February 2, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Clear Springs, MS | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | resilance, low rotational weight, smooth ride | | Weaknesses: | Shimano delt out some bad freehubs, may need to be replaced, but is a no cost warranty. | | Similar Products Used: | these wheels are like no other | | Bike Setup: | 98' Litespeed Owl Hollow & 99' Specialized Allez Comp | | Bottom Line: | Everyone is concerned with how much they weigh, that's not the point. Sure there are wheels that weigh less, these wheels have a steel freehub body! It's the rotational weight that makes the difference. No other wheels can match them in that respect.
Off road, they allow you to be in a bigger gear when climbing and accelerate up climbs. When you get to a fast down hill, hold on. You will notice that they accelerate much faster (F=MA). This really puts the pressure on having the right tires, because the wheels will stop , no problem, but if the traction isn't there, ouch!
On the road, why ride another wheelset. Allows you to make your move in a larger gear(don't miss out on the sprint), & they stop like a champ. The decreased rotational weight also decreases the gyroscopic effect=quicker handling.
I'm 6'5" 180 lbs. I ride aggresively off road, but am smooth about it. On the road, I have to leave the draft of the pack on a coasting hill, because the bike is accelerating faster than all the Heliums and Vector pros. At 6'5" I'm a windsock on the road, but when it comes down to going down hills I pass the group in open air. Never did that with the stock wheels.
I've worked in Bike shops in LA and TX, and all the complaints I have heard about them came from big guys and people who don't appreciate good riding skills. They had broken all sorts of wheels before any way. Guys in Miami ruined their wheels, that's rider error, not bad product.
Watch out for the original wheels, with radially laced non drive spokes, 28f; these were the originals. Comfy, but flexy; great for sub 130lb riders (these wheels had issues, beware).
Yes, they will need to be trued after the first ride or two, but that's it. For xc and going the distance. These are great wheels. They are not cheap, but will breathe life into your current bike.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sam Silver
a Cross Country Rider
from Boston
Date Reviewed: January 12, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Mount Snow Back Country Trails | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Damn Light
Cool Red Spokes
Stong Enough
Smoothest Spining Hubs Ever | | Weaknesses: | Tough to true.(But what do I care? I have my LBS do it for me.)
Not Stong enough for hardtail dual slalom or down hill. | | Similar Products Used: | Mavic Cross Link
Matrix rims with both STX-RC and LX | | Bike Setup: | Litespeed Owl HOllow 2000, almost full XTR, Z.2 Superflies. | | Bottom Line: | I never used to think that my old Matrix wheels sucked, it's just that since I got my litepeed, they were the last cheap component on my bike. When I saw these things for 400 I sprang for them.
When you first take these babies out of the box you instantly admire how light they are (in a recent bike mag. I saw, they were posted as the 2nd lightest wheels around). If you give them a good spin they'll go for at least a minute, it's insane how sweet these barrings are.
They came with a relatively low factory tension so the first thing I had to do was get them tensioned up. When I got them back from the LBS they told me that they were a real pain in the a$$. None the less, they did a good job. I'm 6'2" 150 lbs. and ride moderately hard on all the backcountry stuff, and 5 months later, they're pretty close to as true as the day I got them.
Some people say that you really notice the difference on the uphills. Sure, things are a tad easier going up since they're so light, but it's on the downhills that I feel that you can really sense improvement, you really fell your self taking off!!!
Great XC Wheels for sure, if you find them for 400 you'd be crazy to pass them up. Although if you're paying full price, you may want to check out Bontrager Race-Lites or Rolf Propels. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Litefreek
a Cross-Country Rider
from Spangdahlem Germany
Date Reviewed: December 28, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
George's Trail | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Strengths: |
Light
Spin Smooth
Coolness Factor
Free Jersey | | Weaknesses: |
Play in rear hub
Adjusting rear nipples
Needs adjusting after a little riding | | Similar Products Used: |
Shimano LX | | Bike Setup: |
95 Litespeed Hawassie, LX/XT mix, | | Bottom Line: | Price : $399 from super go ( free jersey from spinergy)
Model: 99.
Front: 28 Spoke Radial lacing
Rear: 32 Spoke 1x cross lacingOwned since Oct. 99Arrived with 2 sets of wrenches for adjusting, and rim tape. Couldnt order the magnet from Spinergy, but didn't have to since I could use a magnet on the back wheels. I used one that spans between 2 spokes. Just had to move my sensor a little. I use a Cateye Astrale ComputerRode them around for about 100 miles. Needed some minor tweeking. After I put them on a truing stand I found that the front one was a little out of dish. The back one was ok. Tightened both front and back up. Still not up as high as it should be, but its better.Yes there light, But not as light as advertised. Weighed WITH OUT the skewers, WITH rim tape on that was supplied by Spinergy and came up with the following:Front: 692
Rear: 962 (with magnet installed)Went to the bike shop on Spangdahlem. Showed them to the guys there and they suggested replacing the rim tape with something that was a little thinner. Did this and now have the following weights WITH OUT skewers, WITH NEW rim tape.Front: 682
Rear: 952 (with magnet installed)They do spin smooth. Much smoother then my LX wheels. Look really cool and the free jersey was niceThere is a little play in the rear hub. when you start to pedle it should catch a little sooner. My work around was just to not stop peddeling, then you never notice. Adjusting rear nipples is a little tough. The 1x cross side has them so close that its kind of hard to get to them. The drive side is easier to adjust...after you pull of the cassette. I do get up and going quicker with these, I can truely feel the difference. I also can feel less gyroscopic effect on the wheels. Also lightened up my Bike. Will do another review after a few more months on them.
| | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Byron
a Cross-Country Rider
from Edmonton, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 28, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
fast, hard singletrack | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
light weight
fat, strong hubs
cool looks
very little brake rub when cornering | | Weaknesses: |
tough to true | | Similar Products Used: |
XTR/Sun
Spinergy Rox XE | | Bike Setup: |
Rocky Mountain Blizzard/ Judy SL 3 | | Bottom Line: | I am a big rider at 6'4 200lbs. I have hammered these wheels for a whole year, including winter riding. They still run true, and the bearings are still smooth. What else can you ask for? It is really hard to find anything bad to say about these wheels. A very big improvement over the Rox XE. Kudos to Spinergy for realizing that they had the worst wheels on the market, and fixing the problem by developing an amazing wheelset. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Zohar
a Racer
from Caesarea Israel
Date Reviewed: December 13, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
road | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
A M A Z I N G | | Weaknesses: |
still looking for | | Similar Products Used: |
mavic cxp-30 coda hub front
shimano ultegra rear | | Bike Setup: |
cannondale caad-4
full ultegra
built by my own | | Bottom Line: | don't wait go get one you'll know later the diffrance.
| | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
gary
a Cross-Country Rider
from chicago
Date Reviewed: December 3, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
any one i have time to ride | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
light and cool | | Weaknesses: |
cones loosen every once in a while...but all cones do regardless of wheel | | Similar Products Used: |
cross max | | Bike Setup: |
merlin,sid,xtr,avid and schwinn h.g.fact. team | | Bottom Line: | own 3 sets of these wheels....nuf said /give me any wheel and i'll have the same gripes and complaints about them all, eventually. ride and shut up !! | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Stephen Winn
a Cross-Country Rider
from Auckland
Date Reviewed: November 25, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
as before | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
Look fantastic, very light,..... | | Weaknesses: |
I hate it when I shell out lots of money for these and then find them not too long afterward find the next model up at a much cheaper price. | | Similar Products Used: |
XT/White/DT/217, Rev X Rox(4 blades/side) | | Bike Setup: |
Marin Quake 9.0 FRS w full XTR, Tomac brakes, AMP F4BLT carbon, Sram ESP, etc, etc. | | Bottom Line: | After a year now I still really like these wheels.
Ok,I've had the odd reservation about them with the front rim needing repacing due to the poor seam quality, low spoke tension on both wheels and slightly more labour intensive wheel trueing but now that I have had these sorted, these wheels are running so sweet.
Some might say that for the price I should not have had to go through these problems and perhaps they are right to a degree but then I always tend to 'customise' things when I get them no matter what the new product is.
I still recommend them because they ride so well because they are sooo light,fast and soak up the extra chop just that little bit more than steel spoke wheels do.
I've had none of the delaminating hubs or squeeking hubs, bearing or whatever. I've not had to experience broken spokes or cracked rims.
I must admit though to being tempted to upgrade to the new ceramic rimmed versions or even going for the disc versions but I have a family to feed.
For the next few years, these wheels will have to do. (And they do alot more than just do though.)
I still say that they have been my biggest upgrade on my bike and given the most return for the money by far.
Get some!i'I have had to tension them pretty tight to stop the small amount of flex but I have | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Wanderer
a Weekend Warrior
from somewhere
Date Reviewed: November 21, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
wherever I can ride | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
rolls FAST | | Weaknesses: |
rear axle, need to true at least once in the first month | | Similar Products Used: |
Mavic ??? with ti spokes and XTR. it sucked, ti snaps too easily. | | Bike Setup: |
old Trek 8000 with Mani SX. still using canti's too. who needs to stop? | | Bottom Line: | only own the rear. would like a front too. rolls Fast. need to true eventually and maybe a couple times. after initial break-in they'll last forever, at least so far. rear axle is an easy fix. customer service is a pain in the *ss though. you need to go through a bike shop to get anything done with them and it still takes time. It's hard for me being 60 miles from nearest possible shop. no probs with SPOX though,that's with my normal Spiny on my road bike. the wheel is worth 4. customer service is worth 1.5. still giving overall of 4 since it is for Spox. try and buy | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jack
a Racer
from Beale AFB, Ca
Date Reviewed: November 18, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Still looking | | Duration Product Used: |
more than 3 years | | Strengths: |
Light, strong, and responsive. | | Weaknesses: |
When I first started using them they came out of true. | | Similar Products Used: |
Nothing compares. | | Bike Setup: |
Schwin Factory Home Grown with Judy SL | | Bottom Line: | Best all around racing wheel made. They seem to have a break in period. After hamering them for a few hundred miles, they rareley come out of true. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark Wein
a Racer
from Novato CA
Date Reviewed: November 3, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
Light wt. | | Weaknesses: |
Poor design, poor execution, very expensive replacement spokes. | | Similar Products Used: |
Mavic Crosslands | | Bike Setup: |
Litepeed ti with XT, Rockshox | | Bottom Line: | I was persuaded by my LBS to try the 2000 models at cost. What a mistake. After month of light use these wheels needed bearing and spoke replacements. Spokes cost $10.00 each, ouch! This means you would be better off getting new wheels rather than rebuilding Spox. Hubs are glued together beer cans that flex and creak. A wheel magnite needed to fit the fat spokes for computer costs $11.00, it should be included with the wheels! Bottom line these wheels are a poor design. I am using what is left of these wheels as a gate to my compost pile.l | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andy
a Cross-Country Rider
from Cleveland
Date Reviewed: October 21, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
DUMP | | Duration Product Used: |
more than 3 years | | Strengths: |
Strong, FAST | | Weaknesses: |
to be determined | | Similar Products Used: |
Crossmax, Cross link, Valiants | | Bottom Line: | GReat Product, very fast and strong | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joshua
a Cross-Country Rider
from Denver
Date Reviewed: October 14, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Kokapeli | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Strengths: |
Strong | | Weaknesses: |
Hubs, price, truing is a hassle. | | Similar Products Used: |
Mavic 217, 517, 520 | | Bike Setup: |
K2 5500, XTR | | Bottom Line: | I've gone through 4 different sets of wheels in the last 2 years. I finally bought some downhill rims in order to keep from bending the bajeebers out of them every hard ride. When I saw how light the Spox were, and how strong they were advertised, I bought a set. They are strong, they have lasted me 6 months and I've only had to true them about 4 times. I've broken one spoke, but managed to get a spare from my LBS. I don't like the rear hub AT ALL!. There is way too much play before the crank catches. They are also sealed bearings, I hate that. They do what the advertise, just be aware of the cheap parts built into them. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Kim
a Cross-Country Rider
from Willoughby, OH
Date Reviewed: October 7, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Vulture's Knob-Wooster, OH | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Strengths: |
Very light, seemingly strong wheelset that can take a lot of hits with little noticeable change in truing; great looks. | | Weaknesses: |
Truing is definitely an art form with these wheels. You must buy a ridiculously expensive ($9) magnet to fit the SPOX if you want to use your cyclocomputer. | | Similar Products Used: |
Bontrager Mustangs w/NukeProof hubs; WTB Powerbeams;Wheelsmith; Sun Ringle. | | Bike Setup: |
Cannondale custom-built CAAD3 w/ Manitou SX-R, XT-XTR. | | Bottom Line: | A truly beautiful wheelset with rugged construction for its light weight. Takes the hits without a hitch. I did, however, have a problem with the rear hub. Out of the box it had a nasty wobble that made the rear wheel look like it was totally out of true. Spinergy has offered to fix it, and I've heard from others this was an early design flaw. I've used these for road training on my mountain bike and they've taken the chuckholes without incident. Prices for this set have come down considerably, making them a good investment for more experienced riders. | | Overall Rating: |
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