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Home | Product Reviews | Spoke | Sapim CX Ray | ||||
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Submitted by
Charles Bout
a Cross Country Rider
from Holland
Date Reviewed: 3/9/2008 12:35:08 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $4 |
| Purchased At: | Snel Tweewielers, Utrecht |
| Strengths: | Strong, Light, Looks |
| Weaknesses: | Expensive, not readily available |
| Bottom Line: | These are good spokes. Used them for a year now and no problems with the spokes themselves, they are holding up just fine. The question is, are they worth the extra cash? If weight is an issue for you, probably. If you want looks, probably. If you want durability, probably not. Another problem is that most LBS don't stock them. Average waiting period over here is 3 months! And at one time (and the last time) i had to wait over 9 (yes, NINE) months for them. Was that worth the waiting? Maybe, if the wheel was properly built. But it wasn't. And nomatter how good the spokes, if the wheel ain't built right... well, you'll guess. And to add insult to injury, this particular LBS (Snel Tweewielers) gave me a really nasty attitude when i complained AND even tried to rip me off for $200! So, if you decide to buy these spokes, don't make the same mistake as i did. Buy them from a good LBS that doesn't treat it's well paying customers like sh#*t and rips them off on a regular basis. Please. |
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Submitted by
Daniel
a Cross Country Rider
from Atlanta
Date Reviewed: 11/18/2007 6:05:58 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Price Paid: | $3 |
| Purchased At: | spinlitecycling.com |
| Strengths: | Very light, very strong and very trick! |
| Weaknesses: | expensive...but you get what you pay for. Most LBS's have never heard of them so keep a few extra |
| Similar Products Tried: | dt swiss, wheelsmith |
| Bike Setup: | 5" Titus SB with Hadley hubs and Velocity Aeroheat rims |
| Bottom Line: | Even though my Aeroheat rims aren't the lightest but these spokes make up for the weight. The overall package the Lyle put together is perfectly suited for me. My wheels have never had to be trued and I'm 6'4 and 210lbs. I don't feel flex or have to think about my wheels failing anymore! |
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Submitted by
luis toro
a Cross Country Rider
from gran canaria
Date Reviewed: 1/4/2006 4:55:17 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | the next one |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $1 |
| Purchased At: | startbike.com |
| Strengths: | light weigth , its amazing , increible .and still really strong. My last spokes was dt 2.0 , and sapin feel more stiff with the same hubs and rims . |
| Weaknesses: | dificult to find. |
| Similar Products Tried: | dt,wheelsmith |
| Bike Setup: | specialized 05 ht s/works full XTR , carbon items etc etc |
| Bottom Line: | Are you thinking in buy a pre-fabrics wheel , dont do . Just take a good hubs , this excellets spokes and a nice rim , and you have a wheel that pleople ask about it. |
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Submitted by
Tommy
a Cross Country Rider
from Pensacola, FL
Date Reviewed: 5/19/2005 4:43:22 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Any |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Purchased At: | redbarnbicycles.com |
| Strengths: | super strong, light, looks awesome |
| Weaknesses: | Not stocked at LBS, somewhat expensive |
| Bike Setup: | Titus Switchblade, wheelset buildup: Chris King ISO hubs, Sapim CX-Ray spokes, Stans Olympic rims |
| Bottom Line: | I just cant say enough about the CX-Ray's and would highly recommend them to any XC rider. As everyone else has mentioned, these spokes do exactly what you want spokes to do; yet, they are really light. The only downfall is that they arent available at most LBS but you can always order a few extra when you build your wheelset for spares. Some would also argue the price is too steep but I personally think the pros well out weigh the cost. |
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Submitted by
Pat T.®
a Weekend Warrior
from WA State
Date Reviewed: 2/8/2003 4:10:14 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | www.thorusa.com |
| Strengths: | Very strong, very stiff, very cool looking |
| Weaknesses: | Not at my LBS, they had to get them from Thor which was no prblem once they figured out he does have a phone. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Never used a bladed spoke before |
| Bike Setup: | Rocky Pipeline, JR T fork, Magura GustavM discs, Magura Pro hubs, Mavic D521 rims, IRC Kujo tires, SRAM drive train and shifters. |
| Bottom Line: | This is probably the best wheel I have ever ridden on, and being a 235lb rider I can flex a wheel. It does not move side to side, and I have not had to true it yet. I got these from Thor because he sold them at a very fair price. Now I am glad I did buy them, and they will be going on my next wheel set. They do cost a bit more but I highly think they are worth it. These would be good for all types of riders IMHO. |
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Submitted by
shiggy
a Cross Country Rider
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: 2/6/2003 10:02:08 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | ThorUSA |
| Strengths: | Lightness, strength, builds a stiff wheel, looks cool |
| Weaknesses: | Cost. Not stocked by LBSs |
| Similar Products Tried: | DT 15/16 DB |
| Bike Setup: | Custom Matt Chester Ti singlespeed. X Fly 100 fork, Profile Racing cranks, WTB dropbars w/ Dia Compe 287V levers, Avid disc brakes, Velocity VXC rims, American Classic disc/Paul WORD Disc hubs |
| Bottom Line: | I am an agressive trail/XC rider with 19 years of mtb riding behind me. Not a big drop/big air guy but I do ride trials type trails. ~175 pounds/6'1". Best spokes I have ever used. The wheels are much stiffer latterally than wheels with the 15/16db or even the straight 15g spokes I used before. The build was easy after I got one of the spoke keys from ThorUSA to hold the bladed section while tightening the nipple. My wheels have not required any retruing in the year I have been riding them. The rear does need a bit of attention after the incident below: shiggy©®™ Feb-06-03, 01:33 AM "Yes, Sapim CX-Ray spokes are strong!" On tonight's ride I swung to the left into the salal to pass another rider. I could not see the small downed tree with its top pointing straight at me. The 3-inch diameter pole grazed my left ankle (ripping a huge hole in my sock), when between my leg and the seat tube, into the rear wheel, missed the left side spokes and jammed hard into the right side spokes just above the outer cross. I was then thrown back to the right on top of the rider I tried to pass. Neither one of us was hurt, thankfully. The blades spokes cut into the end of the pole 2-3" deep. Took a good tug to remove the bike from the pole (The pole was 20' long. much easier to pull on the bike). And I had to untangle the pedal of the other bike from the wheel, too. Damage to spokes: None. No bends, no kinks, no nicks. Damage to wheel: It is 2-3mm out of true and perfectly ridable. I doubt many spokes, let alone ultra light ones, could have survived the impact. |
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Submitted by
Mike T.
a Cross Country Rider
from Ontario Canada
Date Reviewed: 1/27/2003 7:15:07 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | www.ThorUSA.com |
| Strengths: | Extreme lightness for a steel spoke. Quality. Able to "see" windup. |
| Weaknesses: | The cost - but this is a small portion of a top quality bike. |
| Similar Products Tried: | DT Comps. Wheelsmith. |
| Bike Setup: | Seven Sola. Formula B4SL brakes. Pace RC31 rigid carbon fork. Moots post & stem. Gigantex carbon cranks. Thunderwerks carbon bar ends. |
| Bottom Line: | Here we have the world's best spoke. They are really close to that weigh of the lightest available spokes AND they are used by Nico the world DH champ. What does this say about their strength? Oh yeah, Lance uses them too. This is an aero spoke that fits through normal hub spoke holes without any filing (that would ruin your hub warranty really fast). Because of the finest materials and heat treatment Sapim are able to give you almost everything - light weight and strength. But the old saying of "Light, strong, cheap - pick any two" was never more true. If you want light AND strong you're going to have to pay for it. But you knew that didn't you? Here is a paradox - these spokes are the hardest to build with and also the easiest. How so? Because of their lightness and small cross-sectional area (about the same area as a 1.5mm Revo) they twist like crazy when building BUT because of the bladed cross-section it's dead easy to see the twist and remove it. ThorUSA or any Sapim dealer can supply you with the special simple tool to hold the spoke to prevent it twisting. Or if the spoke does twist just use the tool to remove it. This is a quality spoke and it shows in building and in use. I've been using them for just a year and I've yet to put a wrench to them since the day I built the wheels. Just make sure you tension, equalize and stress relieve perfectly - they, and your investment, deserve it. It was a tough decision to award 5 Flamin' Chilis for "Value" as they are quite expensive. But then I weighed this cost against the rest of my bike and went with another old saying - "Value lives on long after price is forgotten". |
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