Hey guys,
Over in the 29er components form there is a Cheep Chinese carbon rim thread - you know the one.
Well, I was loitering around and noticed this new company BTLOS (Beyond the Limits of Self), drop in and announce themselves with a shameless self plug. And I took the click bait.
Backstory: Not a week before I ordered some Nextie premium rims for my new build. I'm always skeptical, and really prefer to go with something that has some history...which sometimes means I overpay, lol. Got the 29er, 36mm external wide rims. Awesome. Expensive.
Well, low and behold BTLOS has the same rim profile, which I like very much. 29mm being a good width in my opinion, and with slightly thicker 3.5mm sidewalls. They also offer it in a more premium package, with combination T700/T800 with slightly more T800 (which cost twice what the T700 does) than Nextie, while using a slightly more simplistic layup with a single overlap angle of 45 degrees, and guarantee the same roundness and flatness. So, nearly identical product, with the benefit of a little bit of a pricier make-up material wise, and perhaps a little less pricey due to simplified layup. I imagine the difference in cost overall, should be nil. But...
Nextie, $240 per rim.
BTLOS, $170 per rim.
Nextie was kind enough to offer me their xmas discount of $35 per rim, early. And I got a second set lower tier rims from the to lace and sell.
BTLOS has an xmas sale too, with 15% off.
Now $205 vs $144.50.
BTLOS was slightly cheaper for shipping...and offered to invoice me in Canadian, at the days exchange rate - this to me is great because it could save me 2.5% fx fee.
I sort of cried a little, seeing my money go down the toilet...overall the same rims at Nextie were $200 Canadian more! Many will tell you the two rims are likely identical. Perhaps even from the same factory, who knows. I CAN tell you Nextie is only a 25 min drive from BTLOS, who seem to me to actually be a factory and not just a reseller/middle man. Not sure about Nextie, but I get the sense they are a reseller.
I have chatted back and fourth with both Nextie, and BTLOS. I can tell you that the guys at Nextie are nice guys, but to me BTLOS is out to prove something - they have a sales person available in the morning and all evening, and they are responsive, sending pics and having their engineers literally draw a cad picture and send to answer a tech question - it was quite impressive.
Long story short, I have a small wheel building business side gig, and I thought...why not. I need to know...so I am going to be the guinea pig. If they are indeed the same quality, then I know what rims that I will use for my local carbon wheel builds, and I'll just sell the extra set off.
They don't seem to have a lot of profiles posted yet, but given the fact they are a new B2C company that I believe has longer standing B2B track record, I think they have more profiles, just not yet posted to their web site. I am hoping they get their product range a little more sorted, but I'm happy to have found them. upon searching; it seems they have only been online for little over a month. They did offer the same 36mm rim in 650B, even though it isn't posted - so I know they have more. Not much yet in the 27-35mm internal width that I think is optimal, but I hope more will come.
So far, I can say service is really second to none, and I don't just mean for an Asian rim company - I deal with Hope, DT Swiss, and WTB on a semi frequent, and I'm just as happy with the service provided on my first rim purchase, and their eagerness to help/troubleshoot.
I do hope they get some more interesting and trendy rim profiles up in the coming weeks/months. If they can, they may be a winner.
When I have both comparable BTLOS and Nextie rims in hand, I'll will take some detail pics and give you an initial impression.
NEXTIE | New Official Site | Carbon Bicycle Store
www.btlos.com
Over in the 29er components form there is a Cheep Chinese carbon rim thread - you know the one.
Well, I was loitering around and noticed this new company BTLOS (Beyond the Limits of Self), drop in and announce themselves with a shameless self plug. And I took the click bait.
Backstory: Not a week before I ordered some Nextie premium rims for my new build. I'm always skeptical, and really prefer to go with something that has some history...which sometimes means I overpay, lol. Got the 29er, 36mm external wide rims. Awesome. Expensive.
Well, low and behold BTLOS has the same rim profile, which I like very much. 29mm being a good width in my opinion, and with slightly thicker 3.5mm sidewalls. They also offer it in a more premium package, with combination T700/T800 with slightly more T800 (which cost twice what the T700 does) than Nextie, while using a slightly more simplistic layup with a single overlap angle of 45 degrees, and guarantee the same roundness and flatness. So, nearly identical product, with the benefit of a little bit of a pricier make-up material wise, and perhaps a little less pricey due to simplified layup. I imagine the difference in cost overall, should be nil. But...
Nextie, $240 per rim.
BTLOS, $170 per rim.
Nextie was kind enough to offer me their xmas discount of $35 per rim, early. And I got a second set lower tier rims from the to lace and sell.
BTLOS has an xmas sale too, with 15% off.
Now $205 vs $144.50.
BTLOS was slightly cheaper for shipping...and offered to invoice me in Canadian, at the days exchange rate - this to me is great because it could save me 2.5% fx fee.
I sort of cried a little, seeing my money go down the toilet...overall the same rims at Nextie were $200 Canadian more! Many will tell you the two rims are likely identical. Perhaps even from the same factory, who knows. I CAN tell you Nextie is only a 25 min drive from BTLOS, who seem to me to actually be a factory and not just a reseller/middle man. Not sure about Nextie, but I get the sense they are a reseller.
I have chatted back and fourth with both Nextie, and BTLOS. I can tell you that the guys at Nextie are nice guys, but to me BTLOS is out to prove something - they have a sales person available in the morning and all evening, and they are responsive, sending pics and having their engineers literally draw a cad picture and send to answer a tech question - it was quite impressive.
Long story short, I have a small wheel building business side gig, and I thought...why not. I need to know...so I am going to be the guinea pig. If they are indeed the same quality, then I know what rims that I will use for my local carbon wheel builds, and I'll just sell the extra set off.
They don't seem to have a lot of profiles posted yet, but given the fact they are a new B2C company that I believe has longer standing B2B track record, I think they have more profiles, just not yet posted to their web site. I am hoping they get their product range a little more sorted, but I'm happy to have found them. upon searching; it seems they have only been online for little over a month. They did offer the same 36mm rim in 650B, even though it isn't posted - so I know they have more. Not much yet in the 27-35mm internal width that I think is optimal, but I hope more will come.
So far, I can say service is really second to none, and I don't just mean for an Asian rim company - I deal with Hope, DT Swiss, and WTB on a semi frequent, and I'm just as happy with the service provided on my first rim purchase, and their eagerness to help/troubleshoot.
I do hope they get some more interesting and trendy rim profiles up in the coming weeks/months. If they can, they may be a winner.
When I have both comparable BTLOS and Nextie rims in hand, I'll will take some detail pics and give you an initial impression.
NEXTIE | New Official Site | Carbon Bicycle Store
www.btlos.com
