cyclezealot

Did you have good luck with them.. For manufactured rims they are reasonably priced.Once my spokes' nipples pulled right through the cracked rim. Mechanic said the metal in Velocities( guess all models?) is too soft. Whatever that means. How was your luck? Recommend them or not.?
Right now when I take the back roads they can be pretty well potted and worn. Probably not a great idea to not have the strongest of rims.

sngltrackdufus

I certainly would. I have had no issues whatsoever with either(MTB) set,Unlike Mavic hoops.

seely

I only run Velocities (except for a NOS set of red Mavic MA3's I got), never had a problem.

Seggybop

Definitely. They are made of win, good, and pretty colors.

PWRDbyTRD

450lb on Deep V's and they're holding true...heck yes I would.

Bekologist

I've tried to beat up a set of Velocity Dyads doing loaded tours on heinous, riffraffed fireroads and have no issues.

cyclezealot

Bekologist. This is the kind of news I need before I buy my next set. Almost every day I carry at least 15 pounds an errands about town.
Wonder why the spokes ( cracked the metal) pulled through the rims on that set? Seems they were not that old. Where I lived then, roads pretty smooth. Some prefer to not buy manufactured rims?

shaq-d

velocity deep v's on my commuter, work awesome. recently crashed out my racer bike with mavic open pro's. the front wheel was totalled. replaced with velocity deep v's instead of mavic open pros even though now the front and rear tire mismatch. velocity rox.

sd

Bekologist

cyclezealot, seems there is a lot of esoterica surrounding anodizing, nipple galling, stress factors on eyeletted rims versus non, and treat heating of 'luminums that make the question of eyelets or no eylets a matter of personal faith, rather than qualitive or quantitative analysis....

the only person that would have a true perspective on this is going to be a master wheelbuilder thats spun a lot of rims. My wheelsmith preached the faith of no eyelet v profile to me, and so far i'm in that church.

Bekologist

Velocity wheelsets are still handspun in Michigan, not machine built I believe. However, michigan has a vigorous prison manufacturing system, and I suspect Velocity is taking advantage of the cheap labor pool of the incarcerated.

Some of their wheelsets may be built with some funk in them; I'd suspect sometimes they get tweakers on the manufacturing line with a wrenching fix, sending out rims super tensioned.....

geraldatwork

So far about 800 miles on my Velocity Areohead (rims) wheels and they are holding up well. I am a 210 rider which can stress a wheel. My gut feeling is their customer service is pretty good. I had a few questions about their hubs and they answered my questions quickly.

jemoryl

Yes, the wheels are supposedly handbuilt at the US distributor in MI (the rims themselves are from Australia). I think your remark about prisoners being involved is way off base.

BTW, I have a pair of Velocity Nuvians with the Aerohead rims and they have been great.

cyclezealot

Bekologist's comments about tweakers over stressing rims is a good point. Do Bike shops ever check the tension of their stock. Mabye something to remember next wheel we all buy.

Bekologist

I do not know Vedlocity's manufacturing program in Michigan specifically so my comments are all conjecture.

However ,a couple of cognizant points about prison labor in michigan and the US:

In Michigan, prison manufacturing of office furniture directly put Steelcase, the world's largest manufacturer of office furniture, into bankruptcy by michigan prison office equipment in direct competition with Steelcase.

Additionally, Starbucks coffee sold prepacked in supermarkets across America is packaged using prison laborers.

Omega Pacific had a vigorous manufacturing program where they manufactured climbing and mountaineering safety equipment in the US prison labor system- nothing like trusting a guy in prison for safety products!

The list of products manufactured and produced with the aid of prison labor is insidious. I have only speculative belief that, for Velocity to even spin wheels in the US, and offer them at competitive prices in Nashbar, etc. that Velocity is possibly using prison labor.

Regardless, even if velocity wheels are spun by free bikers, Michigan manufacturing labor pool is filled with a bunch of tweakers, Michigan was ground zero for the 'new meth' that has been ruining america for the last decade,

sngltrackdufus

So what exactly is you're point?
You think your crap don't stink or something?
You never know, tommorrow you might find yourself on ^THAT^ bus.
Don't think it can't happen.

xlntRider79

I have a K525 that I got from Nashbar on the front of my race mountain bike...28 spokes laced radially and has never come out of true even when I broke a spoke. My only complaint is with the lack of sidewall machining. I can feel the seam everytime the darn thing goes around.

catatonic

Hey, I'm all for prison labor...if it helps reduce the cost the taxpayers have to bear for their stay...then it's a good thing.

Plus who's to say they are doing crap work? It's not like you had Jeffery Dahmer's pupil or something working the Starbuck's line.... for pete's sake...

Bekologist

for some reason, providing jobs for the incarcarated to allow companies to have a more efficient bottom line versus providing livable wage jobs for free americans is not a social policy I'm formally in favor of, no.

I readily pay a premium for fairly produced goods.

Trsnrtr

Their customer service is excellent. I weigh about 210 and had a set of 16/24 aero spoked Spartacus Pro wheels. The front broke a spoke after about 1600 miles and then the rear broke a spoke about 500 miles later. I had had my LBS replace the front spoke but I called Velocity after the rear spoke and they said I was a little too heavy and to send them in and they'd rebuild them with heavier gauge spokes. I shipped the wheels and a new, not rebuilt, set of wheels showed up a couple of days later with heavier spokes, no charge.

rmwun54

I have Velocity Aerohead and Aeroheat rims and haven't had any problems with them, yes I would buy them again.

jonsam

I saw a interesting interview with the guy who runs Velocity on Fixed Gear Gallery. I didn't see any prison workers. It seems like a very solid business and my set of Velocity Razors are very nice. Their in-house wheel building looked like a few folks at work benches with Park truing stands.

cyclezealot

I approve of prisoners being trained to do work. But not if it means closing down civilan jobs. Just another form of outsourcing. The job you loose might be your own. Prison industries should be just that. Operated by the state and not some corporate goon finding a way around paying people decent wages . Labor is the creation of wealth. Wealth's benefits should benefit all, not just the elite. Plus, exploiting prisoners, Dont think I would trust my new rims.
Might feel vindictive and I'd be the unlucky one to get a booby trapped rim.

Bekologist

apears jonsam has 'seen' the inside of the velocity operation. maybe velocity can serve as a model of midsized company providing workabe wage jobs for americans...very cool.

my comments about prison labor in america still stand, glad to see velocity's wheel building operation is free labor.

geraldatwork

To add to my previouis post. Because I am a fairly heavy rider (210 lbs) I need a heftier build but didn't want to spend a ton of money.However wanted relatively light wheels. So I had my Velocity Areohead rims built with titanium spokes, 32 in the rear and 28 in the front. They came in at 1515 gms and cost $375 before shipping. I was concerned about a spoke breaking and my LBS not having matching spokes. They promised to repair them for free if I had a problem. When I emailed them about my concern about not having the wheels for a week or two they sent me 2wo spokes of each length used on the build for free. Prety good customer service.

HereNT

They actually post on here. There was a guy awhile back that posted about how his rim broke when he got in an accident over on SS/Fix. Everyone was like 'hey, you run into a car door, the rim might fail' or something like that.

They ended up rebuilding the wheel for him. From everything that I've seen, they seem like a really stand up company.

And I'm too lazy to find the thread - anyone?