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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Opinions on HIE Wheels?

   
Old 09-26-16, 01:55 PM
  #1  
tolesy
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Opinions on HIE Wheels?
Anyone have experience with HIE Wheels? They are made in USA, sell directly to the public, have a 1-year warranty, and appear to be a no-hype, all business type company. The price is right but there isn't a ton of information floating around out there about them. I'm looking at the clinchers in 38 or 50 mm depth.

I am also considering Zipp 404s and waiting on the new Dura Ace 9100 c40's. Figured I could save ~$800 on the HIEs though.

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter!
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Old 09-26-16, 02:08 PM
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dr_lha
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Originally Posted by tolesy
Anyone have experience with HIE Wheels? They are made in USA!
What's your evidence that they are made in the USA? I looked on their website, and it's curiously lacking in any mention of the of either the location of the company or the provenance of the product.

Never heard of them BTW, so no opinion.
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Old 09-26-16, 02:52 PM
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Even if assembled in the USA, it is highly unlikely the parts are made here. Chinese rims, Taiwanese hubs, and if you are lucky, Belgian spokes. By the way, my wheels meet those conditions so I'm not criticizing, just commenting.
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Old 09-26-16, 02:54 PM
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tolesy
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Originally Posted by dr_lha
What's your evidence that they are made in the USA? I looked on their website, and it's curiously lacking in any mention of the of either the location of the company or the provenance of the product.

Never heard of them BTW, so no opinion.
The LLC is registered to a Vegas address and the registrant has a Salt Lake City address. From what their social media accounts say they have only a few employees. YT also has two reviews out there on them, one of which says they were shipped from a US address.

I have an email into the company to verify.

Thanks!
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Old 09-26-16, 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by tolesy
The LLC is registered to a Vegas address and the registrant has a Salt Lake City address. From what their social media accounts say they have only a few employees. YT also has two reviews out there on them, one of which says they were shipped from a US address.

I have an email into the company to verify.

Thanks!
If they have only a few employees, then it's almost certain that they are just assembling/building the wheels in their shop, not making the components like Zipp does (or at least used to).
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Old 09-26-16, 03:14 PM
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Originally Posted by tolesy
Anyone have experience with HIE Wheels? They are made in USA, sell directly to the public, have a 1-year warranty, and appear to be a no-hype, all business type company. The price is right but there isn't a ton of information floating around out there about them. I'm looking at the clinchers in 38 or 50 mm depth.

I am also considering Zipp 404s and waiting on the new Dura Ace 9100 c40's. Figured I could save ~$800 on the HIEs though.

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter!
By the way, if you are into US made (or at least assembled) wheels at better prices than Zipp but with more of a reputation than HIE, you might look at Mercury wheels.

Competitive Cyclist AKA Backcountry.com carries them and they are on sale right now.

I believe Mercury and Backcountry.com are based out of Salt Lake City too.
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Old 09-26-16, 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted by ShortLegCyclist
By the way, if you are into US made (or at least assembled) wheels at better prices than Zipp but with more of a reputation than HIE, you might look at Mercury wheels.
...
Great wheels.
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Old 09-26-16, 09:04 PM
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You are paying extra $600 for the custom graphic and US shipping address, 38mm, 50mm, 60mm enough said.
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Old 09-26-16, 09:43 PM
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Here is a youtube review on them, they look like solid wheels for the money.

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Old 09-26-16, 10:42 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Even if assembled in the USA, it is highly unlikely the parts are made here. Chinese rims, Taiwanese hubs, and if you are lucky, Belgian spokes. By the way, my wheels meet those conditions so I'm not criticizing, just commenting.
Carbon layup is a manual process, if they were doing that in US they wouldn't be able to price it as they do. Also the machinery required for a manufacturing can't be paid off with whatever volume they have... so no, the rims are not made in US.
It could be assembled in USA, as you mentioned.
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