HiFi Sound wheels?
 

I'm upgrading the wheels on my 2009 Trek Madone. The stock wheels are Bontrager Race alloy with rim brakes, and the rear rim has developed cracks around a number of the spoke nipples (a common problem with these wheels, from what I can tell.) My LBS has recommended replacing them with wheels from HiFi Sound Cycling Components. I'm looking at the Mixtape X and SL rim brake alloy versions, and they look good on the company web site. It seems like a very small company and I'm not seeing many reviews or discussions of their products, especially the ones I'm looking at. Does anyone have any experience with the company, and even more specifically, with the wheels I'm considering? Thanks for any help you can provide.

A co-worker recommends the mixtapes to people. He thinks they are a great wheel. I've never ridden him, but I respect his opinion.

Thank you.

Wrong forum. :lol:

Are those the infamous paired spoke wheels? I'm surprised they lasted this long. My rear wheel developed spoke hole cracks at 4000 miles. I discovered the cracks after the wheel broke a spoke.

I think it is. You can see a picture of the bike here:
https://archive.trekbikes.com/us/en/...done47/details

​​​​​Is that what you mean by "paired spokes"? I've actually considered the wheels quite durable, because I have not had any problems with rideability. The cracks were only discovered during a routine tuneup. The wheels have close to 18,000 miles on them!

Yep, those are the ones. 4000 miles and my rear wheel was toast. And I'm not even a Clyde. I'm around 175#. You must be very slight to have gotten 18K miles out of those wheels.

I think Beck recommends them.

I weigh around 155 lbs. I try to avoid bad pavement, but that's not always possible. I remember a number of years ago hitting a bump in the pavement at speed. It was enough to flatten the front tire, but the wheel survived intact.

Front rims rarely get spoke hole cracks. The rear takes much more abuse (at least on rim brake wheels). All the twisting drive forces are there, not to mention you have a spoke tension disparity between drive and non-drive side spokes. The front wheel is "just along for the ride" so to say and has less overall weight on it as well.

So you say my wheels are "infamous" for cracking? They're not made anymore, so there's not a lot about them online, but I did see a discussion forum about them in which cracking was a major theme. That's one reason why I'm avoiding Bontrager rims for the replacement.

Bontrager has long since abandoned that spoke hole pattern for the very reason that they had that problem. There are still better choices of wheels out there than Bontrager..

I haven't heard of HIFI wheels. What exactly are you looking for in a replacement set of wheels anyway? Light? Aero? Durable? Inexpensive? Where do these rank in a new wheelset?

What I'm looking for is something lighter than the stock wheels I'm replacing. I don't want to sacrifice durability, but I'm hoping that I can get wheels that will provide a noticeable improvement over what I'm used to without being terribly delicate. Aero wheels aren't important to me as I'm not a fast rider, and they don't have to be the cheapest wheels out there -- I'm sure I can't get a noticeable improvement in performance with cheap, heavy wheels.

As it turns out, I'll find out soon enough about the HiFi wheels -- I ordered a set of Mixtape SLs and they should be ready in about a week.