pdedes

With the demise of a recent groupbuy, I'm in the market for some 50mm carbon clinchers. I'm down to two choices. Boyd Cycling's offering, or Soul's option. Typically, I'm a rouleur, around 175lb, I'll use them for fast club rides, and some longer days in the saddle in flat-rolling terrain. I'll welcome other options, but the soul price is my squeal point.

deepakvrao

co-incidentally, I was researcing between the same two. Will be watching this thread.

Soul is easier for me where I live.

ravenmore

There's a wheel company here in Austin that I really like. Rol wheels. They just came out with some new wheels I believe. Definitely worth checking out. www.Rolwheels.com.

pdedes

checked them. nice, however they miss on clincher and price requirements.

DUHI4GOT

Interested to see where this goes. I'd like some 50mm clinchers for the R3SL

stien

The Boyd wheels look pretty on point. I wouldn't be afraid of using tubulars for racing either. Bumps the 50mm price to $775 and weight to 1300g. Pretty tasty.

Any reviews on these wheels?

Also in this category (but tubular) are Assaults, but you knew that!

Campy freehub Assaults are on sale right now, $750-$800 and if you can swap the freehub without redishing for $50 then you're golden. Assuming you run Shimano. 1330g if I recall correctly.

ravenmore

Hmmm - checked their site. They have a lot of new stuff and a lot of it doesn't look like its up on the site yet. They've been getting hammered this week because of the NAHBS. They're presenting their own stuff plus a lot of the builders are presenting bikes on their wheels.

ravenmore

Where's this deal at?

stien

Bikewagon for 750, cc has them for 800. Wish I had the dough.

pdedes

went with the boyd wheelset

Trucker Dan

Boyd Johnson lives in my town. He is a cat 1 racer and really knows his stuff. He won a lot of big local races on them last year. Lots of racers run his wheels and I have never heard a complaint.

Nachoman

I never heard of him. But his prices seem very good. If you would post some picks and a review, I'm sure there would be many that would appreciate it.

pdedes

Based on his e-mail communication, he is prompt and enthusiastic. I'll post in this thread when the wheels come in.

stien

Which depth? I look forward to reviews.

pdedes

I purchased the 50mm clinchers. I like that he builds with cx-rays.

stien

Sweet, the tubulars they sell are pretty much the best deal around that I've seen in terms of weight, depth and cost. I'm sure the clinchers are top end as well.

learnmedia

I just received my 50mm Boyd clinchers last Friday. Came in at 1516g for the pair w/o rim tape. A little more than the claimed 1480g but still pretty darn lightweight for a 50 mm carbon clincher. Boyd Johnson's customer service is great. He responds to email's promptly and answers any and all questions. Unfortunately he shipped my wheels without skewers. They also arrived with some scratches on the rear wheel documented in this thread where I ask if I'm being too anal. Again he responded immediately when I emailed him and said that he'd ship the skewers without delay and would swap the wheels out to me if I desire. Here's pics:





I can't wait to ride them!

Edit: Consistent with Boyd's outstanding customer service, my skewers arrived in the mail today--just two business days after I informed him that they were not included with the wheels.

breathing

I also received my Boyd wheels today!!! Very excited, I went with the aluminum ones 30mm (budget issue) and they seem extremely well made and I can't wait to ride them. I second the customer service and also extremely fast turn around time from when I ordered them to when I got them.

ravenmore

I was just checking out the Boyd site. One criticism - worst decals ever. Would be curious to know where he gets his parts - the rims look like a lot of the rims showing up on ebay from China. (not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that).

stien

I believe I read a thread on another forum where he denied using Gigantex rims. His wheels are pretty light compared to others who actually are confirmed users of those rims which lead me to believe him.

Psimet2001 

They're not Gigantex. They look to be the same ones and I have been testing and importing for team builds. Just another local factory but there are features I like about these rims. Gigantex has some large minimums making them less appealing to some of us smaller builders.

ravenmore

Just took a look around his website again - his bikes are basically some of the Chinese frames I posted in a thread not too long ago with paint jobs and his decals. Not sure of the advantage of buying through him, other than quicker shipping and maybe some type of warranty. Twice the price though.

Bob Dopolina 

I'm pretty sure they're NOT the cheap Chinese rims being dumped on eBay.

hodie21

Go with Boyds. He hand builds them in Greeneville, SC.

pdedes

As promised, photos: