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Date: 01 Sep 2006 02:26:05
From: ed
Subject: alex rims-info
What is the deal with Alex Rims? I found some real cheap to fix up a
bunch of old 27" wheels, but I've heard so many people take shots at
them that my reaction is that they're just bad. All I am looking for
is for the rims to be 1) straight, and 2) rust proof, and 3) just
slightly reliable (don't want a family member having a rim pull apart
with very light use)

I'm guessing that they're a company that does a lot of OEM stuff...
does anyone have any experience with them that they can share? Are
they something that I should avoid? Or do they fit my criteria?

Thanks for any help,

-e





 
Date: 05 Sep 2006 20:28:03
From: Booker C. Bense
Subject: Re: alex rims-info
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <2006090102260516807-user@superhoostcom >,
ed <user@superhoost.com > wrote:
>What is the deal with Alex Rims? I found some real cheap to fix up a
>bunch of old 27" wheels, but I've heard so many people take shots at
>them that my reaction is that they're just bad. All I am looking for
>is for the rims to be 1) straight, and 2) rust proof, and 3) just
>slightly reliable (don't want a family member having a rim pull apart
>with very light use)

Alex rims won't impress anybody at the coffee shop when you park
your bike, but other than that I've had zero problems with mine
on two sets of wheels. These wheels are on Cross bikes and I take
them through fairly rough stuff. I did need to do some work on
the wheels originally, but once that was done they were fine.

I suspect most of what you read is really related to the fact
the Alex does mostly OEM stuff and the rims get built into wheels
by machines. Often this results in a wheel that does not stand
the test of time. The best rim in the world won't last long if
the wheel is poorly built.

Based on my experience, if you can get Alex rims that meet your
needs, I'd see no reason not to buy them.

_ Booker C. Bense

P.S. If you google these kinds of things you get lot's of stuff
from roadbikereview.com. I've found most of the reviews there to
be next to useless... In general, I worry much more if you can't
find a bad review or two, since that generally means nobody is
using them.


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Date: 01 Sep 2006 09:11:04
From: landotter
Subject: Re: alex rims-info

Dane Buson wrote:
> ed <user@superhoost.com> wrote:
> > What is the deal with Alex Rims? I found some real cheap to fix up a
> > bunch of old 27" wheels, but I've heard so many people take shots at
> > them that my reaction is that they're just bad. All I am looking for
> > is for the rims to be 1) straight, and 2) rust proof, and 3) just
> > slightly reliable (don't want a family member having a rim pull apart
> > with very light use)
>
> I'm actually very fond of them. The Adventurer (for example) is a very
> strong inexpensive rim that builds up nice wheels and can take a serious
> beating. I've certainly had far better luck with them than any of my
> Mavic *spit* rims.
>
> > I'm guessing that they're a company that does a lot of OEM stuff...
> > does anyone have any experience with them that they can share? Are
> > they something that I should avoid? Or do they fit my criteria?
>
> As I said, I've had very good luck with my Alex rims (DV15 and
> Adventurer). I've only had to decommision them because of impact
> damage, never for things like spoke pull-throughs.
>

I'm on my second utility bike with them. First bike went something
obscene like 20K on basic Alex 36H silver rims with perhaps a couple
minor truing touchups. That's with city potholes, and panniers, mind.

I've got some disc specific ones on the newer city bike, and after a
thousand miles, I touched them up a mm here and there, and they'll
probably go a couple more years till they need any sort of minor
attention.

Anyway, if you get any of the models that are nice double wall or
triple box construction, they're fine and dandy. Tbh, I've never had a
problem with any quality rim of any brand, short of a eyelet cracking
on those notorious anodized Mavic MA3s.



 
Date: 01 Sep 2006 06:25:51
From: Dane Buson
Subject: Re: alex rims-info
ed <user@superhoost.com > wrote:
> What is the deal with Alex Rims? I found some real cheap to fix up a
> bunch of old 27" wheels, but I've heard so many people take shots at
> them that my reaction is that they're just bad. All I am looking for
> is for the rims to be 1) straight, and 2) rust proof, and 3) just
> slightly reliable (don't want a family member having a rim pull apart
> with very light use)

I'm actually very fond of them. The Adventurer (for example) is a very
strong inexpensive rim that builds up nice wheels and can take a serious
beating. I've certainly had far better luck with them than any of my
Mavic *spit* rims.

> I'm guessing that they're a company that does a lot of OEM stuff...
> does anyone have any experience with them that they can share? Are
> they something that I should avoid? Or do they fit my criteria?

As I said, I've had very good luck with my Alex rims (DV15 and
Adventurer). I've only had to decommision them because of impact
damage, never for things like spoke pull-throughs.

--
Dane Buson - sigdane@unixbigots.org
"After I asked him what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of
the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the
cost to others, to win advancement."
-- Norman Thomas