74 lines
4 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
4 KiB
Markdown
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date: 2017-04-11
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title: Vision Team 30 comp review
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category: cycling
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featured_image: https://assets.cowley.tech/file/cowley-tech-assets/fykN1gbl.jpg
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---
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For the last few months I have been rolling on a set of Vision Team 30 Comp wheels.
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These are an entry level set of wheels that are aimed at commuting and
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training. They have a slightly deeper profile than most other wheels in this
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price range (below €200) which, along with the bladed spokes make them more
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aero than your average budget wheel (on paper at least). Also, at least in
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black, they look great.
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To get straight to the point, what do I think about them? To be fair, apart
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froma couple of things, I quite like them. They roll well, I definitely think I
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go a little faster on them and they have taken at least one big hit and are
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perfectly true still.
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What do I not like them? Two things, on relatively minor and one, well, not so
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minor.
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First, they are hard to mount tyres on. I use them with 23mm Vittoria Rubino
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Pro. Without a floor pump, I simply cannot get the tyres to sit cleanly on the
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rim - the bead will just not sit properly in the rim bed. Pump them up swiftly
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with a track pump and at about 95-100psi you hear the bangs as the bead jumps
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into place and everyone is happy. This means that road side repairs will never
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be properly done. You will be vibrating slightly all the way home, or to the
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nearest bike shop to borrow their pump. A CO2 inflator would probably work, but
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I do not carry them as I think they are silly.
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That is a pretty small problem though - far worse is the freehub. Basically,
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after 3 months it was dead with the pawls no longer engaging. This left me
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walking home and very grumpy. I know these are entry level wheels, but that is
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just simply not good enough.
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When I get home (late) I dismantled the rear hub to clean the pawls, however
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the freehub is a sealed unit with no access to the pawls - the only option was
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to replace the whole freehub. In addition, the drive-side bearings were badly
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discoloured and both the cup and cone decidedly rough. To be generous they were
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not in great condition, but more honestly they were ruined.
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So what is one to do? After 3 months, there was no problem sending the wheel
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back to Probike. They arranged for FedEx to collect it and I sent it back tor
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them. Once I got the wheel back I inspected it to see what they had done. They
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had rebuilt the wheel around a hun from the next wheel up in the range, so I
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have now effectively got a Team 30 clincher instead of a Team 30 Comp. It has
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cartridge bearings and rolls noticably more smoothly than before.
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I am really happy with the way Probike handled my case. I dropped into my LBS
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and asked if he had a replacement freehub that I could buy to get going quickly
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while the broken one was RMA'd. As a thank you I got an earful about how online
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retailers do no waste time behind a counter. Well they did spend a lot of time
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with me. We had a substantial email conversation and they had to research the
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necessary replacement parts with Vision. They never quibbled, and were initially
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happy to simply send me a replacement freehub, although the correct model turned
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out to be unavailable. They then got someone to essentially build me a new wheel.
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As for the wheels themselves? Well, do not buy the Team 30 Comp as build
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quality is awful. The Team 30 is €50 more and seems to be the far better buy. I
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can also whole-heartedly recommend Probike too. I am not going to say they are
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better than Wiggle or ChainReaction as all three provide an excellent service. I
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have now used the after-sales from each of them and have not had a single issue.
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Another thing: A lot of local bike shops get upset with online retailers. I can
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understand them, but the reality is that Wiggle et al are going nowhere. A
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local shop needs to change and evolve. Online brands know that they cannot offer
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the personal service of the local shop, so they bend over backwards on the after
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sales. If you want to survive, you cannot let a single client (or potential
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client) walk out of your shop with a bad taste in their mouth.
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