Re: American Classic 420, silver with bladed spokes :
Just got these today, right on time.
Thank you for such excellent fast service, and of course, great products and prices.
I have installed the 420's now, and Ill go for the maiden voyage on them as soon as I get the cassette changed over (and clean my hands).
For any other customers looking at the American Classic wheels, these are my first set, and here are my initial impressions :
- They arrived from Cell bikes perfectly true.
- The are super light, should make a decent climbing wheel.
- They look far better in real life than you could imagine. Very classy. Very happy with the bling factor.
- The 34mm rims look very WIDE in real life - should be good aero cruising wheels too.
- They feel stiff enough, I will test them soon on our local Col du Crafers hell climb.
- Freehub engagement is hard and predictable, and makes a very loud Euro-sounding Tick-Tick-Tick when coasting. Pure class !
- I spun up the wheel with the bike on the workstand ... and I kid you not, 10 minutes later, the damn thing is still spinning fast. The stainless steel bearings must be excellent.
The hubs and bearings issues you may read about on the web were all resolved in the last few years, according to a Cat-1 racer friend of mine who uses AC exclusively for all his races and training. I trust his opinion. He also commented that the stainless bearings are so good in the AC's that you do not need the ceramic upgrade. It wont hurt of course, but the standard is way good enough.
Also, old versions of this wheelset had a problem where the shimano cassette would slowly grind away at the softer alloy of the hub body, eating it up over time. This more recent set INCLUDES A HARDENED STEEL WASHER that sits between the hub body and the cassette, eliminating this problem.
The spokes are STANDARD non-proprietary items that can be sourced cheaply at any decent LBS.
Finally, the freehub can be easily removed in minutes, and all of the internals are trivially simple to access and service. Many other brands are either very difficult to service yourself, or require that you throw the thing away and replace it when it all it needs is a good clean out and a new layer of grease.
All up, I would highly recommend these wheels to anyone, and Cell bikes for their excellent fast service. I would rate these wheels right up there with the more expensive Mavic/Campy/Fulcrum alum clinchers. Bargain buying, order them with confidence !
Steve OConnor
- S. OConnor
