Overall AliExpress carbon pucker factor? + CLANNAD wheels

[crusader4192]

Cheers everyone, long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I've ridden a variety of wheel sets over the years, but with the rise of the likes of Trace Velo, Hambini and Cam Nichols featuring Chinese carbon products that are actually well-made, I've been browsing AliExpress for some time now and am interested in purchasing from a company called CLANNAD (https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1101739821?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000008.6.43111299Ycoq1D). Seems they're from Xiamen (where I know a lot of quality components, including Winspace, are made) and have good reviews. They offer a variety of different wheel sets with their own branding, unbranded and replicas.

A couple of questions from the brain trust here:
- Anyone here have experience buying from CLANNAD? I did a search and saw a few mentions of them on this site, but no full reviews.
- If they're a legit factory making decent wheels, is there any reason to think that the quality of their own branded wheels would be any better than those of replicas? I've seen a lot of comments along the lines of "never buy fakes because it's not the factory's own reputation at stake" but it's kind of hard for me to believe they'd manufacture lower-quality hoops just to become fakes.

A bigger question is about your experience with the "pucker factor" with riding Chinese AliExpress wheels. I've read so many comments and articles over the years talking about the potential danger and how sketchy they can be ... and yet, I've never actually seen evidence of catastrophic failures, people ending up in the hospitals, etc. Rather, the only person I know who got hurt from a wheel failure was riding a pair of legit Roval wheels that had a brake track blowout on a long descent. My friend, on the other hand, has a pair of Super Team wheels that he abuses and descends on all the time and no issues. Is the "pucker factor" with Chinese wheels much ado about nothing?

Cheers from Nottinghamshire, UK.

[jannmayer]

While I have no experience with the company, outright copies do not sit well with me. It's a blatant disregard for intellectual property, and that doesn't speak well to a company's ethics. Offering fake products makes me think less of a company, so I have less trust in what the offer.


Again, I have no experience or data to back this up, but my feeling is that a company offering fakes instead of their own branded stuff will be less interested in quality because their main setting point is that you can look like you have expensive kit without spending much.


There are plenty of other companies offering their own stuff at decent prices. I have some Elite rims on my mountain bike that seem good after a few short rides (more concerned about my wheel building skills than the rims!) and I'm building up a wheelset with Light Bicycle rims for my road bike. Both of those companies are pretty well respected.


I'm not too worried about being injured from a catastrophic rim failure, but being stranded miles from home would suck!

[crusader4192]

While I have no experience with the company, outright copies do not sit well with me. It's a blatant disregard for intellectual property, and that doesn't speak well to a company's ethics. Offering fake products makes me think less of a company, so I have less trust in what the offer.


Again, I have no experience or data to back this up, but my feeling is that a company offering fakes instead of their own branded stuff will be less interested in quality because their main setting point is that you can look like you have expensive kit without spending much.


There are plenty of other companies offering their own stuff at decent prices. I have some Elite rims on my mountain bike that seem good after a few short rides (more concerned about my wheel building skills than the rims!) and I'm building up a wheelset with Light Bicycle rims for my road bike. Both of those companies are pretty well respected.


I'm not too worried about being injured from a catastrophic rim failure, but being stranded miles from home would suck!

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, and good perspective! I'm not all that interested in the replicas, but rather what you alluded to - if quality should be distrusted with a brand that makes fakes.

CLANNAD seems to use authentic hubs (DT Swiss, Chosin, Bitex, Powerway) and spokes (Sapim and Pillar) so I might give it a go, but I'll also check into Light Bike as I've seen them held up as a gold standard. They're pricier than some of the other hoops I've seen, but will play around with their builder tool.

[Tijoe]

In Nov. 2021 I purchased close to $1,500 in wheels/rims/spokes from CLANNAD.   I had them build up 2 front 110 X 15mm wheels, + 6 carbon rims.  4, 29er in 2 different widths, and 2,  27.5 carbon rims.  To date, I have built up 5 wheels using 5 of the 6 rims.   
Impressions:   The rims weighed the claimed weight.  All the rims are high quality.   Wheel building went fast and smooth and I had no problems getting them to even spoke tensions, the wheels being very true and round. (Some of the easiest wheels I have built over the years.)

One pair of the 29er wheels have several thousand miles of single track and back country terrain on them and they are still perfectly true/round.  The other pair I've been using have around 1000 off-road trail miles on them.   (Main set of wheels I use are 32 spoke, the other set with narrow rims are 28 spoke. Each pair is less than 1500 grams before installing stems, tire liners, and 6-bolt rotors.) (I have also used the 32 spoke set for several bike packing trips where I carry 30+ pound pack weight beyond my 210 lb weight.)

No pucker factor on any of the carbon rims I have purchased over the years.  I've had by far more failures riding super expensive USA carbon road wheels made by well known brands, than I have had issues with any Chinese carbon rims.

[crusader4192]

In Nov. 2021 I purchased close to $1,500 in wheels/rims/spokes from CLANNAD.   I had them build up 2 front 110 X 15mm wheels, + 6 carbon rims.  4, 29er in 2 different widths, and 2,  27.5 carbon rims.  To date, I have built up 5 wheels using 5 of the 6 rims.   
Impressions:   The rims weighed the claimed weight.  All the rims are high quality.   Wheel building went fast and smooth and I had no problems getting them to even spoke tensions, the wheels being very true and round. (Some of the easiest wheels I have built over the years.)

One pair of the 29er wheels have several thousand miles of single track and back country terrain on them and they are still perfectly true/round.  The other pair I've been using have around 1000 off-road trail miles on them.   (Main set of wheels I use are 32 spoke, the other set with narrow rims are 28 spoke. Each pair is less than 1500 grams before installing stems, tire liners, and 6-bolt rotors.) (I have also used the 32 spoke set for several bike packing trips where I carry 30+ pound pack weight beyond my 210 lb weight.)

No pucker factor on any of the carbon rims I have purchased over the years.  I've had by far more failures riding super expensive USA carbon road wheels made by well known brands, than I have had issues with any Chinese carbon rims.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience - this is the exact sort of real-world experience I was hoping to hear, and I greatly appreciate it!

I do think I'm going to give CLANNAD a go - they have impressively low advertised rim weights, authentic spokes and good hub options. Glad to hear yours have held up nicely, even in a MTB setting where they're getting put through the paces.

Can I ask if you stumbled upon this company like I did on AliExpress, or were they referred to you? It's interesting how hard it can be to discern if a brand is legit or not.

[jefflinde]

I just purchased a set of their rim brake road wheels.  I wanted specific hubs and I also wanted the upgraded Pilar 1420 spokes.  I asked a bunch of questions and they answered them very well and quickly.  Once built I got pictures of them and then they shipped.  Still waiting for them (only been 6 or 7 days) but so far very happy with their service.  Once I get them I will try to update this thread with my thoughts.  I stumbled across them but I have found that to many of these Chinese companies, aliexpress is their main outlet to the western markets.  What seems like a back ally market place to us is in fact a very legitimate marketplace for them.  I feel like this view is pushed a lot by YouTube shills that are supported by big brands.  Those big brands don't exactly want to compete against direct to consumer options and spreading fear and trying to de-legitimize the products they offer is a great way to do it.   

My whole fleet of bikes are open mold frames and open mold rims.  I don't ever see myself buying a name brand carbon components again. 

[crusader4192]

I just purchased a set of their rim brake road wheels.  I wanted specific hubs and I also wanted the upgraded Pilar 1420 spokes.  I asked a bunch of questions and they answered them very well and quickly.  Once built I got pictures of them and then they shipped.  Still waiting for them (only been 6 or 7 days) but so far very happy with their service.  Once I get them I will try to update this thread with my thoughts.  I stumbled across them but I have found that to many of these Chinese companies, aliexpress is their main outlet to the western markets.  What seems like a back ally market place to us is in fact a very legitimate marketplace for them.  I feel like this view is pushed a lot by YouTube shills that are supported by big brands.  Those big brands don't exactly want to compete against direct to consumer options and spreading fear and trying to de-legitimize the products they offer is a great way to do it.   

My whole fleet of bikes are open mold frames and open mold rims.  I don't ever see myself buying a name brand carbon components again.

Thanks, Jeff! I look forward to hearing your review. I plan to purchase some hoops tomorrow, and might upgrade to the lighter Pillar or Sapim spokes myself. Can I ask which wheels you purchased?

Also, I was just reading your posts about the fake eeBrakes. I am looking at buying a pair on Marketplace that I think MAY be fakes (based on the pricing, at least.) Can I ask what your experience has been with yours long-term? Any issues? I've heard people talk about them falling apart but I haven't seen any evidence of that happening at all.

Thanks!

[pacer]

Looking at a wheelset from clannad. Someone commented on they appear to use legit dt swiss hubs, can we get a confirmation n that?  Wouldn't wanna go for a 350 or 240 and spend the extra money just to be out it.

[crusader4192]

Looking at a wheelset from clannad. Someone commented on they appear to use legit dt swiss hubs, can we get a confirmation n that?  Wouldn't wanna go for a 350 or 240 and spend the extra money just to be out it.

While I haven't received my wheels yet, I did upgrade to DT Swiss 240 hubs and asked for proof that they were legit and they sent me back a photo of the boxes and serial numbers the hubs come in. They're a legit company so I don't think they'd take shortcuts by using fake hubs.