Hey Everyone
I thought I’d add a proper update here now that I’ve actually got some meaningful riding on these wheels.
Disclosure first: these wheels were supplied to me free of charge by BladeX for testing. I didn’t approach BladeX asking for a wheelset — Jason Xiang, the founder of BladeX, initially contacted me around the beginning of June, so we’ve now been speaking for roughly 3 months.
When Jason first contacted me, I’ll be honest, I have never heard of the BladeX name and there was notimg online when i had a look maybe a few YT video from mayb 10 or so years ago and some instagram stuff.
Over the last few of months we’ve subsequently had a lot of conversations — not just about the wheelset he sent me, but about BladeX itself, where the company has been for the last few years, the wheel market generally, hubs, spokes, rim design, CFD, lateral stiffness, testing and some of the products he’s looking at developing in the future.
One of the things I initially asked him was why, considering BladeX has apparently been in the industry for quite a long time, there was relatively little recent visibility internationally. His explanation was that much of their business over recent years has been OEM/B2B, manufacturing and supplying products for other companies, rather than concentrating on building BladeX as a consumer-facing international brand. He’s now looking to change that and put more focus back into BladeX itself.
It’s also worth addressing something that’s already been mentioned in these threads: the current rim profile isn’t being presented to me as a proprietary BladeX design. Similar/identical profiles are available elsewhere, and I actually know somebody riding what appears to be the same profile from another wheel company. I’ve discussed that directly with Jason and he doesn’t deny it.
His current philosophy is essentially that there’s nothing inherently wrong with using a proven open-mould rim, an existing hub and available spokes if the combination produces a good wheel at the intended price point. At the same time, he’s now working on proprietary rim development and has been showing me some of his CFD work and ideas around rim profiles, side force, crosswind behaviour, rim stiffness etc.
We’ve also had quite a lot of discussion about eventually treating a wheel as an integrated system — rim layup and stiffness, hub flange geometry and spacing, spoke angle, spoke dimensions, lacing pattern and tension — rather than simply buying a rim, hub and spokes independently and assembling them. That’s obviously future development, though, not something I’m claiming about the wheelset I’m currently riding.
The wheelset and the initial problem
The wheelset Jason sent me uses the very narrow/lightweight 3.1 mm carbon spokes, which was one of the things I was particularly interested in testing because there’s been plenty of discussion on Weight Weenies forum about these newer skinny carbon spokes and whether the continued reduction in spoke dimensions and spoke counts compromises lateral stiffness as many of the superlight weight wheels on the market are no using these kind of spokes
Unfortunately, the wheels didn’t have a completely straightforward start.
When I initially mounted them, I found play in the wheels when they were fitted and clamped into the bike. We spent quite a bit of time going backwards and forwards trying to establish exactly where it was coming from.
Speaking with Jason his opinion was that it maybe the bearing so immediately he sent a complete set of replacement bearings to the UK by FedEx and offered to cover all associated costs.
Once the bearings arrived, I took the wheels to a local bike shop and had all of the bearings replaced, including the freehub bearings. The labour which, which BladeX reimbursed.
That appears to have completely solved the play.
Riding them
Since getting the bearing problem sorted, I’ve now put approximately 150 km on the wheels.
I’m running Goodyear Eagle F1R tube-type tyres 32mm and these WAM on these is 34mm
The first substantial outing was the Cotswold Classic on Saturday, which wasn’t exactly a gentle first ride. There are some pretty tough sections with gradients reaching around 17%, so there was plenty of climbing and out-of-the-saddle loading.
I then used them again yesterday on a faster group ride.
I’m around 78-80 kg, and one of the things I’ve deliberately been interested in is lateral stiffness because of those 3.1 mm spokes.
So far, I personally haven’t noticed a stiffness problem with this particular wheelset.
That’s relevant because I do own another carbon-spoke wheelset where I can induce slight front rotor rub during harder out-of-the-saddle efforts. That particular wheel uses a 2:1 front lacing arrangement with similarly lightweight carbon spokes. So I do have something to compare the BladeX wheels against.
With these, I’ve not noticed obvious rotor rub, unusual movement or anything else that has made me question the lateral stiffness so far.
I’m not claiming that 150 km proves anything about long-term durability, and I’m certainly not claiming I’ve scientifically measured the stiffness. This is simply my experience riding them.
There’s a lot of discussion about wheel stiffness where somebody grabs a wheel and pulls it towards the chainstay and decides whether it’s stiff. Personally, I’m much more interested in what happens when I’m actually riding the bike — climbing out of the saddle, sprinting, cornering and putting load through the front wheel.
At around 80 kg, after the Cotswold Classic and a faster group ride, I haven’t personally found the 3.1 mm spokes problematic on this particular wheel build.
I’ll keep putting mileage on them and update this thread rather than calling this a review after 150 km. I’m particularly interested in seeing whether spoke tension remains stable, whether anything changes as the mileage builds, and how the wheels behave during harder sprinting and fast group riding.
So at the moment I’d describe it as a problematic start caused by the hub/bearing issue, followed by a positive first 150 km once that was resolved.
And since the wheels were supplied to me, I think it’s important to be completely transparent about both sides of that story. The bearing problem shouldn’t have happened, but equally I can’t fault the way Jason personally dealt with it.
I’ll keep adding updates here as I get more distance on them.
Wheels Specs:
https://bladexcycle.com/product/road-ultra-60d/
Rim Depth 60mm
Set Weight 1234g±30g (1194g Actual)
Wheel Weight F: 566±15g/R: 668±15g
System Weight Limit 100kgs
Optimized Tire Size 30-32mm
Compatible Tire Size 30-50mm
Max Tire Pressure 70 PSI(4.8 BAR)
Rim Depth 60mm
Set Weight 1234g±30g
Wheel Weight F: 566±15g/R: 668±15g
System Weight Limit 100kgs
Optimized Tire Size 30-32mm
Compatible Tire Size 30-50mm
Max Tire Pressure 70 PSI(4.8 BAR)
Rim Weight 440g
Internal Width 25mm
External Width Bead 32mm
External Width 34mm
Hole Count 20
Material Torayca™ T700 + Torayca™ T1000
Rim Finish UD/Clear Coat
Tubeless Compatibility Yes
HubsModel Ultra(Carbon Spoke)
Count 20/20
Weight 270g(F: 84g/R: 186g)
Bearings F: 2 S&S Ceramic Sealed/R: 4 S&S Ceramic Sealed (These were swapped for steel)
Freehub system Rachet 54T (Was told last night wheels noisy as fuck
so may need some grease
)
SpokesModel Ultra 1.8g
Weight 1.8g(Nipple Excluded generally 2.1g)
