Re: American Classic wheels: Bikefanclub.com

No one should be using the AC 350 wheels (built by AC) for everyday use. They are fragile. I have set of the AC 350 32 hole rims built on Hugi 240 hubs. They were built by Joe Young who has been a Master Wheelbuilder for 35 years. He said they are difficult to build and that the rims are almost too light. I have never heard him say that about any wheel and I have known him for many years.

He built this set for me over a year ago when you could still buy the rims individually. I would like another set of these rims but according to the AC website they are no longer available for sale individually. You can only buy the pre-built sets. If I ever build another set of the 350's I will just buy the pre-builts, dismantle them, send the rims to Joe and then sell the hubs. I weigh 160 lbs year round and as part of a durability test I decided to try and ride them in some bad road conditions and get them out of true. I raced one road season on them and one cyclocross season on them. I finally had to true one spoke on the rear wheel in December right before the TX state cross championships. I also train full time on a set he built me 1 1/2 years ago. I abuse them on a regular basis by jumping off curbs and traversing down some of the rocky dirt roads around here. I trued two spokes on the rear wheel about 4 months ago. Well built wheels will rarely have to be touched with a spoke wrench. I dont think the pre-built set from AC would have held up that well. Only wheels from Joe for me.

P.S. The Mavic Kysirium rims crack as well as the Sun rims mentioned in one of these posts. If you have a set just watch them closely.

Cole
2002 Tetra Pro

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