Enough of the gloating. The point here is that the wheels have spent a lot of time at the beach. I find even the best components succumb to too much beach time. Throw in a few rides in the rain and plenty of neglect and you start to see that I unintentionally ask a lot from my bike. The poor old Mojo frame has given into the pressure and has started to show some serious rust on the down tube. That’s no indictment of the Mojo. It’s been through three years of hell. The amount of gear I’ve replaced on that bike in those three years, including several bottom brackets and headsets, is testimony to the rigors its been put through. And I don’t mean my riding. The worst thing I do is park my bike at the beach.
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| (I’m going for the rustic look. Or maybe just rusty.) |
The best thing I can say about the Reid wheels is they’re not rusting. The hubs, spokes and rims have no signs of rust. I’ve seen cheaper wheels rust up on the Gold Coast with less beach exposure than these guys are getting so I think it’s a real good sign. The nuts have some rust on them on their leading edge. Nuts are as easy to replace as labour leaders (though sometimes you stick with your current ones anyway) so I’m not fussed by that. I’ll pop on some new nuts when I can be bothered (read: 2015).
The wheels still run beautifully. I got the wheels with the sealed bearings. When Reid are knocking out these wonderful wheels for $60 a pair I find it hard to imagine why anyone would save $20 by buying the loose bearing wheels. If you do, you’re a goose. The sealed bearings have been through plenty of rainy rides, the aforementioned beach time, and still run perfectly without requiring any maintenance. If my wife was so easy I wouldn’t need my Asian mistresses.
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| (Bolts are going a nice rusty orange to match the rims.) |
Looking back at the bright orange rims and the shiny steel spokes in my original review of the Reid wheels I can’t help wondering if they haven’t lost some luster in the last six months. In order to compare, I’d have to actually wash my bike. Given that the bike isn’t due for its bi-annual wash for another year it’s possible that this won’t happen in time for this update. What I can say is that the wheels dress up an otherwise neglected and nondescript bike and even though I show it no care and attention the bike still got called “sick” last night as I was riding home from the footy. At first I thought this was a reference to my maintenance schedule but my wife assured me that being sick was a good thing. (I joke of course. I’m not a thousand years old. I used the work “sick” when I was younger. We even had “going sick”. “How’s the surf?– “Going sick. It’s just bullshit man. You gotta get out there!”)
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| (My sick bike. It had a lie down and is feeling better now.) |
So if you want some sick styles for your ace bike (I know, how cool is that hip talk) and you want some reliable and well-priced wheels (this is not a paid endorsement) then you could do worse than get some Reid wheels. For $60 they’re smooth and trouble free and look totally sick. Dude.
