So, PLANET X sells Gipiemme Pista A40 Wheelsets at a relatively good price. They're supposedly Italian, there's even 'Pista' in the name and they look pretty nice. The hubs come with a traditional loose ball bearings, which is bit of a drag but so what.
In the original description Planet X stated: "We ordered sealed bearing hubs and these arrived with a standard hub - the hubs are cup and cone and a bit shall we say industrial". Right.
Out of the box the hubs don't spin too nice so you open them up... and what do you see? The damn hub has only five, FIVE, 5, balls in it. WTF?
Even if this is probably just an isolated case, like some worker left for lunch hour in the middle of packing the bearings and just forgot about it, do yourself a favor steer clear of these.
Back in the early 80's I sold and used Gipiemme parts (hubs and brakes) and their quality control wasn't good then either. But at least things didn't break off like Zeus components.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I am the Manager of the UK distributor for Gipiemme (www.osporto.co.uk) and just wanted to make clear that these wheels did not come from us since we began distributing for them in 2010. Quality control was not the greatest in the 80's and 90's as one comment has said, however they are under new owners now and this has changed (as well as our own quality checks when wheels arrive to us in the UK) If you have any queries about the brand and products please get in touch, we would be happy to hear from you and see how we could help. We would hate to think that one bad experience (which we personally can not explain) is going to affect your opinion of the brand. We have these very wheels in stock in the UK now and their hubs are all in order and of the higest quality. Regards, Mark from Osporto.
ReplyDeleteI had same issue with new Specialized bike. Back wheel was missing lots of bearing balls and was obviously making lots of nice when riding. I was also quite surprised when I opened the hub..
ReplyDeleteSo this is probably where the companies are saving the money? Where you cannot see it but will feel very quickly..
Thanks for information Mark.
ReplyDeleteAs I said this was probably (hopefully!) just a one unfortunate hub, hence I modified the post title a bit.
For the record, these were not my wheels but belong to someone I know here in Helsinki.
Now let's just hope Planet X takes accept them back and makes good on the extra shipping costs, trouble caused etc.
I bought a these wheelset to Planet X and when in doubt, remove the front wheel (which is the only cones and balls) and has all his balls. So your case will be an isolated case
ReplyDeleteI was bit disapointed when I opened the hub and find out the situation. For me Gipiemme has allways been a good brand. I filled the hub with new balls, filled it with grease and adjusted hte bearing and returned it to person who sold me the wheelset. Sometimes these nasty things just happens.
ReplyDeletemarlon