With any sport, using the best equipment you can afford may not make you better, but it will make the experience much more enjoyable. My experience, aside from being a former runner, is with cycling and all the many wheels and bikes I have had the opportunity to ride over the years.
To keep cost down to offer a lower price to the consumer, large mass-produced bicycle manufacturers save money on lower to mid-level bikes by selling packages with very inexpensive “junk” wheels with low end bearing and weak spokes. These lower-end wheels tend to be slower to spin up, may feel ‘mushy’ like riding through sand or mud, or feel like the brakes are constantly rubbing.
This uses more energy by robbing power that can be used for riding longer or faster – it takes away from the entire cycling experience. Walk into any bike store or speak with an experienced cyclist, they/we/me will tell you that the first thing you should do is replace the stock wheels.
There are some wheels that are more expensive than the bikes themselves based on the hype behind the name; “The pros ride them so they must be good” Do not be fooled. The pros are riding them because it is given to them as team sponsorship… they are paid to ride the product.
The manufacturer can get their name out there and eventually sell you a price inflated product based on the name. It is call marketing and advertising. It does not mean that the product is not good, but is it very overpriced. I have personally ridding many of them and I would/will put any of my ICAN wheel sets against any of them – I have 3 sets! And as a bonus….at a fraction of the price.
I bought my FIRST set of ICAN 38mm wheels in late January of 2015. I did a great deal of research on Chinese carbon wheels and decided on ICAN …. simply because I liked the logo, the Powerway hubs they were using and the fact that I could get the hubs in red. As a semi-former cycle snob and weight weenie who would/will only ride Dura Ace (still all I will ride), the best wheels, the best ….. THE best.
I got the 38mm really to try to break them with all the climbing and descending that we have here in the Santa Monica Mountains …. see if they were any good or not. Many riders are quick to speak against “Chinese Carbon wheels” without ever having ridden them and I actually wanted to try them. I figured that if nothing else, I would get a good video out of it for my YouTube channel.
For the price, if they broke I would not be out that much money. I was extremely impressed! The mechanic I was using at that time for my bike maintenance was extremely impressed. And as a bonus, with a 2 year warranty, it is a win-win for me. These many years later, I still ride my “38s” when it is windy!
Prior to riding ICAN wheels, I had ridden and owned Mavic, Reynolds, Zips, Shimano, and HED wheels. The HED Jets came on my new Cervello S5 and my newest set of ICAN wheels – a new set of 86mm ICAN wheels, will be going on my Cervelo S5.
The HED wheels that came on that bike are going on ebay. The second set of 50mm ICANs will remain on my older Cervelo S2 – still my favorite climbing bike! I recently took a vacation simply to ride my bike for a week straight.
Part of that was here in the Santa Monica mountains, and part of it was in the Sierra Nevada mountains doing as much climbing… and descending as I could get in.
I put a new set of Dura Ace on my old Cervelo S2 AND the new 86mm ICAN wheels right out of the box. Over that week, I rode over 240 miles (not as much as many other riders) and I climbed well over 35,000 feet – it is all on Strava! Yes, all on new, untested straight out of the box 86mm ICAN wheels.
And since I film about 90% of my riding for my channel, it is all online as well. If you are thinking that they were given to me, you are wrong. I have paid for all 3 of the sets of ICAN wheels I have.
Do I love these wheels? More than any others I have ridden and will be a die-hard fan until I can no longer ride Do I trust these wheels? I think my riding these wheels speaks for itself and says I do.
Many “hype” name wheel sets can range from $1500 US to $4000 US and up. Personally, I would rather spend WAY less on ICAN’s superior riding and performing wheels – use that additional money on something else. They spin up really nice, are super strong – I can easily break weak spokes – these have held up to some pretty brutal climbs. Experienced riders say that carbon rim wheels do not stop as well as aluminum wheels and that is true.
However, the basalt brake surface that ICAN uses makes a HUGE difference over others I have ridden. That basalt surface also seems to dissipate heat really well so that with a harder carbon specific pads I prefer, the stopping is not a problem on the down hills. If you have the newer disc brakes, you can get ICAN wheels for that set up as well. And, both for road AND mountain.
Having a YouTube channel and putting all my rides and reviews up, has also inspired other riders to buy ICAN. I LOVE to hear from those that have and the response is always “thank you”! Save the money and still ride the best equipment – it will make the experience much more enjoyable.
Keep in mind, this is just my opinion based on my personal experience and I do stand behind it and put it all on the web! Plus, when you email ICAN, they get right back to you. Any company that does that does that in this day and age is AWESOME! Thank you ICAN.
I can guarantee that after riding ICAN, you will feel the same!
