Kotavelo R21HD Review/Opinion

[Johndec]

Well, it been a few years since I posted here but below is a copy and paste of an email I sent Deon from Kotavelo a few weeks ago that he didn't bother to reply to. He was very prompt replying to my questions before the sale, after, well, not so much... I've done about 200 km on the wheels now but what is below is still accurate, in my opinion. I was "upgrading" my Braccianos that I had purchased from him about 10 years ago.

Hi Deon.

As you know I finally got my wheels and here are my impressions after a couple of rides (around 50-60 kms):

GOOD.
- They look well built and the tasteful decals match my Ti bike perfectly.
- They appear to be true and strong enough to outlast me, though no mention of "hand built" like the Braccianos I own.
- I like the nice quiet freehub. That was the only thing that annoyed me about the Braccianos.

NOT SO GOOD:
- Get a different courier company. For $55 shipping I was expecting air freight and correct delivery, not road freight and a stupid courier who dropped them off at the wrong house. If I hadn't recognised the house from their photo and got them myself, they would have been nicked for sure. The other address is on a main road.

BAD.
- Weight. Mate, buy yourself a new set of scales. You assured me the claimed weight was accurate (1640g). My set come in at 1772g without skewers and protective packaging material. By comparison the Braccianos are only 9g above the claimed weight and my Fulcrum R1's 17g. 132g is not even close.

- Size. These wheels are oversized. I have never had so much trouble fitting tyres to a set of wheels. The tyres I fitted had done a couple of hundred kilometres on my Fulcrums so they were pre stretched and should slipped on easily. They did when even new on the Fulcrums. I killed 2 tubes fitting them. 1 pinched tube and see below for the other one. I dread the idea of getting a flat whilst on a ride.

- Rim tape. It's not stuck down. I killed the second tube as the rim tape moved and exposed the nipple. Luckily the tube went BANG when I had the bike on a stand and spun the wheel rather than on a ride.

I was hoping they were Braccianos Mk2, but they really aren't. Shame.. I love my Brac's but wanted a wider wheel. Who made them? I don't think it was Pro Lite. Would I recommend them. No.

Regards
John.

[blizzard]

I had a pair of Kotavelo wheels years ago, they were overweight too by a similar amount to yours. They were otherwise fine wheels, I only did a couple thousand KMs on them until I changed to a disc brake bike.

[warthog1]

pretty disappointing

[Mr Purple]

I had a pair of their cheapest model (I think they were about $110 delivered at that stage) when I first started back at riding.

The rear hub failed within 1000km. And not in a predictable way - the freehub just kept randomly catching the chain. Destroyed two rear derailleurs (my mechanic was confused) and was chewing out jockey wheels before eventually it went too far and just threw the chain into the rear wheel.

Rear wheel locked up completely, fortunately while climbing rather than descending. Derailleur went into the rear wheel and I left a 3m long skid and wore through the rear tyre as well. Dead wheel, dead derailleur, dead chain, dead tyre and tube. Fortunately not dead rider.

When I contacted them to say they might have a problem they said 'hey, you have to strip those hubs down and maintain them occasionally'. Not within 1000km I don't, mate.

Lesson learned. A $110 wheelset can cost you $300 in parts and may try to kill you.