the Spinergy Rev-X wheelset story - the Danger Zone 

Oh I wish I had one of those to make a video about. I never used one but remember it's "drum beat" from others in mtb rides. I recall having the first Scott front suspension fork I put on a bike I had. Oh the fun times. FYI, I still use a set of Rev-X on my 1996ish Trek Y-22. That Y bike is 13 lbs less than my 2021 Specialized Stumpjumper Alloy 1x12.

I think there were 3 types. The factory yellow ones were "light weight", then the normal, then the Red stickered one were "heavy duty". But stickers can be added/removed if you can find them (or make them). They also had "X-wing" stiffiners that were shaped like an X and had double sided tape on the "pads" that you would put between the wheel blades to stiffen them up. The lightweights and regulars would move left/right a lot and you had to loosen up your brakes especially while climbing.

All the older bikes, if you sprint/hill climb the rear triangle left/right flex is one of the major differences to modern bikes. My Litespeed Classic was a nicer bike than my Tomasso SLX Columbus steel, but not as good as my 1997 LeMond OCLV (Trek OCLV). I used those X-wing stiffeners as while climbing those Rev-Xs would flex left to right and hit the brake pads. But those were so fast of wheels and they would disappear in a headwind. Heavy Sidewinds would push you hard to the side so make sure you're drafting in heavy winds. I bought my LiteSpeed from Colorado Cyclist back in 1996ish (?) and selected DuraAce 8 spd STI (a friend of mine has it now). I had custom wheels with 32h 3x colored titanium aero spokes and Campy tubular aero rims (later the rear Ti spokes would pull out of the holes). It was a really nice bike as the main tubes were still round and designed like their predecessor steel bikes. Nice climber, nice sprinter but the 1997 OCLV was a step up all around (including being much stiffer and feedback), and more modern carbon bikes are even better. But the LiteSpeed Classic, is a classic of that era. I need to make a video of the old AeroSpoke 5 spoke carbonthermoplastic wheels. I had those too and the company was about 45 minutes away, visited it once to heavy duty MTB wheelset too. Those were tanks but weird feel while riding as they were really stiff in all force directions. The Specialized 3 spoke TriSpoke aeros were much better than the AeroSpokes but I liked the Spinergy Rev-Xs better than Specialized TriSpokes (but the rear TriSpoke wheel climbed better). IMHO. If we could only go back in time ....

My condolences to your family bud

Thanks for commenting. First, current carbon fiber and resin technology is not what it was like back in the 1990s, there have been large advancements. When Petacchi (I believe it was him) broke a wheel in the Tour d Italy, that wheel was sent to the premier carbon fiber company known in Italy (I think in 1997) .. think of a horse emblem for a very high end automotive company. They were a customer of the company I worked with and the Sr Engineer was the Director of the local bicycle racing team. From what I recall, they looked at the wheel and determined the bead of epoxy put down the middle of the two halves was outdated and insufficient to keep them together. I was told, thus the blades were drilled. to prevent them from splitting in two. Back then, I was told, if you drill carbon fiber with those CF and epoxy used that you created a tear seam (if not properly drilled you can get delamination and fraying). I know mine had a sliver left over under one or more rivets. So they may not have used the proper techniques. Why did they not use what you recommended? I don't know if they did or they did not. I'm not an CF/epoxy expert and this was back in the 1990s I loved mine. Going directly against the wind the wheel were the best I've ridden (non-disc) until I rode some Campy Bora 50mm Ultra (hidden nipples). The Rev-X were awful on side winds. Mine were tubulars but the rim also (for lower weight because I was super light) were drilled 32h on the outside rim. I believe the RU-vid channel GCN (Global Cycling Network) actually tested a set of these against modern wheels .. riding them via watt meter. I still have my MTB REV-X wheels though as shown on the video. Apparently the road ones were more prone to just dissolving under riders. In races back then I recall many CF wheels just blowing up - Rev-X, Specialized Tri-Spokes (with their foam filled insides), etc. but mostly from pedal strikes. But they also did not fair well with pot holes, even minor ones. But I also recall many stories of the RevXs just disintergrating under tour type riders. It's been a long time and my 4/24/2023 video I can't remember some things so well anymore.

The "X--Beam" was an after install device (except the later Heavy Duty version mentioend below). It had two sided tape on each flat part that you can install on to the inside of each set of blades. But you may also recall that Spinergy also then started making Three Versions of the Rev-X. The "light" version that had yellow stickers, the "normal" version was blue (?), and the "Heavy Duty" version with red stickers which came with the X-Beam pre-installed if I recall correctly. description of X-Beams www.google.com/imgres?q=spinergy%20Rev-X%20X-beam%20stiffeners&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fbikesnobnyc.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FScreenshot-2024-04-23-195449.png%3Fresize%3D716%252C821%26ssl%3D1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbikesnobnyc.com%2F2024%2F04%2F24%2Fyou-spin-me-round-like-a-spinergy%2F&docid=FU5ClSSwCjF4WM&tbnid=c7HALdG6mpH5tM&vet=12ahUKEwix16X9iqKGAxUAmIkEHR35BmwQM3oECG8QAA..i&w=716&h=821&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwix16X9iqKGAxUAmIkEHR35BmwQM3oECG8QAA

@@gottalovetheknowledge4749 wow!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!!you know ALOT!!!, i have 8 on ROAD BIKES , none broke, 2 with alot of chips and dings from rocks, im 170lbs, never a crack or fracture...only heard of 2 in my entire life, some tour de france rider and some random dude on the internet....2.......to be honest i really believe it was competion companies that intetionally broke them!! and FACT got them banned from the UCI!!!! they make that sick awesome sound above +15mph...clinchers at under 110psi..on mine the x-beam are carbon fiber and are literally epoxied and are part of the rim, it does make them alot stiffer!!

I still use the 26" MTB version on my old Trek Y-Bike. I loved them on the road bike but back then there was a lot of complaints of them breaking (I hated crosswinds); it appears those Bicycle forums are long gone from the internet now. Of Course, after the Rev-X Spinergy came out with the ROKS-XE 6 blade wheel. There are two basic Rev-X generations which is based on the hub to spoke area. The early Rev-X where the bearings are aligned with the spokes, then the 2nd generation with the bearings further out. Since you have so many you may have both generations. If you notice the bulbous area on the inside of the spoke blade, I believe that contains a layout of fiberglass in there. The internet is not full of the problems when I search just now as it was back then, but here is an interesting read for you ==> pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-020/

I should add, I loved those Rev-Xs. They would disappear underneath you above 25mph as they cut through the wind as long as there wasn't a side wind. Great above 30mph. The only wheel I tried that surpassed them years later was the Campagnolo Bora Ultra II / Fulcrum Racing Speed XLR (full carbon rim) tubular. Those wheels are ultra light and disappear too once up to speed. I use WTOs now but still have those XLRs and love riding those too.

There's also plenty of web forum and pages out there mentioning the Spinergy's and catastrophic failures ... you just have to want to find them www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/icons-of-cycling-spinergy-rev-x-wheels-214741 www.bustedcarbon.com/search?q=rev-x you just have to search for them (especially archive.org) My only incident while riding them was when I was trying to adjust my front wheel Avocet computer pickup sensor. My hand slipped went into the spokes, My hand stopped the wheels and my bike flipped up WAY into the air, bouncing back on the ground after I came to a stop on the road. But the wheels were fine, so was my hand, although I had a slight concussion and needed a new helmet.

They are the coolest to see. I also have some of the vintage AeroSpoke wheels which are cool looking although heavy by comparison.