Token C30A wheel review

Apr 09. Kiwi roadie Mark Seatter reviews his Token C30A wheels after giving them a spin over in Adelaide, and more recently back home on New Zealand roads.

I was lucky enough to follow the Tour Down Under this January in Adelaide, Australia. Over the few months before hand I had been on the lookout for a set of training wheels that were not excessively heavy but still reasonably bullet proof and did not cost a fortune. 


After a lot of research on the net, trips to local and out of town bike stores it was actually purely by accident that I stumbled across a full page advertisement in the Australian Ride magazine about Token C30A's.
 

 I liked the look of them in the magazine and the specs that seemed to be associated with them so jumped on the net to get an indication of price and availability. After a lot of Google work and by pure luck I discovered a New Zealand site having a sale which included the Token wheels. After ringing the store to discuss the wheels the credit card came out and I was the proud owner of new TOKEN C30A's.

The wheels arrived two days prior for leaving for Adelaide so I was pretty keen to get some tyres mounted, fit a cassette and head out for a quick ride prior to leaving just to make sure there were no issues.
 

I fitted the Vittoria tyres that I had been using and they went on fine. I have since shod them in new Vittoria's and have also tried Michelin Lithiums. The Michelins were definitely a tighter fit which could be a real pain if you were trying to change a tube in a hurry to try and catch up with the bunch again to avoid that long solitary ride home.

The wheels look good in my opinion with a 30mm deep black alloy rim and black bladed spokes. The hubs are anodised red (my mates says they are pink) as are the spoke nipples and the wheels are finished with token stickers on the rim.


The braking surface looked good and I bought new pads just in case there were any alloy filing residue in the old pads from the original wheels I was running. The hubs have sealed Tiramic bearings.
 

Road Test - Token C30A

The Token's seemed great on the first ride so were packed in the bike bag and joined me on the flight to Adelaide.

The first real ride in Adelaide was the day after I arrived, I rode a light 50km ride out to the beach and back. I happened to be in a bunch ride with Phil Liggett, but that's another story.  I was happy that the wheels felt really smooth with no problems in a side wind. They responded to whatever I wanted them to do. Seemed to accelerate fine when standing up on the pedals. 


The next day I went into the hills and on my first climb which was about 9km long they felt nice and stiff whenever I rose out of the saddle to give the backside a break for a few seconds. At the end of the day I had 25km back to town and it was basically all downhill. 


The wheels felt great on descent, nice and smooth and I could be confident to lean the bike into corners and they were very understanding when the brakes were applied. Red lights were approaching very quickly when travelling between 60 and 70km coming into the city. I left Adelaide very happy with my wheels and bursting to ride some of the bunches at home.

These wheels have continued to impress me. They are now four months old and are still are as straight and true as when they came out of the box. I have not had an issue at all with them and they have been put through all sorts of sprints and carry on in the bunch and on solo rides as everyone gets fitter and more aggressive over summer.

I have a small speed test I do with my wheels. On a small hill just out of town, from a stationary start I coast down a section on hill to see what top speed I can get out of a wheelset before the road flattens out. Not very scientific I know but all the same, the Tokens are 2km/hr faster (67km/hr) then my old wheels. Every bit of speed and weight counts I guess,

In my opinion the wheels perform great in all aspects of riding that I do. I am not a big guy at 75kg, so cannot comment on how they would be for a heavier rider.


I hope to get a lot more kilometres out of my Token C30A's, and at the rate they are going I am pretty sure they will serve me well.

Specifications - Token C30A

Indicative price in NZ - around $700
 

Tiramic® Bearings are a new issue of upgraded bearing which composed by a set of Titanium coated bearing cones, ceramic balls and KLUBER® lubricant with durability & longevity characters.

Tiramic® BEARINGS = INCREASED SPEED 
Performance Breakthrough! 

Speed increases approaching 4% 

i.e. over 1km a rider can gain 20-40m. 
High Quality TiramicR bearings

C30A - Alloy Clincher Road Racing Wheelset 

• Rims: 30mm Aero Profile, 700C Alloy Rims (475g/pc)
  
• Hubs: TK195 Alloy Hubs 20H/F, 24H/R, Sealed Bearings
  
• Spokes: Pillar Aero Stainless Steel Black Spokes, External Alloy Nipples
  
• compatibility: Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo & ACCURA
  
• Weight: 1600g/set (700g+900g) without QR and tyres
• Maximum spoke tension recommened: 130kg.
• Maximum recommended tire inflation pressure Road: 125psi

Photos courtesy of reviewer

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Please check these specifications with your local bike shop.  The opinions expressed in this review are the personal views of one kiwi cyclist, qualified only by hours on the saddle on New Zealand roads.  They are not necessarily the views of RoadCycling.co.nz.