David
Michael Anthony might be the most abusive cyclist on the road.
He breaks chains weekly. He's busted 19 frames and counting,
and he mangles wheels every 500 miles. That is, until he discovered
Velomax wheels.
What makes Anthony so hard on gear isn't just his powerful, 220-pound
frame—it's the massive custom-built trailer he hauls behind
his bike all over the country to raise money for charity while simultaneously
training for the 2008 Olympics. Packed with boxes of chains, spare
tubes, 300 pounds of water and other necessities, Anthony's rig can
weigh up to a staggering 1,700 pounds, and he has the highway weight
scale slips to prove it. Bikes were never intended for this kind
of abuse—and that's what makes him the perfect test rider for
Velomax. "I've ridden and broken everything, and these are the
strongest wheels I've ridden. If you want wheels that will last forever
and weigh 1,400 grams a pair, these are them," Anthony says,
referring to his Velomax Orion's and Ascents. He logged some 20,000
trouble-free miles on the Orion's before they were stolen, and has
since put a few thousand miles on a pair of the lighter Ascents. "I
haven't even had to touch 'em. I'm most impressed with the materials
they [Velomax] use, and the incredibly high spoke tension."
Anthony
knows a few things about engineering, too. He has a degree
in mechanical engineering and in the decades prior to taking
up a life on the road, he designed high-flow valves for Tomahawk
Cruise missiles and Honda F1 race engines. "Most of the
cycling gear out there is crap," Anthony says, "Do
the guys designing this stuff actually ride what they make?
If the rest of the bike industry made stuff like Velomax, there
wouldn't be so much crap out there."
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[David
can be pretty passionate and outspoken, and these are his
own inimitable words and do not reflect the opinions of the
author!]
We're happy to have Anthony punishing our wheels. There's no better
combination of engineering knowledge, pure cycling horsepower and
good old-fashioned abuse to test our wheels in a real-world environment.
We're even building a pair of prototype superlight road wheels
for Anthony to use towing his trailer, and we double-dog-dared
him to break 'em. And if Anthony can't hurt our wheels, nobody
can, so you can feel confident pushing your wheels to the limit.
Learn more about David
Michael Anthony's fundraising efforts, Olympic dreams and tales from
the road.
By Sean Coffey
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