Hi
I was thinking of getting a pair of carbon wheels but I am struggling to justify them, even used ones. The difference in weight compared to an aluminium set seems very small (maybe only about 350g), but am I right in thinking that there is an effective multiplier for perceived rolling weighting that makes them more worthwhile?
Thanks in advance for explaining this..

Sounds like you are using man maths to work out how to afford them.

What bike are they going on? I personally don’t see the point of the outlay unless you are running a carbon frame with some lightweight kit.

Depends why you want them.

If you want to look bling and save some weight, go for it.
If you want to save time and go faster. Probably better to spend some cash of tightly fitting jersey , bibs etc.

I decided i wanted some, they didn’t last long and now i’m back on alu rims and very happy :p

MTB or road? Weight wise on the road, unless you’re using deep rims (> 50mm) there’s little weight difference between alu and carbon. I haven’t paid much attention to carbon offroad.

Ask yourself this – “have I run out of things to spend money on?” 😉

I’m a fan. Have had mine for two years and have given them a hard time and only managed to snap one spoke butr the wheel stayed totally true. The guys I ride with have all either had to true their wheels several times or replace a rim riding similar stuff. I managed to split a sidewall on my rear Magic Mary racing the Tweedlove international landing on a rock and then did the front this weekend (three bloody times – first time split the sidewall and then I pinched two tubes riding Cadon Bank at Inners) and in all cases the rim was completely unmarked and the wheel perfectly true. Alu ones may gave done exactly the same but again, my mate’s wheels came back from the weekend needing a true.

Worth the cash? If you have it then sure, if you don’t and it means your kids won’t have any shoes, then certainly not!

I think you can demo some enves in BPW and see if you like them.

but I’d say a lot depends on which rim hub spoke combo you buy and width etc. not just the fact they are made from CF.

and yes rotational weight makes a very noticable difference to the way a bike will ride.

hold a wheel by the axle and tip it around, and now spin it and do the same

Ask yourself this – “have I run out of things to spend money on?”

This.

but I’d say a lot depends on which rim hub spoke combo you buy and width etc. not just the fact they are made from CF.

And a bit of this.

If you want to save weight/go faster, look at everything else you’ve got and see if you could save that weight for less money elsewhere (bearing in mind rims can take a battering and need replacing more often than a lot of things). There is a multiplier of almost 2 for a rim in terms of acceleration as it’s rotating weight, and it will make far more difference to the handling due to gyroscopic things, plus they’re hanging off each end of the bike, but in terms of climbing, weight is weight.

That said, carbon rims are a nice obvious bit of pimpery, the ’10s version of ’90s purple anodizing.

2 years ago there was little in the alu market to compete width wise, and for me it was a clear cut case because the light bike rims were such a bargain to bring into the UK.

Now, there are loads of wide alu rims to choose from. They’re still heavier, but they’re a lot less expensive to replace and the weights are closer to carbon than the early ones used to be.

Next time I blow one of my light bike rims, I’ll have to give it some thought. Even light bike rim prices are creeping up now.

I put a post on here a while back asking about the benefits of carbon rims, the general consensus seemed to be that if you wanted them then buy them but they didn’t offer up many benefits.

I then promptly ordered a set of sixth element wheels.

After a few rides im not sure if i like them. The stiffness is very apparent which means you can be very precise in your riding but i liked the feeling that aluminium rims have. They just give a bit more.

I am going to bang my flows back on and see what i prefer when i go back to them but i might just sell these on.

Remember carbon can be weaved in many ways and this has a big impact on how it performs. For instance on the Ducati MotoGP bikes the swing arm was made from carbon fibre and they struggled get the right “feel” from it and the way it’s constructed had a massive impact on how the rider performed with it. So it’s not just about saving weight.
That said I’d say in wheel rims for mtb and road it’s more about weight saving but there will be a difference in how they ride compared to alloy rims so best thing do is try them. We’ve sourced some rims from the Far East to build some wheels up and will be giving them a go in the hope of maybe offering some cheap wheel sets at some point but that’s all for the future.

They are worth the upgrade, but not for the price of some of the major brands…if you ride a hardtail, rigid frame, you’ll noticed the difference in the way the bike handles, and go wider internal rim width…30mm plus works really well! check out http://www.light-bicycle.com/

Felt like a worthwhile upgrade on the 29er – weight and flexiness of bog standard wheels more of an issue. The boost standard is meant to address / improve this (AFAIK) but I’ve not tried it – maybe it’s a big improvement.

Here is MY take on carbon rims: I bought a pair of Light Bicycle hoops for under $200 ea. Built them up and have absolutely loved them. They are the stronger DH versions, 38mm wide. I ride very aggressively and find that they hold a line much better than my previous aluminum wheels. I have them on my trail bike & freeride bike. My GF also got a set and found much better performance as well. I could give a rats ass about any weight savings (if any). I will never own a bike without them. But do they REALLY make a BIG difference….likely not, but they DO make A difference for sure. Upgrades I would not ride without, Dropper Post & Wide Hookless DH Carbon Hoops

j2b2 – Member

The difference in weight compared to an aluminium set seems very small (maybe only about 350g),

That is not small. It’s pretty much the difference between XC wheels and solid enduro wheels, or lightweight metal enduro wheels and DH wheels, or very cheap and very expensive wheels to do the same job.

TBH aluminium wheels have massively improved recently and “cheap” quality carbon has gone up in price so things have changed a bit on where they were a couple of years ago… When I built the 26er wheelset for my Hemlock it really felt like a no-brainer to me, but when I did the set for my 29er more recently it was a harder decision.

350g is a big weight difference on a wheelset. What are you looking at and comparing them to?

FWIW, my aluminium wheels are lighter than my previous carbon wheelsets, and more durable.

The perceived benefits for some are issues for others (see stiffness above etc).

Personally, they offered no performance benefits, and actually negatively affected the ride. They also introduced a big drop in reliability.

I don’t use carbon wheels any more. Neither does my wife who I donated my last set to, who has managed to crack 2 wheels in 8 months.

hughjayteens – Member

I’m a fan. Have had mine for two years and have given them a hard time and only managed to snap one spoke butr the wheel stayed totally true. The guys I ride with have all either had to true their wheels several times or replace a rim riding similar stuff. I managed to split a sidewall on my rear Magic Mary racing the Tweedlove international landing on a rock and then did the front this weekend (three bloody times – first time split the sidewall and then I pinched two tubes riding Cadon Bank at Inners) and in all cases the rim was completely unmarked and the wheel perfectly true. Alu ones may gave done exactly the same but again, my mate’s wheels came back from the weekend needing a true.

Worth the cash? If you have it then sure, if you don’t and it means your kids won’t have any shoes, then certainly not!
This ^^ Had my LB rims for 2 years on my Bronson. They have some cosmetic scratches but no damage and still running dead true which is unbelievable with the number of times they have been smacked into waters bars and other general incompetence. Living in the Cairngorms I ride a lot of rocky stuff

When I bought the rims they were about twice the price of Flows, so not too stupid extra money on a carbon MTB. They are also wider than the Flows so help with running lower pressures, plus you can choose decal colour so look quite bling as well

Edit – just had a look at the LB site. Prices have gone up and £/$ is now rubbish so they are about 3x the price of Stans rather than 2x

I decided i wanted some, they didn’t last long and now i’m back on alu rims and very happy :p

Snap! (pun intended…)

I should probably expand to say that on my more XC 29er I still use them and feel they are a worthwhile upgrade in terms of stiffness and weight loss. On my 26″ trail bike they are not worth it, as there is much less gain to be had and the failure mode is catastrophic, and they will fail eventually on a trail bike ridden properly unless you are very lucky!