Hi,

does anyone have the SS AM carbon wheelset?

seems a good price at the moment £600 fully built and comes with 2 yr warranty,

I’ve looked at the LightBicycle alternative but similar price when adding shipping/customs etc.

Cheers

The light bicycle options isn’t build by Superstar and doesn’t have Superstar hubs, though.

^ +1!

Why do you want carbon rims? If it’s for the bling factor, buying from SS is like buying carbon effect accessories for your car.

Edit: There’s nothing wrong with using SS if you’re after cheap parts, but £600 is £600…you could buy some wheels with CK or DT Swiss hubs for not much more.

‘Superstar’ and ‘Carbon’ together is a horrifying prospect.

^ +1!

Why do you want carbon rims? If it’s for the bling factor, buying from SS is like buying carbon effect accessories for your car.

Edit: There’s nothing wrong with using SS if you’re after cheap parts, but £600 is £600…you could buy some wheels with CK or DT Swiss hubs for not much more

Where?

Are the SS really that bad? Has anyone tried them? They get a few good reports from the rags.

Why would the LB ones be better?

Why do I want? well fancy a second pair of wheels and everyone says that I will notice a big difference to the feel and ride of the bike or is that bo*****?

Cheers

Cheers

The LB’s are awesome. On my 2nd set now and nothing but impressed with them. From what I’ve read they make SBC Rovals there too (and they’ll print your own custom decals on the rims!). Pretty sure they also said somewhere they were looking into doing builds with DT 240s hubs, which would be perfect. Superstar might be very good, though, never tried them.

As for the BS quesiton, IMO the low weight combined with stiffness of carbon rims is very nice. You can get ali rims at a similar weight but they’re much more flexy.

…and I’m not just saying that because I’ve got a lovely pair currently luxuriating in the classifieds. 😉

My friend rides the carbon Ss on switch. Very pleased with them though dog of a job setting them up tubeless as the valves he had wouldn’t seal properly.

His were on offer last year for around 350-400 iirc and for that they seem worth the cost, not sure that he’d be equally pleased with them for 600

From what I’ve read they make SBC Rovals there too

FWIW Light Bicycle have refuted that, and obviously Spesh deny it, so not sure it is the case.

Pretty sure they also said somewhere they were looking into doing builds with DT 240s hubs, which would be perfect. Superstar might be very good, though, never tried them.

Can’t they do it already? Even if they don’t advertise it, they quite possibly can.

I’d also go for LBs over Superstar, very impressed with mine.

Nice pair of Enve on Chris King in the classifieds.

Not cheap, but if I was buying I’d go for quality hubs and quality rims, not chancing my arm with mystery components branded as Ginger Products Ltd. Do you want to buy on quality or cheepness?

Some may say with 2nd hand gear doesn’t come with a warranty. They have never bought from SS.

Cheers, those Enve look good and good price but need 27.5

The LB are quoting 650b 35mm, hookless with Hope Pro2 hubs psr x-tra total incl shipping is $932 usd so around £560 gbp then probably another 40 or so for customs.

Was thinking that the SS would be a better option with it’s 2 yr warranty and free truing service plus crash replacement as opposed to just 1 yr without the cr and truing option and also easier to send back if things go wrong.

Seems lots more good feedback for LB though.

Good review on the SS ones here
http://dirtmountainbike.com/products/fresh-produce/superstar-components-carbon-am-wheels.html#

Currently have some CrossRoc wheels which are great but everyone who has them say the Carbon will improve the ride because of stiffness etc
and probably only one way to find out 🙂

I’ve not tried the Superstar wheels, but a couple of folk I was riding beside on the EWS had them. No complaints from them, said they’d been going well.

I’ve had a set of the Halo Vapour Carbon wheels since April. I think they are a bit more than the SS ones, coming in about £900 the pair, but Rim only they are close in price.
They are much stiffer than my old wheels, noticably so, the bike is twitchyier both handling and pedaling and they have knocked a good 500g off the rolling weight. I’ve had no issues at all yet (touch wood) and they do feel like they can take a kicking, time will tell on that one.

If you have the cash to spend, I can say they have been one of the better upgrades I’ve made! You do feel the difference accross the whole hill.

Nextie rims are worth considering as well, they look pretty good.

I have LB’s and I am delighted with them and I would definitely go for another set.

OP, if you shop wisely and source all the parts yourself, you should be able to get a set for less than £700. If I was buying again I’d try WTB rims too, which are cheaper than Stan’s.

Another option, would be a set of the new Crossmax XL’s…I’m not a fan of factory wheelsets’, but would rather have them than what you’re contemplating. Someone sells new Crossmax Enduro’s (with tyres) for less than £600 on Pinkbike…maybe he could do the same deal on the XL’s?

My own thoughts on wheels are that rims are disposable items, at least if you ride anywhere that’s rocky.

Edit: just saw mention of SS’s free truing service? Do they pay for postage both ways? I guess not, and if not it would be cheaper to take them to your Lbs if you can’t do it yourself.

Crikey not much love lost for SS then?

TBH the SS wheelset looks like a comparable offer to LB, I may be being naive but SS seem to be trying to get their shit in order and build the brand a bit…

A carbon wheelset would certainly be a flagship product worth getting right…

A carbon wheelset would certainly be a flagship product worth getting right…

…that can never lose the stigma of being SS. Whether the wheels are cheap for what they are, they’re still a fair bit of money.
I wouldn’t have thought anyone who spends 1000’s on their bike would want SS parts on it…saying that, I have seen a few!

Great replies and info, thanks.

Lots to think about then….

Seems lot’s more good feedback for the LB although it seems that the SS ones are fairly new in the market but just not that much feedback about them yet.

Would love enve’s but cant justify the price.

Would love enve’s but cant justify the price.

I have Enve’s as well as LB’s and there is no difference IMHO. The only thing I can think of is the feeling you get when you hear a rock hitting them!

SS have a hit and miss reputation for wheel building – some people have no problems, but some do.

And even the reviews often mention SS wheels needing a slight trimming up/truing after a few rides. which a decently build set of wheels should not need.

The Switch hubs are, I believe, actually Novatech hubs which are pretty solid and used by some decent wheelbuilders. The more sophisticated SS hubs (Tesla?) also have a hit or miss reputation on here, with several people having big failures.

I dunno why there is some much hate for the SS parts, I have bit of SS parts on my bike from seat clamp to wheels and the only issues I have had is the freehub which they upgraded under warranty.
There customer service is awesome

The light bicycle options isn’t build by Superstar and doesn’t have Superstar hubs, though.

What he said.

There customer service is awesome

Did you send it to the right address? 😯

There customer service is awesome
Did you send it to the right address?

I’ve had refunds within a day or them receving the return, everything is always delivered next working day and it took less than a week to process my warranty return and have it back to me. emails are replied to very quickly. I can’t fault them

There was a report performed by Bath Uni comparing some other rims with the Superstar Carbon rims.

I think the report showed they came out quite well but I know nothing about materials science so they could have quite easily done some meaningless tests and skewed results towards the SS rims.

This the link from their website but the link is broken at the moment.

… hmm maybe they are trying to hide something?

For what its worth I’ve had set of wheels form SS and was very happy with my set.

Got some lb rims I had built up on my old pro2s and they are excellent and very tough – survived ews and several ukges

Never had a problem with SS stuff and impressed with their new io chainring

They have some wheels on sale at the moment – I just picked up a f r set of 29r wheels on switch hubs for £100 even if they need retruing and new bearings after one ride I’ll still be happy

I’m 50/50 on LB or SS but swaying towards the LB just because cant find any feedback on the SS anyway….

for those that have gone carbon from alu wheels.

IS IT WORTH DOING BEFORE I SPEND MY DOSH 🙂

Yes/No??

cheers

The loss in rotational weight made climbing and long days in big hills easier

I also think the wide lb rims give u more grip
But that might just be my subconscious justify the outlay

LOL yes I know what you mean.

Easier days in the hills would always be good.

Do they help with tracking and any noticeable difference on the techy stuff i.e. roots/rocks etc.

I’ve got LB rims, they are very wide which is good, and light for their size. they’ve survived a pinch puncture that holed the tyre badly which I’m sure would have dented a stan’s rim.

Think I’ll use stan’s rims on my next build though, mostly as I’m a tightarse.

I seem to recall the superstar carbon ones were relatively narrow. Based on my carbon rim experience so far you’d be utterly barmy to buy enve’s for anything other than the sticker anyway.

definitely less tyre roll than my old narrow arch’s, and they are very stiff.

Hope pro2 evo hubs or Novatec?

Hope around $210 more expensive, worth it?

Looks like Im swaying a bit more towards the LB.

I’ve got the LB 29er hookless 30mm and they are great for 29ers. Light, stiff and well built. I also have 3 sets of SS crest rim wheels 26 in the collection and never had any issues. I believe they all are Novatech hubs. Don’t know anything about the SS carbon but the LB are excellent.

I have the 35mm LB 27.5 rims on my bronson. They are light and stiff and tracking across roots and rock gardens is much better. One thing to consider is how much the 35mm rims will spread your tyre carcass. I am running geax 2.25tyres and they come up mahoosive. The hookless rims rims make going tubeless effortless.

A a comparison I also run the Reynolds AM rims on my Tallboy LTc and the LB ones are better due to the Chris king hubs rather than the Reynolds hubs.

Cheers
Shiney

Tbh I haven’t noticed much improvent in tracking , but I’ve never had a problem with my old rims deflecting

I have noticed that they are very unforgiving in really rocky terrain and feel a bit harsher

IS IT WORTH DOING BEFORE I SPEND MY DOSH

I’m not a carbon hater or anything like that, but I’ve decided aginst it myself for now at least.

I’ve considered carbon wheels before and have followed a few threads about them – and I’ve been left with the impression that there’s a reasonable risk of rim crackage if you’re riding fast or on rugged terrain.

I may get tempted again after moving to a FS 29er, but for now I’ll stick with decent quality alloy wheels.

Think I’m going for the LB but swaying towards the Novatec hubs to save a bit of money.

You know when you get an itch to try something new 🙂

Superstar hubs are Novatec, so you’d have got them anyway!

I’m very impressed with my LB wheelset, having come from some uber light 26″ wheels with floppy rims they do go round corners a lot better (despite being bigger), decent weight, well made. I’d have another set without hesitation.

Superstar hubs are Novatec, so you’d have got them anyway!

All of them, or just the Switch ?

Not honestly sure, I thought the Tesla was as well, but could be wrong. It was a bit of a flippant comment. They’ll be coming from one of the catalogue companies though!

I cracked a light bike 33mm wide 26 inch AM rim in two places the other week , obviously it was a write off. I whacked into a waterbar at speed.

Have ordered another from lb, but gone for the downhill version, if this doesnt survive then ill probably go back to flows.

I like tbe stiffness and lightweight of lb/carbon rims, I dont like that it cracked, but who knows whethed it would also have written off a flow ri as well.