[Closed] Is there such a thing as an 'affordable' carbon MTB rim yet?

Easton do a set,still expensive.Look stunning

[url= http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=0&c=44&p=808& ]Spotted these the other day - [/url] no idea if they're any good.

Wait for on one?

well, that's what I was thinking, couldn't Ragley or On-one come out with one for me? 😆

On one are...

oh really? tell me more! 🙂

a swift google reveals all... though only 29'er rims at the moment?? Don't really like those decals either...

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Well I suspect the carbon clincher/tubs road wheels that planet-x/on-one sell are chinese factory made.
http://www.yishunstefano.com/index.html

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/RIDTXRC3/dt-swiss-xrc-330-carbon-fibre-disc-rim-28h

i recently got a pair, one weighed 331g the other 317g i think,

built with tune kong rear and cannonball front with sapim cx-rays/dt swiss pro lock brass came in at 1264g at about £900 the pair

LOL Psychle, you tart.

Aren't 26 rims coming? Not much lighter than stans anyway.

I'm expecting a bunch of these to be offered by various companies at the Taipei show in the spring, and then a race to the bottom in terms of pricing.

I'd think that £199 a rim is achievable for the direct sales boys. I've just found an ace alloy 29mm rim which I'm planning to do something with.

At that price I'll be sticking with stans.

Those Carbon.cc ones are just a carbon wrap on an alloy rim.

Reynolds do a pair that's about £850 for clinchers-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=40325

But you could save yourself a fair whack of money just getting a stans/decent hub combo.

Would would anyone want carbon on rims is beyond me. I can't see any usable gain in weight to be honest. Plus lets face it if carbon was THAT good for rims for off road ridding, MXer would use it. Al you do well to stick to alloy, you just need to learn to buy them from the correct manufacturer 😉

Seems to me carbon rims may offer decent wright savings but at a price.

Juan of my 6 bikes 5 have Mavics!

Would would anyone want carbon on rims is beyond me

The key benefits would be stiffness and weight. I've run super light wheels that were strong enough to survive my weight and riding style, but they were so flexible that they were pointless; you loose so much confidence and steering accuracy when your wheels flex by as much as the Rovals I had did.

By all accounts the super stiff, super strong but still sub 400g Enve rims are supposed to make a huge difference to the ride characteristics of a bike. I did have a chat with some of the testers from one of the magazines a short while back and they were saying that the pair they tested blew them away; you're knocking a couple of hundred grams in rotating weight off in one stroke (and we all know how valuable that is for all kinds of reasons) and yet you're getting a wheel that is as stiff and strong as the best DH wheels.

I'm sold (almost).

What's strange is that a lot of us seem happy to spend upwards of £2500 on a frame and fork but we flinch at even £900 for a wheel set. There is an arugment that you'd get far more performance gain from a top flight wheel set than anything else on the bike apart from the frame and fork.

By all accounts the super stiff, super strong but still sub 400g Enve rims are supposed to make a huge difference to the ride characteristics of a bike. I did have a chat with some of the testers from one of the magazines a short while back and they were saying that the pair they tested blew them away; you're knocking a couple of hundred grams in rotating weight off in one stroke (and we all know how valuable that is for all kinds of reasons) and yet you're getting a wheel that is as stiff and strong as the best DH wheels.

Same things I've heard as well, it's just a shame that the rims are over £600 each or something! I know (some) roadies happily spend £1500+ on a set of wheels, but it just seems wrong for MTB for some reason!

What's strange is that a lot of us seem happy to spend upwards of £2500 on a frame and fork but we flinch at even £900 for a wheel set. There is an arugment that you'd get far more performance gain from a top flight wheel set than anything else on the bike apart from the frame and fork.

When you put it that way...

Probably becasue roadie kit is relatively safe from harm, you can buy a set of wheel for £1500 safe in the knowlage that baring a big mishap they'll still be there in 3 years time as good as new and probably sellable for ~£800 or so. And roadies have race wheels, training wheels, and winter wheels, MTB'ers tend not to race as much therefore only ever have the equivalent of trianing wheels (winter is irelavent with disk brakes)?

FWIW I put a dent in my new DT rims within a couple of rides form new, If a rear wheel lasts em a year it's doig welll. There's no way I'm preepared to shell out ~£40 each time I trash a rim, I'd be broke! There's not much on a bike I've broken apart from rims, spokes and rear axels come to think of it.

Probably becasue roadie kit is relatively safe from harm

To be honest that is still a very good point and while you might routinely dint rims, the same isn't typically true for frames and forks.

I guess the point then is that these rims might not be susceptible to denting because they are carbon fibre. I don't know as I'm not a materials expert, but I wonder if they would crack or shatter rather than dinting and the force needed to do this is so much more than they would typically be subjected to.

What's really interesting (and very compelling) is that I read that Easton are offering their new Haven Carbon Fibre wheels with a completely unconditional, no compromise replacement guaranteee. This covers everything from, 'I stacked it into rocks at mach 2 in a race' to 'I cased the living sh*t out of them on a repeated basis' type issues. They recognise that if they are going to sell a wheel set for $2500 then they're going to have to also package in some reassurance that they will get the spanking they deserve.

Yeah, but aren't they only selling them with a 15mm QR? So in a way this'll limit where they're used (perhaps), as all bigger travel and more 'hardcore' forks are 20mm QR?

To be honest that is still a very good point

You mean in spite of my lack of proof reading that bout of badly spelt verbal diohrea?

😀

thisisnotaspoon - Member

"Probably because roadie kit is relatively safe from harm"

Santa Cruz Syndicate used them on the DH bikes this year... And IIRC were using the same rims at the end of the season as they were at the start. Apparently the edge rims are more survivable than alloy rims as they can deform and recover rather than just bending. Still, not affordable obviously!

I'm still not convinced myself. They're no lighter than light alu rims, they may be good, but not 10 times better! I'd rather smash a few Stan's rims frankly.

What TINS says. I know no-one on here that rides with a bike which have mint rims. No matter how smooth you are, how good you are there is a moment where you're going to ding/dent the rim on a rock. Alloy may ding and get a bit wobbly but you still can ride it.
Once again if carbon rim are so much better why are they not use in MX, where money is not an issue?
EDIT: see what this thread have done... Nj and I argee

Bent wheels aren't noticeable in MX like they are on a Mountain Bike, much bigger tyres on smaller wheels and generally in mud anyway.

The advantage of carbon for rims is that it'll stay completely true until you shatter it. So long as they're strong enough you've got wheels that will remain round and true far longer than aluminium rims. It's another thing you don't have to worry about. Aluminium is soft as shite, hence all the dinged rims. Carbon isn't.

juan - Member

"What TINS says. I know no-one on here that rides with a bike which have mint rims. No matter how smooth you are, how good you are there is a moment where you're going to ding/dent the rim on a rock. Alloy may ding and get a bit wobbly but you still can ride it."

Like I said up the page, the Enve ones are supposed to survive rim strikes fat better than alu as they don't just bend/ding, they can bend and recover.

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The advantage of carbon for rims is that it'll stay completely true until you shatter it.

No it won't, it's still made true by the spoke tension, you can still buckle them. It's a fair point that they're more likely to deflect Rather than bend, but they won't stay true forever. I've buckled carbon road wheels just as easily as Alu for that matter.