[Closed] light bicycle carbon rims

Hi all, I am looking to replace my 29er Arch EX wheels with some LB rims as I keep bending the Arch EX rims and snapping spokes.

I am struggling to decide which width of rim to go for though, the 30mm or 35mm. I currently have a Cotic Solaris which I use a 2.25 on the back, 2.35 Hans Dampfs are too wide, would I have clearance issues with the 35mm rims?

Heads up- LB now have 38mm 29er rims available (although not advertised yet) and they have 50mm 29er rims ready for the end of December.
Same finish and options as usual.

Anyone tried the fat bike rims?

$278 to lose 150gm seems a lot (tho I suspect you lose less on normal rims)

Just seen some unbuilt rims in my Lbs, very nice. Looks like I am gonna have to explain another set of wheels to Mrs Dhd. Thought I could resist. 😥

Ive just received some Nextie hookless 35 wide and 28mm deep carbon rims and they are nice and look good quality.

Originally wanted derbys, but with these being half the price of derbys and 2 years warranty i thought id give them a go.

Im thinking of having a go at building these myself and possible sending to my LBS to be checked over. Already have some pro 2 evo hubs and after reading various post I'm best to build them with brass nipples.

Only thing I'm undecided on is what spokes to go with? Being a lightweight rider at 11.5st i don't want to overbuild the things, but then again i want them to take some abuse.

Can anyone advise on what spokes to go with for the build and how do i figure out what length spoke i need?

Many thanks

I have just built up some rims using DT Swiss 240 hubs and Competition Spokes. The DT Swiss Spoke calculator with the Light Bicycle quoted ERD's worked fine. I used aluminium nipples but if you aren't too fussed about the slight extra weight brass nipples are easier to work with - because the rims are so stiff, you end up with pretty high spoke tension and it is easy to round off the alloy nipples.

mrski1 - Member

I am struggling to decide which width of rim to go for though, the 30mm or 35mm. I currently have a Cotic Solaris which I use a 2.25 on the back, 2.35 Hans Dampfs are too wide, would I have clearance issues with the 35mm rims?

Hi- you won't have clearance issues with the rims themselves, but they can fatten up tyres a little. Only a little- I put some numbers earlier in the thread which I can't be bothered to look up but it was millimetres, way less than some articles suggest. So it could make the difference but it has to be really marginal (or it could push a "fits ok" into "doesn't fit very well")

Northwind - Member
mrski1 - Member
I am struggling to decide which width of rim to go for though, the 30mm or 35mm. I currently have a Cotic Solaris which I use a 2.25 on the back, 2.35 Hans Dampfs are too wide, would I have clearance issues with the 35mm rims?

Hi- you won't have clearance issues with the rims themselves, but they can fatten up tyres a little. Only a little- I put some numbers earlier in the thread which I can't be bothered to look up but it was millimetres, way less than some articles suggest. So it could make the difference but it has to be really marginal (or it could push a "fits ok" into "doesn't fit very well")

Thanks for that, I decided to play it safe with the 30mm rims, still wider than my arch ex rims but hopefully that bit stiffer built up 🙂

The 29mm superstar tape is this wide enough to be used on 35mm wide rims?

My rims have a 30mm inner width but are pretty deep.
[IMG] [/IMG]

^^^ Or am i bet to use narrow tape to sit in the well of the rim, which is 11mm wide?

Thanks

i sued the 30mm wtb stuff from crc on my 35mm rims, worked very well,

Thanks - Did you manage to cover 2x 29er rims with it?

ive done 3 650b rims and still got plenty left
only had to go round once

thread resurrection!

after reading all 18 pages I'm just about to buy some 38mm hookless 650B rims from LB and wondered if anyone here had bought them over the 35mm? LB seem to recommend the 38mm over 35mm in all their web chats now and for $5 and 40g an end I can't really see a reason why you wouldn't want them. I think the extra width causing tyre profile issues had been debunked (in any case its less than 10% wider), but happy to hear any real life experiences.

cheers

I was looking at these today as I was about to order my 35s when I saw the 38.

The 38mm have only been out a month or so. I saw one ride report on MTBR but that's about it.
http://forums.mtbr.com/wheels-tires/new-light-bicycle-38mm-rims-941499.html

I reckon I'll just go with the normal 35s. The width difference is neither here nor there. LB say the new ones are stronger but I don't hear any negative issues with the strength of the 35s so I reckon they will be grand. I'm also slightly concerned that the extra strength plus significant extra height of the rim will add significant stiffness, and while one of the reasons for going with the carbon rims is the extra stiffness, I don't want to go OTT. Especially on a short travel bike, too much stiffness may be a bad thing.

I haven't chatted to LB themselves so I'd be interested to know what they had to say, especially regards the stiffness point.

I've just pulled the trigger on some 27mm hookless 29er rims so we'll see how they go. I went quite light as my 29er is weenie.

mine are going strong 2 years on, tubeless is a PITA though, any schwalbe tyre is like a wizard sleeve, built up with yellow tape but still difficult, but sounds like this isnt an issue anymore, considering some nextie hookless, among the million and one things i "need"

I’ve been running 35mm 29er rims since April last year and I’m still chuffed to bits with them. They just get on with their job of being a relatively light, stiff, wide and strong rim. I’m planning on building a pair for the Bigwig next and I’m pretty sure I’ll be sticking with 35mm.

38mm rims only give an extra 1.6 mm internal width for an additional 40g over the 35mm.It does mean the rim beads are thicker though by what, and extra 0.7 mm each. I've no doubt they're stronger, but for me, the point of diminishing returns has been reached. I'm planning on ordering some at the end of January, but I'll be ordering 35s.

Annoyingly they only seem to sell the 38mm via ebay, which would avoid their paypal fee. I see tenacious doug has been emailing them regarding the other befeits of a 38mm rim, so be interesting to see what they come back with.

scienceofficer i was talking to them on web chat today and she warned there will be a delay because of chinese new year apparently, so order sooner rather than later. not sure how true this is but way back on this thread i think some folks were delayed because of it. I'm going to order soon i think.

Yeah, it was the same last year. I'm not in any rush.

For anyone interested I've been working on a Rim tape solution for our new carbon wheels and have found a really good gorilla tape replacement were now buying in - 25mm wide but really good for 30mm+ rims, leaves much less mess than gorilla if you need to remove it and bonds well with the carbon surface for a good seal first time. Will be available from our store (shop.birdmtb.com) next week.

Do you get stung for import duty on the rims?

Yes. Vat and import duty is around 25% plus a customs handling fee of around £15 normally.

Cheers Ben

I plan to use hope pro II hubs any recommendations on spokes?

The benefit of carbon rims is they don't bend like aluminium ones, so you can go really light if you want. Sapim leader or cxray, dt supercomp or revolution, or if you don't mind waiting the excellent pillar range is available from top venturer in Taiwan in small quantities at a price that makes it worth shipping them in.

Cheers again Ben all being well these are going onto one of your frames!

Do you get stung for import duty on the rims?

You take your chance, I bought rims and spokes and got no charges.

did you hear anything back from LB Doug?

what weight do the 29er xc rims come in at as a complete build?

Some info but not everything I asked them. They suggested the 38mm was 10-20% stronger than the 35mm. I have asked specific information on the stiffness between the two, apparently they have lab tests that will give me this info but I've not had them sent through yet.

what weight do the 29er xc rims come in at as a complete build?

Depends how you build them...

Mine with American Classic hubs and Revolution spokes are 1370g.

Annoyingly they only seem to sell the 38mm via ebay

The 38mm are on their website, I ordered them a couple of weeks back and they are still there.

crikey that is light! What kind of cost are we talking about for that, and did lb build them or did you just order the rim

Whats the durability like for everyday xc riding..im around 80k, have been using crest 26ers for past few years with no issues whatsoever

I've got the 29er 35mm rims which came in about 415g and have been fine. 28 hole and built up on DT 240 hubs with revolution spokes. Came in about 1450g.

Looking at building up a set of 25mm road rims on DT 240s again and will likely come in about the same weight of my 29er MTB wheels scarily enough. Anyone tried the road rims at all?

The 38mm are on their website, I ordered them a couple of weeks back and they are still there.

Sorry MSP i meant they only sell the 38mm on ebay and not the 35mm too. i know you can order 35mm direct from the site but i think that incurs a paypal fee. torn between the 38's & the 35's now.

have you got your 38's yet?

What kind of cost are we talking about for that, and did lb build them or did you just order the rim

Whats the durability like for everyday xc riding..im around 80k, have been using crest 26ers for past few years with no issues whatsoever

About £600 or so I guess - I bought hubs from the US (AEBike.com), and spokes from Germany, and built them myself. Rims were 355 and 356g - if you're bothered you can ask for light ones (I did).

If you've been fine on Crests you won't need anything tougher - they've been faultless, I'd have another set without hesitation.

I bought a 27mm and 30mm for rear and front, built with Extralite front hub and AC rear, DT Rev spokes, 2 cross. 1320gram without tape.

Most bike shops / experts advised against DT Revs, alloy nipples, 2 cross etc. Big test tomo on its maiden run.

have you got your 38's yet?

No, they have just gone through customes today, should have them sometime next week.

I have gone for the full downhill version, so not really saving much weight on a set of stans flows, but should be much stronger and wider.

cool, i'd be interested to hear what you think of them!

Has anyone had any build issues. I got some over 6month ago but only just got round to getting hubs and spokes. On building up found 1 spoke nipple on each rim would not seat properly. Inside the rim seems to have a load of excess carbon which makes it thicker and not smooth at that point. Also one of those holes is drilled slightly skew.

Need to contact LB I think

Here's some Info LB sent me on comparative test figures between the 35 & 38. They are pretty self explanatory. Impact strength and positive stiffness (which I assume is vertical stiffness) is much better than the 35, while lateral stiffness is similar.

I'm not an expert in wheels but my thought is the greater lateral stiffness will be offset by the lower spoke tension so my slight concern about these perhaps being too stiff is not an issue. Plus I don't expect to notice the lateral stiffness difference.

So overall, 38s should feel similar, with greater strength, marginally more weight but look much more badass because of the depth!

[IMG] [/IMG]

thanks for following this up Doug, much appreciated. look like i will be snaffling some 38's off ebay tonight then!

Interesting stuff. If I'm reading it right, It should be that the 35 shares more of its impact force with the rest of the wheel structure as it deforms twice as far as the 38, which should compensate a bit for its overall weaker structure.