Carbon AM wheels

Lots of talk aboput Light Cycle rims.

Read and you’ll see the dangers of cheap carbon rims. Beware, the .pdf takes a little while to download.

Have you got some to sell?

Have you got some to sell?

What do you mean?

Using CNC machines is, in itself, no guarantee that a good product is being produced. It just means there is far more ability to churn out a poor quality product faster and repeatedly. I cringe when I see adverts promoting the fact something is CNC’d as some sort of endorsement of high quality or good design. It has nothing to do with that. All CNC machines do is give you the ability to manufacture high precision products repeatedly and reliably. But it’s still a case of crap in equals crap out.

These LB rims are much lighter than my Enve’s. Either Enve dont know what they’re doing or at somepoint something gotta give. Having said that, I’m no Clyde and don’t think Id be worried. Fantastic pricing.

Lots of talk aboput Light Cycle rims.

Read and you’ll see the dangers of cheap carbon rims. Beware, the .pdf takes a little while to download.

That’s interesting. I’ll see if I can catch the guy who wrote the report and ask him about some more details.

The cross section of the SC rim is very similar to the cross section of the LB rims. This is the development of the 650b rims (new on left):

From here: http://www.light-bicycle.com/technology-improve-of-light-bicycle-carbon-mtb-650b-rims.html

Worth noting that the carbon rims tested are only 17mm inner width but the Crest is 21 and as they are around the same weight the Crest is doing a good job of keeping the same weight but wider. I would like to see the testing repeated with the new wider carbon rims with better manufacturing at the ‘UC’ ones in that report seem to be quite early models. It does show that even poorly made carbon rims are still pretty robust though.

AndyL,

I’m the chap who wrote the reports. Who are you?

The Light Cycles report looks like they’ve improved their quality a little (or that seems to be the case from the dodgy Chine’glish).

I’d be happy to repeat any testing given the right financial incentive!

tell us how much superstar paid you, also the report would be far more interesting if you also compared an Enve / Reynolds / Easton rim.

What do you mean?

You’re a very heavy user of the classifieds who resurrected a thread to post a link denouncing a competitors product from a company known for spamming this forum.

Superstar paid me with a pair of carbon wheels which I’m very happy with.

I’d be happy to do comparison of all sorts of wheels, but that’s up to the rim manufacturers. I just tested the rims requested. The results showed for the failure mode considered, carbon is stronger than aluminium and that the quality of the carbon matters.

I only posted on this thread as I was searching the internet to pass some time, I noticed this thread and lots of people advising buying cheap carbon rims. I just thought, based on my experience, I’d say that this might not be the best route.

njee20, that’s a particularly agressive post. What the hell has the fact I sell my old parts on this thread got to do with anything. Do you think perhaps I’m a thief!

I’m an engineer trying to find some interesting chat. Not start a fight.

To be fair to the cheap Chinese rims, the test show they’re at least ad good as the Alu rims. its no surprise they’re not as good or strong as the more expensive carbon rims, but you wouldn’t necessarily expect that anyway. But the question really is not how strong are they, but are they strong enough, and benchmarking against the Alu rim the cheap Chinese rims do appear to be strong enough.

In my mind things can be too strong and tough. If you damage a rim, you wan to know about it. If its so tough that it can be damaged and weakened with little or no visual signs then that is potentially dangerous as you’ll keep riding on it. Seems to me the cheap Chinese rims might be a decent punt for the vast majority of us who are nowhere near pro standard.

@phutphutend – without saying too much on a public forum we do some work for you guys over at the you know where. I’m wondering if I’ve spoken to you about cycling in the coffee room now.

I’m a big fan of composite rims and would love to get involved in some development at the ‘you know where’ if there was any interest, both in terms of optimising the processing (what we do) and protecting against damage (what I specifically do).

njee20, that’s a particularly agressive post. What the hell has the fact I sell my old parts on this thread got to do with anything. Do you think perhaps I’m a thief!

Nope, you’re reading far too much into it. Perhaps there should’ve been a smiley or sommat.

Well, i’ve just ordered some of the wide 29er rims in Matt UD finish and 32h to transplant onto my Hope Hoops, my aim is to gain a bit of stiffness over the Crests for race wheels. I shall report on progress as I go.

DC I have just done the same 29er Matt wide UD there are 384g and 387g wheels came in at 1480g there so much better than the crests round the bends but are comfy aswell.

AndyL,

Come and have a chat. I can’t think who you are!

Will do next time I’m in, we normally work with your guys near the start of the office. Are you down towards HR?

That’s right.

You can’t miss me. I’m sat in a big throne, shouting orders at people!

still no reviews?
I’m wondering what they mean for “enduro” rim… As far I can see watching the enduro WS, there’s no a specific format. Would it outlast nasty descents with 5 ft drops, as you can find in some enduro races here in Italy?

33mm light bicycle am rims laced to hope 40t hubs vs superstar am rims laced to tesla hubs, which ones the right choice? Superstar are 100g ish heavier but going from past experiance a lot of that is probably in the very heavy hubs (often much heavier than claimed) so isnt as big a deal as weight in the rims. Does anyone have a true weight for the superstar rims?

Thread resurrection

9 months isnt exactly ancient history and so I decided Id rather post here were people had already mentioned these 2 wheels and even some first hand experience so thought it would be much more useful than creating a brand new thread

Fair play, I would as well. Or some may shout do,a search!

I have some light bike rims on hope pro 2s they are 650b I have given them some stick the last few weeks with no problems. I intend to take them to,the alps this summer.

I have 33mm DH spec 26″ rims from LightBicycle built onto Hopes, no drama so far.

Got the superstars for £450 so cheaper the light bicycles completes and arrived next day. 1660g for the carbon AM rims laced to teslas with sapim cx ray spokes and alu nipples. Happy with the weight considering its all in the heavier than claimed superstar hubs, rims are only 400g. Got the tech graphics with red nipples and red hubs and these are the sexiest thing Ive ever laid my eyes on

Plenty of pictures here [/url]