Gravel rims. Road, or mountain bike?

I’m after building myself some new gravel wheels. Plan is to run 45 it 50mm tyres so not expecting to get above 40psi.

Looking at carbon from Nextie and Lightbicycle. Seems that, for a given size, road rins are heavier. I assume this is so they can handle higher pressures. I think in my use case, the most likely failure mode is smacking the bead on a rock.

However, if the road rim is heavier, it’s because there is more material and more material does imply more strength.

So maybe I’ve answered my own question and I need an MTB rim. I’m certainly not going to see much “aero gainz” on my rides.

Next question, when comparing Nextie and Lightbicycle for 25mm internal width about 25mm deep, Nextie is about 310g, 135kg system weight and ATSM 3. By comparison, for a similar weight, the LB is 90 or 100kg rider weight or, for a rim to offer 120-130kh rider, you’re looking closer to 400g.

I can’t come up with a reason for the difference. I’ve had great results with LB before. So, are Nextie overly optimistic or are LB overly cautious? Or can you really get such different results when both are a mix of T700 and T800 Toray carbon?

What does a nextie or lb rim rush you now. When I looked last Feb I didn’t see much point in shouldering the risk and ended up with some wtb czr i23 for around the same price on my cutty.

Didn’t seem the bargain they once seemed.

True, they’re not the bargain they once were. It’s a bit about the weight saving, although the real weight saving is 30mm internal rim, not so much the 25.

But, what I really want from it is the extra meat around the bead. One of the best thing about hookless in my opinion

I’ve always used XC MTB rims or Gravel rims.  Road, even allroad always seem either heavy or narrow or some combination of the two.

Wheel Parts Shop have these XC 29er rims available for €189 at 300g

https://www.wheel-parts.shop/en/mtb-29er-h22-w33-carbon-rim.html

Thanks, not come across them before.

I’ve got 3 pairs of LB WRxx in use, in different depths.  My favourites are the 50’s for some reason but they’ve all been trouble free for my near 100kg all up weight.  I use them with 32mm GP5000 and 43mm Gravel Kings.

What sort of terrain? I tend to do 90s mountain biking around the Peak. I’ve already dented the original alu rims but they are cheap basic house brand things

My partner and I have gravel bikes and we both got wheels built up using these Funnrun rims.  I’ve had light bike rims and they are good, but they are now pretty pricey.

The funnrunn ones, I got 32 hole 35mm deep and built the up with dt hubs.  They weight in at 1600gm and are completely bomb proof.  25mm internals and run tubeless.  Totally transformed my ride.

Got my partner the 28-hole ones and same good quality.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005160317736.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.74.5a941802wCW8I9

Running 40c tires

So, are Nextie overly optimistic or are LB overly cautious? Or can you really get such different results when both are a mix of T700 and T800 Toray carbon?

May depend how they arrived at the rider weight limit. Is it an impact or load test, spoke pull limit etc? I’d guuess it was related to spoke tension limit, not the tension to build but axle load limit transferred to the rim. That is a guess though.

FWIW.  I have both LB and Nextie rims (about 10 sets across 7 bikes) and haven’t had a problem with either and do target the lighter rims. Most of mine are in the 25-35mm depth range and are 250-350g and 24-30mm internal width.  I’m 72kg and they’re all 24or28h.

Thanks Daffy. I’m a good bit heavier than you but it’s useful to hear from someone who has ridden both extensively.