light bicycle carbon rims

Mine is arriving tomorrow :)) £32 duty/vat

I’ve got some CX rims on Novatec hubs. Should be arriving today

What’s the total, inc duty etc, cost of something like that?

Oscillate; 35mm 29er rims £260 (dodged customs charges), Hope Pro 2s (15/142) with DT supercomps and build £340 at LBS so £600 on the nose. Can’t help with the XD driver. Weight 1700g

Jamie – $665.00 USD plus ~£30 for ParcelFarce

cheers dave – very informative , for some reason (no idea why!) i thought it would be slightly cheaper than that, especially given id need a xd driver too at 65quid

Have people been putting a little oil inside the nipple eyelet before building as usual? Part of me thinks cheap carbon might soak it up lie a sponge and it’ll disintegrate into a bundle of fibres.

cheers dave – very informative , for some reason (no idea why!) i thought it would be slightly cheaper than that, especially given id need a xd driver too at 65quid

That’s expensive for hubs particularly.

I bought Amercian Classic hubs from here[/url], which come in whatever freehub body and axle spec you need as stock. Hubs are $363, which according to Google is £214, I paid £35 taxes or so, so £250. Spokes from Germany for £40 or so, and that comes out £50 cheaper for a far lighter hub. FWIW, mine on the hookless narrower 29er rims with Revolutions are 1370g.

I’d not want to pay £600 to end up with Hope hubs myself.

cheers njee – is it an issue with the american classic hubs in the uk if something goes wrong?

im one of those people thats really not to arsed on the hub front, as long as bearings are replaceable and they spin nicely that’ll do me (not that id want to run some cheap deore etc mind), the rims on the other hand are the main concern

so i could really get a decent set of hubs and spokes and carbon rims for 550ish then which isnt to bad in comparison to a set of enves i guess

cheers njee – is it an issue with the american classic hubs in the uk if something goes wrong?

No reason for it to be, they have full UK support, they’re just a chunk more expensive over here £207 and £109 plus the XD body from JRA. They do all the spares though if you’re worried.

£340 at LBS

For that you could buy the hubs from CRC and spokes from bike-discount, and sepend the change on a jig and tension meter and still be in profit.

Much as I’d like to build my own wheels I really don’t have time, probably not the patience either to be fair. I also draw the line at buying the rims from China and spokes from Germany and then asking my LBS to build them at minimal profit. God knows I spend enough with online sellers, nice to support the LBS now and then (although after they rebuilt them with Supercomps as I originally asked for I doubt they made much out of it, hey ho).
I’m happy with Hopes, had a set of E13s which were a pain in the arse, good to go back to simple reliable hubs with top drawer UK customer support. My main issue with the old Pro 2s was pickup lag, the new 40T has improved it enough to make it a non-issue for me. So yeah, happy with the price I paid for what I got, happy with the weight too.

My LBS is doing mine- I provided rims and my used hubs, he’s getting the spokes, seems fair to me and he’s happy too. Oh and he’s getting a go on them too to testride them as a perk.

<in the style of a Ferrero Rocher advert>
with your testride Mr Northwind you are spoiling them
<end>

My LBS is doing mine- I provided rims and my used hubs, he’s getting the spokes, seems fair to me and he’s happy too. Oh and he’s getting a go on them too to testride them as a perk.

Isn’t he insanely fast?

Yup but I’m sure he’ll look after them (after all, his reason for wanting to try these is that it’s too expensive replacing broken Enves. Hang on…)

well if they can survive him then they’ll be more than adequate for my flumping down the hill.

But ENVE have a limited lifetime crash replacement warranty so not expensive to replace.

Isn’t it in the region of £450 per rim though? I’s say that’s still pretty bloody expensive. Makes my overpriced complete wheelset seem positively bargainous at £600!

Rick Draper – Member

But ENVE have a limited lifetime crash replacement warranty so not expensive to replace.

50% of RRP for the crash replacement, still expensive in my book!

No idea as I have not had to use it.

Erm, makes your “not expensive to replace” statement somewhat uninformed doesn’t it?

The Light Bicycle warranty is pretty good. They replaced a friends rim for the cost of postage, which I think was somewhere in the region of £60 all in (there was also VAT and import duty of course). It was an older 26” 28mm rim that split, and it was replaced with a 33mm version.

I also emailed LB asking if my new 29er hookless rims bought unused from a mate would still be warrantied should I have an issue (I have a copy of the sales invoice), and they said yes, which is nice 🙂

Just built up my front wheel, which was very satisfying and amazingly it is round and all good!

Noticed the rims aren’t totally perfect as I was building, the bead walls have obviously been sanded so there is some variation in them as the wheel rotates, and there is a bit of a dip at the seam in the carbon on the bead seat, doesn’t bother me but someone expecting perfect rims might be disappoint. I used the inside of the rim to check radial trueness given the variation in the bead seat surface.

Am v tempted by a set of rims to combine it with a home-build challenge but…

What is ‘hookless’. To my mind I’m thinking like a tubular road rim, but I know that’s not right.

Also widths… wider is better, or not always?

I’d be using them for XC racing, and I’m 75 kg (11.5 stone)

So the kitchen scales of infinite wisdom and accuracy give me

760g front
895g rear

26″ 33mm on hope pro 2 evos and DT comps, brass nips.

I used 251mm spokes all round but with hindsight would use 252/3 for the front right side if i did it again.

Just wondering if a weekend in torridon is really the best test bed for my first built wheels, first cheap carbon, and first bead-hook less experience, or if that is too much random factor in one go in the mountains.

What is ‘hookless’. To my mind I’m thinking like a tubular road rim, but I know that’s not right.
Also widths… wider is better, or not always?
I’d be using them for XC racing, and I’m 75 kg (11.5 stone)

Hookless don’t have a ‘bead hook’ – a lip on the top of the rim to help keep tyres on, no longer needed as QC of rims and tyres is better.

Wider will give a better tyre footprint on wider tyres, but can be an issue with narrower tyres, plus they weigh more.

For XC racing I’d go for the narrower 29er hookless rims. They’re still wide, but a chunk lighter. I’ve built mine into American Classic hubs at 1370g.

Just built up some 35mm hookless 29er LB rims. I’m really impressed at how good LB were to deal with and how solid and well finished the rims are. They were also the easiest wheels I’ve ever built (even with revs)as they are so stiff they’re actually quite hard to get out of true! The hookless design seemed to work fine with 1 wrap of wide Stans tape – they went up very easily with a trackpump.

I’m using them for XC (they’re actually only 50g per wheel heavier than the Crests they replaced) Only had two rides so far but they’re certainly very nice to ride. Incredibly solid feeling for the weight. I’m not sure yet if I actually miss a bit of the flex of my old Crests but the solidity they add when riding over rocks / roots is really nice I must say. For XC I probably would go with the narrower rims, as suggested above. but the 35’s aren’t too much heavier if you fancy something wider / beefier. I don’t think you can go wrong with LB though, will have to see in the long term but so far I’d say they’re pretty sweet rims for what they cost.

Just built up a pair of 35mm 29ers too. About 1650g the pair which is a pretty good

Not got tyres on them yet so can’t comment on the ride

I see LB have some crazy light 29er XC rims up there. (320g +/- 15g) 27mm. Has anyone tried those?

http://www.light-bicycle.com/tubular-mtb-rim-carbon-mountain-29er-XC-super-lightweight-27mm-wide.html#.U7pRKD9MRXM

“Tubular” though, does that not mean you need special tyres and glue to hold them on?

That’s exactly what it means. Interesting though, tempted to try a set of tubs!

Related but not exactly to Rims, I’ve been looking at the LB Carbon Bar/Stem that they do I was just wondering if anyone else has ordered one, what the sizing of it is like, and how you found it comfort wise?

I generally prefer a Compact, ~120mm drop, round profile bar, but still relatively wide at 440mm, do they do one like that at all?

OK so I managed to get a tyre on and inflate it, but it has made the spoke tension decrease noticeably. I’ve seen this on stan’s rims, but the question is should I be aiming for them to be a good tension when the tyre is on?

I don’t have a tensionometer so just plucking compared to my other wheels. Anyone with 251mm DT comps happened to have made a video or recording of the tension theirs are at?!

thought I would put up my build got to ride them for the first time last week and I eco everything that’s already been said there just so stiff and direct but feel so light when riding.

35mm hookless 650b
hope hubs
cx ray spokes
sapim alloy nipples

was unsure on hub colour but im well chuffed with it now its on the bike (althou im sure it wont be to everyones taste lol.

I think those hubs look great with the frame. Don’t put any more purple on though, would be too much imo

Don’t put any more purple on though

.
Yeah, don’t “Go commando” on this one…

Ah. Just noticed the purple nipples. Is disappoint.

see I love the purple nipples aswell lol

I was going to put some more purple on it but now I have seen it I agree it needs no more.

Those purple hubs / nips are beautiful! but agree, the balance of acid yellow to purple is a delicate one – it looks great but you’re on a Llewelyn-Bowen knife edge there!

btw: I decided my new 29er 35mm hookless are more than I need for my lightweight XC riding, so if anyone wants a hardly used pair, I’ll be selling them in a month or so (as soon as the new Light Bicycle 27mm’s XC versions I just ordered arrive).

hmm yeah could be interested in them jimification, was going to buy some arch ex 29er rims but despite their size these LB ones are still lighter