light bicycle carbon rims

Njee, Bikes and most parts tend to be 30% cheaper in HK than the UK, I couldn’t afford a Mach6 (or the bikes before that) if I still lived and worked in the UK!

Interesting, in which case the LBs are expensive and Enves are cheap!

Just a quick update, just got some 35mm 29er LB rims, they had an ERD that was 596mm, which is about 7mm out. I bought spokes which accounted for a 3mm difference in ERD, and they laced up perfectly with no thread showing.

That tallies with what I found – I ended up going 4mm longer on spokes, which is probably excessive (but only available in even lengths and I wasn’t convinced 2mm would be enough).

Rickon, how come the 29″ rims work out so much cheaper?

I bought them through a 3rd party, rather than direct through Light Bicycle. Lots of feedback on the 3rd party – like 10,000+ feedback reviews. Just economies of scale of buying lots of them.

I’m trying not to be a hater but these uber wide rimz just seem silly to me, the tyre tread on some of ’em looks just about flat. That can’t be good IMO. I just can’t see needing a rim any wider than a Mavic 823 and that’s running a 2.5 old school Maxxis. 721’s were/are also plenty wide enough to give a really nice square tyre shape on 2.3’s. Is this just a bit snake oily with guys looking for an advantage that isn’t there?

I’m trying not to be a hater but these uber wide rimz just seem silly to me

but teh enduro

😀 lulz!!

Afternoon all, just done my calculations for a set of the 35mm wide Hookless 650B, just wondered if you could check my maths before I get in touch with LB.

2 x Rims @ 175USD EA
+ 3.5% PP Fee
+ 50USD Postage
Total – 412.25USD/ £285 in Google currency converter

(+ unknown customs/ Parcelfarce handling fees when it hits the UK)

Anything I’ve missed?

Thanks, Ben.

How do these compare to the Supertar carbon AMs which are on sale at the moment?

Benn use LB’s ebay.com site to buy, no issues lots of communication & no additional pp fee (as per there site)..

Can you still pick the rim finish, hole drilling etc?

Don’t suppose you’ve got a link have you?

Ta’, Ben.

Yep, spec them exactly how you want.. LB ebay linky.
See the other current carbon rim thread, for the other option extra/benefit you might wa to to partake off.

Thanks for the heads up, will go have a rummage now!

Edit; I see you mean Superstar, afraid I’m oot!

Got my 29er 35mm hookless and built them up yesterday, used some of their cx-ray rip offs with alu nips.

ERD measured 595.

Both rims were within a couple of grams of each other at 420g.

The relace with new rims and spokes has saved me 430g (quite a bit more than i anticipated) on the pair of wheels over some hope enduro rims and sapim race spokes.

Rims/wheelset seems very, very nice. Went UD matte finish with no stickers, stealth.

used some of their cx-ray rip offs with alu nips.

Eh? You mean Pillar spokes, which are in no way a Sapim ‘rip off’…?

Are there any compatibility issues to be aware of with tubeless sealant and carbon rims? Just asking before I splash a load of stans onto some LB rims and a bontrager rim strip.

(Sorry if this has been covered, hard to find in a big thread).

Nope, it’ll be fine.

I’ve bought some of the 35mm rims and gave them to an lbs to build up. Just had them on the phone asking if any ferrules came with the rims for nipples to sit on or do they just sit straight on the carbon. He says it doesn’t look very beefed up so isn’t confident of building them without ferrules. So which way is right?
Sorry if it doesn’t make sense, I know nothing about wheel building. TIA

mine have no ferrules, a year on, 2 ews and a load of other races, no problems

Use their live messenger service or drop them a mail. Usually get a quick reply

Consensus here seems to be that they are not necessary (assuming you mean nipple washers.)

Cheers for the quick replies. Sounds like they’re not needed then.

Looking to build up a set of the 30mm internal 29er rims very soon, but undecided on spoke choice.

The wheels are for my 29er FS (Transition Smuggler), and will be getting a fair bit of middle-aged hammer, not massive airtime, but rocky Scottish trails.

I’ve decided to get some DTSwiss 240s hubs, as I’ve always fancied a set of these, so weight should be pretty keen regardless of what spoke/nipple combo is used.

So far have narrowed it down to:

DT Comp Race except for rear DS, where DT Comp (new intermediate spoke, between a Comp and Revolution)
Stick with DT Comp throughout (always built my wheels with these previously)
Sapim CX-Ray – flipping expensive though, so not really sure if I’m all that keen on these
Sapim Race – pretty much the same as DT Comp (2,1.8, 2)

Anything else to consider?

Nipples – always used brass, although have heard that aluminium ones are much better than they used to be. Any issues here?

cx-ray are cheaper (about £1.50 per spoke) from some of the German retailers if that sways you

I’ve been looking at these;

http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/product/sapim-d-light-spokes/%5B/url%5D

That’s interesting – The D-Light look similar to the Comp Race – hence why I was thinking of mixing the spokes to give the driveside rear and possibly front disc side more strength.

I guess where I’m going is that I know that the stresses on spokes on a 29er disc wheel are pretty high, so super-light spokes will likely have more issues than heavier round profile ones. Bladed should be better to build up, but £££. The CX-Ray are looking the best, but can’t find them at £1.50 yet.

I used D-light all round on the set I built – no issues so far.

Couldn’t see much real value in the extra cost of CX-Rays, and there were enough murmurs of issues with ultra thin spokes, that D-Lights seemed the sensible compromise. Comp Race sound much the same.

I think he was saying they’re £1.50 cheaper per spoke.

That would make sense, thanks, but still works out as £111 just for the spokes, versus around £25-30 for DT Comps. I guess what I might be looking for something in the middle – light as possible whilst still being good and strong. Moon on a stick?

Sorry Gary, missed your comments. Thanks for that, that’s reassuring to know.

I think I’ll go for Comp Race, and beef them up with Comps on rear DS.

Just ordered a set of 38mm AM/DH rims from LB website.
I’ll be building them onto my old Flow wheels, so Superstar Switch Evo hubs and buying some DT Swiss comp spokes from Rosebikes. £30 inc del and brass 14mm nipples with plenty of spares (will have enough to build a new wheel after).

Very quick replies to emails from LB. Excellent service so far 🙂

I got some PSA XTRA1420 spokes from LB when i got my 30mm 29er rims, they’re cheap cx-ray copies, they’ve been good to me so far.

I’m 20 something who does lots of jumping, they’ve been fine.

I think it was about £1 a spoke with alu nipples, pretty good value i reckon.

Gavin, out of curiosity, why are you mixing spoke types on the rear wheel? Why not just stick with Comps on both sides?

I’ve only built a few wheels in my time so interested to hear your reasoning.

Another option (because obviously what you need is more choice) is the Laser- it’s literally an unsquashed CX-Ray, so weighs exactly the same. Not quite as strong, as it’s had less forging, but still strong, and much cheaper.

I’ve got some very long lived disk wheels with laser spokes – but they were built by Roger Musson. I went more conservative with my own build as I know I didn’t do a brilliant job of building non disk wheels with Revolutions.

Some useful observations on the different Sapim options here, including decisions to mix spokes at the rear (caveat, only scanned it, looks good but may contain urban myth)

Choosing spokes

Paul – its just something I’ve read about. I’ve just built wheels with Comps before, but the Comp Race seems a good new spoke, which trims the weight slightly. The theory of beefing up the driveside is that the stronger, heavier spokes resist flex more than the lighter, springier spokes. Roger Musson mentions it a few times.

deanfbm – wish I’d spotted that a few weeks ago, although guessing that they can ship them pretty quickly, that could still be a runner.

At the moment, the total built weight is about 1,596g using the Comp/Comp Race combo, but as I said it’s not all about keeping the weight low, I’m also keen to make them as strong as I can (without totally breaking the bank!).

NW – Laser, I’ll add that to the option list.

I built up a pair of LB 27mm (internal) rims to Hope XC3 hubs with Sapim Laser’s and DT Alu nipples. They built up easily and are much stiffer than the Crest rims /Race spokes they replaced. Very impressed so far.

I’m about to collect a pair of Nextie rims being built by Malcolm from Cycle Clinic, they’re 40mm external front/35mm rear and he recommended Lasers and alu nipples, I’ve settled on brass though. Hoping they’ll be pretty light.

I’m thinking of ordering a pair of 35 or 38mm rims in the next few days, If anyone has ordered a set recently and has changed their mind feel free to send me an email. 🙂

Just received mine this morning, and despite double-checking with them on ERD, they are 3 mm out. Quoted as 589 and measured 592mm. It’s not a massive difference, but the spokes will be 1.5mm shorter than optimal.

Question for the wheel builders out there, would you build knowing the spokes were a touch short?

Got mine this morning 8) Hookless 29er, 32 spokes – 352g and 355g. Can not wait!!! They’re really quite pretty in an ooooooooh carbonz kinda way (they’re just black though…)!

I scan see there’s a flaw in yours from here