Carbon Enduro / AM wheels - Advice

[T-Bob]

So I've never really thought about carbon rims until I had a chat to someone who had some that he brought in from China. He's a reasonably hard riding guy and to be honest I'd written off all carbon hoops as something for XC, light guys and not really tough enough to survive for the price. 

 

I've been tentatively be looking about for a tough set of 29'r rims but have pretty much no idea on what and where.  Have been directed to https://www.lightbicycle.com and these in particular. I was thinking that going for the internal reinforcement would be a good idea (?). 

https://www.lightbicycle.com/carbon-29er-mtb-rims-38mm-wide-hookless-tubeless-compatible-strongest.html

 

Local options aren't really on the cards with South not really doing a 29'r enduro type rim and Dark horse mainly XC. 

There are all the normal, stories about breaking and damage and ti seems to be just part of the deal. You can stuff alu, you can stuff carbon. Are they more prone or is it just that when people pay alot more for rims, their disappointment is much more when you break them and can't pop to the local shop to grip a replacement? 

Obviously wider the rims, the lower the pressure but also higher the chance of striking the rim so would a Huck Norris be a good investment if I were to buy some?
 

I did see these guys https://we-are-one-composites.odoo.com and despite being much more expensive that the china ones they are cheaper than South Industries and built up in Canada and seem to be angled toward a more all round / tougher type of riding and go a 50% crash replacement.

Any advice on this would be great... oh and I did do a search and couldn't find too much recently here. Been researching a fair bit and now to turn to the brains trust of Le Hub! 

[ALLMTB]

I've got nothing against carbon and would love a set of nice enduro carbon hoops myself, but this extract from an article on Vitalmtb sums up my thoughts exactly: 

 

http://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Wheelsets,44/Sixth-Element/27-5,20040#product-reviews/2861

 

"...At this point, we feel it is appropriate to look back at some of our recent experiences with carbon rims. During the course of our testing over the past 12 months, we have documented the following carbon rim failures: three SRAM wheels, one Giant wheel, one Intense wheel, one e*thirteen wheel, one ENVE wheel, and one Factor (Novatec) wheel. Whilst it is probably too early to call an end to the carbon wheel trend, as a rider you should know what you are getting into. Compared to aluminum, carbon wheels will at some point break as opposed to dent or deform. Both scenarios can be ride-ending, although chances are much higher of being able to salvage an aluminum rim trailside or at all for that matter. And of course, in case you do end up needing to replace a rim, your wallet won’t like the carbon option. In the case of the wheelset on review here, our two incidents would both have been covered by warranty, but you’re still looking at potential downtime and the general inconvenience of extra faffing that comes with it. Choose knowingly, especially if you ride hard!..."

 

As far as I know, cSixx is local as well:

https://www.csixx.co.za/collections/rims/products/enduro-9series-rim

[BaGearA]

Putting in huck norris will take away any weight advantage you would have gained.

 

Crabon rides very rough/harsh in my experience 

 

But having light rims makes a huge difference to how the bike handles (light rotational weight)

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Ben, if you absolutely must, then consider the guys at xm carbon speed as well. 

 

http://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/

 

v12 man has had several of their rims, and his opinion is that they are bloody excellent. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

their DH strength rim is http://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/Productinfo.asp?f=1400 but it's heavy @ 560g. 

 

This is their 34mm internal assymetric rim @ 460g

 

http://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/Productinfo.asp?f=1547

 

and then their normal 34mm wide rim

 

http://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/Productinfo.asp?f=1281

[NicoBoshoff]

ONly reason I won't go back to carbon hoops in event of failure is $$$, but other than that I'm a believer.  The stiffness equates to harshness, yes, but it also equates to far more efficiency and more accuracy when the chunder gets real.

[Mohs]

http://www.nextie.net

[Grey Hubs]

Bought at set of Stans Bravo. I mainly do XC stuff, but I'm hard on wheels, so decided to get a heavier, stronger carbon set...let's see if they last.

 

Impressive video:

[T-Bob]

Thanks all, as I said it's not something I'd considered before and I was interested in what the general feel was. The cost is a massive factor and replacing them is going to hurt. With my spanks I'm cool with them taking a hammering, it's accepted and I'll replace them when they are all out of shape but I have this sneaky feeling that I'd be kid-gloving my rides on carbon to stop damaging them... and that is the perfect way to mess it all up! 

My bike is heavy and weight was / is never really a factor. It's more about the different feel and improving the ride... plus I have a nice set of hubs gathering dust!

Think I'll wait for Grey Hubs to feedback and get a couple more rides on friends ones to see if I can break theirs I like the difference. 

Shot guys. 

[jcza]

I bought a set of 30mm rims from lightbicycle and had them built locally. So far so good.

 

 

 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I bought a set of 30mm rims from lightbicycle and had them built locally. So far so good.

 

 

 

yeah, they are good. They have an excellent reputation. 

 

Also - if the young Prins can run them on his Tallboy at teh speeds he does, and take the hits they do, then you won't have an issue, Ben. 

[GrahamS2]

There's very little weight difference between carbon and alu, but carbon is heaps stiffer. In the real world this means less flex, better power transfer and more accurate bike handling. It also means they are harsher and less forgiving, but that's a trade-off you need to decide on.

[River Rat]

My experience with carbon rims has been very good. I tend to hammer the downhills and I do the odd Enduro event and they have performed way better than I expected in the 3 years that I have had them. In fact this year on day 3 of the Sabie X about 30% of the nipples failed on the spokes of my rear wheel and I thought my race was over, but the rims held out for over 30kms. I could feel them deform in the corners only to whip back into position, quite unnerving but impressive nonetheless.

 

I didn't think I would say this but I would prefer them over Aluminum for my type of riding.

[T-Bob]

My experience with carbon rims has been very good. I tend to hammer the downhills and I do the odd Enduro event and they have performed way better than I expected in the 3 years that I have had them. In fact this year on day 3 of the Sabie X about 30% of the nipples failed on the spokes of my rear wheel and I thought my race was over, but the rims held out for over 30kms. I could feel them deform in the corners only to whip back into position, quite unnerving but impressive nonetheless.

 

I didn't think I would say this but I would prefer them over Aluminum for my type of riding.

 

thanks for sharing, which ones did you pick up?