Light Bicycle Carbon Rims/Wheels (Review Included on 1st Post))

[kbekus]

Yup and makes em that much more prone to rocks. Mine are munched to hell :frusty:

*sob*, don't tell me that :yuck: My bike's a trailer princess anyway, I don't actually ride it.

Measured them today, they came in at 413g each with an ERD of 513mm using Roger Musson's method. Light Bicycle quotet a 510mm ERD and a 420g weight. These are their RM26C05 rims, 38mm external, 31.6mm internal. Hubs and spokes ordered from Bike24 - the spokes came in at 90c each for DT Swiss Competition 2.0/1.8/2.0 J spokes in black. My LBS in the city quoted $3.15 per spoke

 

[GRPABT1]

Light Bicycle all mountain/downhill or Mavic Crossmax XL?

I've been reading up a lot on potential wheel upgrades to shave some weight off my Rocky mountain altitude 750 and I've pretty much narrowed it down to these 2 rim choices. I'm leaning towards the carbon wheels for their width and I can actually get them cheaper with the hope hubs than I can find the Mavic's. Was thinking of getting the DH spec on the rear and the all mountain for the front just for extra strength. Are these rims really up to the task of all mountain duties? Anyone here had them for over a year on a 6" travel bike ridden hard?

 

[wombat]

So what's the consensus in erd for the 35mm 650b rims? Anyone got a number or so I need to wait till I get mine and measure them?

 

[eastie]

So what's the consensus in erd for the 35mm 650b rims? Anyone got a number or so I need to wait till I get mine and measure them?

I've done three sets of LB rims and each time used the erd they have, used this excel download http://sheldonbrown.com/rinard/spocalc.htm and they have been been spot on (no short spokes, none protruding past the nipple head). Their weights are always going to be off a little due to the nature of the materials and construction, but they are good at tweaking to within the range of what you want. Spokes can be a couple of mm either way, but the closer you can get the easier the build will come up to tension.

The lighter xc rims I just did were the most difficult of the three sets to true/dish and get even tension, the other wider/heavier rims remained laterally true through the build and I just had to keep checking radial trueness, dish and even tension.

 

[teK--]

*sob*, don't tell me that :yuck: My bike's a trailer princess anyway, I don't actually ride it.

Measured them today, they came in at 413g each with an ERD of 513mm using Roger Musson's method. Light Bicycle quotet a 510mm ERD and a 420g weight. These are their RM26C05 rims, 38mm external, 31.6mm internal. Hubs and spokes ordered from Bike24 - the spokes came in at 90c each for DT Swiss Competition 2.0/1.8/2.0 J spokes in black. My LBS in the city quoted $3.15 per spoke

Nothing a bit of clear nail polish hasn't fixed

 

[Sputnick]

A pair of 30mm wide UD Matte 26" rims arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday. Claimed weights were 360+-15 grams each, actual weights are 363g and 357g, Not Bad!!
Have a pair of ano purple Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs sitting here, waiting on spokes to arrive so I can build these babies up!

I opted for the 30mm rather than 33mm for weight reasons, and im pretty light on wheels.

These will be replacing Hope sp xc3 wheels which are a 24h Pro 2 hub laced to a stans crest rim. Super light xc wheelset, which has only just started to show signs of cracking at the eyelets after beating the shit out of them in Queenstown last year and two years of abuse from me, and I didnt even buy them new!

 

[higiff]

after having my 650b dh rims sitting around for 2 weeks I went to order spokes / hubs and checked their site for ERD. I noticed that they had just released a new updated 650b dh rim which is a little wider and deeper (aka stronger) and was a little annoyed as they didnt tell me these were in the works.
Anyway they are swapping them over for free of charge, all I had to do was post the rims up to their sydney warehouse. $20 bucks for shipping and that would just cover the cost difference between the rims.
Pretty stoked on their customer service now

 

[wombat]

I've done three sets of LB rims and each time used the erd they have, used this excel download http://sheldonbrown.com/rinard/spocalc.htm and they have been been spot on (no short spokes, none protruding past the nipple head). Their weights are always going to be off a little due to the nature of the materials and construction, but they are good at tweaking to within the range of what you want. Spokes can be a couple of mm either way, but the closer you can get the easier the build will come up to tension.

The lighter xc rims I just did were the most difficult of the three sets to true/dish and get even tension, the other wider/heavier rims remained laterally true through the build and I just had to keep checking radial trueness, dish and even tension.

I haven't seen any spec on the LB site for rim bed thickness, I imagine they're pretty chunky. The ERD they list doesn't include that does it?

 

[pharmaboy]

after having my 650b dh rims sitting around for 2 weeks I went to order spokes / hubs and checked their site for ERD. I noticed that they had just released a new updated 650b dh rim which is a little wider and deeper (aka stronger) and was a little annoyed as they didnt tell me these were in the works.
Anyway they are swapping them over for free of charge, all I had to do was post the rims up to their sydney warehouse. $20 bucks for shipping and that would just cover the cost difference between the rims.
Pretty stoked on their customer service now

What's this Sydney Warehouse you speak of?

This surely ust a light bicycle set of rims?

 

[GRPABT1]

Has anyone used envygo carbon wheels?

 

[stickso]

Has anyone used envygo carbon wheels?

I came across the Envygo site a few days back and I don't know what their delivery time is like but don't know if I'd pay that much more for quick local delivery compared to the Chinese brands. I just received a wheelset from Far Sports which took 3 weeks from order to delivery and cost me $700 with Novatec convertible hubs. The quality appears to be very high and they're far lighter than the stock 27.5" wheels on my Anthem.

Good on them though if they can get an Aussie business going. How price sensitive is everyone when it comes to dealing with a local business over waiting for an import?

 

[GRPABT1]

The price I'm looking at is very good. And speaking with them is confidence inspiring as they seem to stand by their product and give a 1 year warranty. Claims should be easy being they're on the gold coast

 

[higiff]

What's this Sydney Warehouse you speak of?

This surely ust a light bicycle set of rims?

Yep sure was a set of LB rims that i sent there and they are replacing.
They just gave me an address and said send them to our Australian warehouse

 

[wkkie]

How are everyone's carbon wheels holding up maintenance wise against the alloy rims? Less maintenance? Harder to get out of straight? Less flat spots? Is there a reason to upgrade aside from the weight?

 

[Jubas]

How are everyone's carbon wheels holding up maintenance wise against the alloy rims? Less maintenance? Harder to get out of straight? Less flat spots? Is there a reason to upgrade aside from the weight?

I've performed bugger all maintenance on mine since building. Still run true, no signs of wear bar a few small superficial scratches, and still nice and stiff

Weight is only one aspect (and not a great one to be honest given some allow rims available these days)

 

[stickso]

A few improvements I noticed on my maiden carbon wheel ride yesterday

* Less chatter through the bars
* Better tracking through rough stuff
* Suspension feels as though it's working better (less unsprung weight?)
* Faster acceleration when mashing the pedals out of the seat
* Cornering feels more planted (24mm internal rim width)

This is in NW Sydney (rocky) on a 27.5" Anthem with 120mm forks and 2.25" Ardent front tyre & RaRa rear. Subtle but noticeable differences.

 

[GRPABT1]

Bit the bullet and ordered some Carbon wheels for my Rocky mountain altitude 750 yesterday. Scored some Envygo wheels for $500 as ex display stock. 1 year warranty from an Aussie company, good hubs and sapim spokes, 30mm external 25mm internal width 27.5 rims. Reportedly about 1500grams. I'll report back when they arrive how they look and then how they perform when I get them fitted.

 

[Jeffgre_6163]

How are everyone's carbon wheels holding up maintenance wise against the alloy rims? Less maintenance? Harder to get out of straight? Less flat spots? Is there a reason to upgrade aside from the weight?

I've had my LB wheels (650b, UD matt finish, 30mm, Hope Pro 2 hubs, Sapim spokes) for about 8 months now. I ride the bike 3-4 times a week
No issues what so ever., and I mean none at all.
Could not be happier with them.
Carbon wheels are not just about the weight. Advantages include how stiff they are which transforms the way the bike steers, the way the seem to damp out vibrations and the way they seem to change the way your bike sounds on the trail
Highly recommended upgrade no matter what brand you choose.

 

[wombat]

So I'm gonna need to get myself some spokes soon if I want to get this done over chrissy (assuming the rims arrive), and based on the DT spoke calc and LB's ERD, I need 266/267mm spokes front and rear.

Can anyone who has the 650b 35mm rims on Pro 2s confirm this as being about right?

 

[houli77]

So I'm gonna need to get myself some spokes soon if I want to get this done over chrissy (assuming the rims arrive), and based on the DT spoke calc and LB's ERD, I need 266/267mm spokes front and rear.

Can anyone who has the 650b 35mm rims on Pro 2s confirm this as being about right?

I have hope hub/same rim built by LB and I have spare spokes which came with. I'll measure them when I get home tonight if no one else knows