Deep section carbon rims

BBH

Guys,

Sorry for the wheel thread! Really keen on opinions. What would you go for??

Looking for a nice pair of deep carbon rims (50-60mm) for my new ‘super-best bike’

Wheels are for racing (4th), sportives, summer rides and also to ‘tart’ up the nice bike!!

Would prefer clinchers rather than tubs and am looking for ‘stronger’ wheels as I am not a feather weight!! Have heard zipps can be a bit flexy, and would also like to avoid purchase from china just for comeback reasons (although I have read many good things about them!!).

Current choices are:

Planet X carbon clinchers
Gigantex 50mm from wheelsmiths
Reynolds Strike
Mavic cosmic carbones SL(e)
(zipp 404 – if I can find some cheap enough!!)

Any comments on the above or other ideas would be most welcome! I am unlikely to be in a position to purchase some decent wheels after this for a while so I would like to get it right. Cheers

simon t

RS80's £499 at planet x?

pilot_pete

I have Gigantex 50mm clinchers from Wheelsmith with Novatec Superlight hubs and Sapim CX ray spokes. All I can say is that they are absolutely awesome. They certainly roll very well and carry speed well on the flats and downhill and don't hinder climbing compared to my 30mm alloy rimmed old wheels.

They are also incredibly strong and hardly flex at all. I recently almost had an off hitting a road full of potholes at the bottom of a 50mph+ descent. I bunny hopped the first load and then smashed into the next, bursting both tyres with the impact and fearing the worst for my wheels. Upon inspection there was not a mark on them and they are still true, I was absolutely gobsmacked and could not believe they had survived let alone in perfect condition! Incredible and I feel for sure that an alloy rim would certainly have been damaged; the impact they took was incredible.

Only downside was the braking with the supplied brake blocks, which was truly awful. I spoke to Derek and he said they are supplied with the rims when he gets them. I fitted swissstop pads and the change was immense. Dry braking is every bit as good as alloy (with standard Campag pads) and wet braking is improved enough to be usable.

So overall I am very, very impressed with these wheels, they have transformed my Pinarello FP3 and the bike gets many admiring glances and comments too! Worth every penny of the £680 I paid for them.

Hope this helps.

PP

whojanicanackerov

+1 for Derek @ wheelsmith i`ve had the 50mm Gigantex tubs and had the same experience they are fantastico.Derek is a very good wheel builder and a very nice chap.The amount of advice he gave me the first time round and the quality of the wheels he built me will ensure he gets my money the next time i buy.So if your reading this Derek thanks and a Happy new year to you.

ilm_zero7

BBH - no Eastons in your line up? I would also look at Strada too before you decide. They only other thing to consider is if you are so committed to carbon pace that you forego the performance of alloy braking surfaces - neither of my two carbon wheelsets outperform my Shamals under braking

phil s

I have a barely used set of wheelsmith carbon clinchers, same setup as described above. Selling for £600 with a pair of dtswiss padded wheelbags and a brand new pair of brake shoes with pads for carbon rims, so you won't have to fiddle about pushing pads out of your existing brake shoes. I'll also throw in a pair of inner tubes with long valves.

kingrollo

Do you want full carbon rims - or carbon wheels with an alloy braking surface, which means you can use normal brake blocks some that fall into this category:-

Mavic Cosmic Carbone
Shimano C50
Soul CA50

The souls are the cheapest and lightest - and what I would buy.

Cornish-J

cosmic carbone sl - i use them as my daily wheels, bullet proof - mp3 unrestricted warranty available for like 60quid for 2 years .. say no more!

not as light as zipps but sooo strong.

BBH

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am looking for full carbon rims although was considering an alloy brake track too - just because of the horror stories I have heard about breaking - are carbon tracks that bad?? Do the yellow swisstop make a big difference??

Nice to hear about the positive reviews of the wheelsmith ones. Have been really tempted by these, mainly because they are built for you and also have read many positive reviews on here about them. Vain, I know, but how do the hubs sound - clicking?? The reason I ask is because I love lound freehubs!!

Felt so good: was thinking about easton ea90's but I have heard they are a bit flexy?? Dont know how true this is. Thanks for the strada link will also research now.

Kingrollo: Soul, are these the ones from singapore? Thanks I hadnt considered these, I am off to research!!

Cornish: I have always liked mavic wheels and currently have some elites which I love. The mavics look good and I am after a strong pair of wheels although I may not be riding them all year and so I was thinking of 'special' stealth-like pair. I may go and see some in my lbs this week.

Anyone heard of/ridden from here:
http://www.fuertebici.com/

Was thinking about these for the 60mm carbons, but are they just a site that buys the chinese rims and builds them for you and then sells them on?? (I do not want to sell them short though!).

nochekmate

If you are considering racing, then make sure that you are racing on wheels that you may need/can afford to replace -no good pushing the boat out for a big purchase and then seeing them ruined in a crash. Not sure deep rims are the order of the day for 4th Cat racing tbh.