Buying Carbon Rims

pprendeville

considering buying carbon rims and getting them laced up in LBS. will probably go the chinese/hong kong route for the rims as it's the only way i'll ever be able to afford them.

as this is a relatively new field for me what considerations should i bear in mind. i can think of the following:

1: spoke count - what's the most beneficial?
2: size of rim - 42, 60, 88 - again which would be the best to go for?
3: best/most economical spokes/hubs to get. have heard a bit about sapim and dt swiss. are these high end or what?
4: ditto for skewers

what would people make of these bad boys (fully built)?
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/103470/210854651-433063107/Yishun-88mm-tubular-carbon-wheelset-700C-bike-wheel-cycling-wheelset.html

AstraMonti

1) Spoke count depends mainly on your weight. If you are light enough you can even go to 16/20 but for average weight I would go to 20/24.
2) 88 would be too much for everyday use and 42 is on the low side of the deep. 60 is probably the best bet.
3) Novatec are cheap and are considered fairly strong and light for the price.
For an aero wheel I would go with Sapim CX ray spokes.
4) Skewers go for the planetx ones, cheap and very light.

From what I 've read Yishun are a safe chinese option to go with. Also check http://wheelsmith.co.uk/, he has good deals and his wheels are very well regarded.

I am in the same boat at the moment, looking to built a pair of tubs in the next couple of months.

Lumen

I've found 50mm rims are fine in strong winds. Not sure about 60s. Anything over 60 is TT bike territory, although maybe a 66 on the back if you like non-matching wheels (I don't).

Ride quality gets worse with deeper section.

DirkVoodoo

I just bought a set of wheels from Derek at www.wheelsmith.co.uk after Diarmuid recommended I try the handbuilt route. I don't know if many of you have noticed, but I am a bit of a brand snob and I was really hoping to go for a set of Boras or even the Lumen-tested Soul wheels. However, I was on a budget after selling my Cosmics and the price was within my range.

I called Derek and we had a chat about which wheels would be best for me. He recommended the standard Gigantex rim over the Ultralight version due to the fact that these wheels would be seeing a lot of Irish roads and a stronger wheel on the road was more useful than a light wheel in the bin. It was finished off with novatec superlight hubs and sapim cx-ray spokes (20 front, 24 rear).

The 50mm depth makes it an all round racing wheel: light enough to climb but still aerodynamic enough on the flat.

Last night was the first proper test and I was pretty happy with them. I have no power meter so any report I make is based solely on my "feeling", but they accelerated well and felt a lot more lively than the cosmics they replaced. The tubs were nice and smooth too, especially through corners although a lot of them were made with heart-in-mouth as I kept expecting to roll one but Dave Mc did a great job putting them on after my own failed attempt.

Derek was great to deal with, very communicative and the wheels arrived perfectly true (still are after a few bumps last night). Really happy with them and glad I went the handbuilt route over a more expensive set of branded wheels.

doozerie

@DirkVoodoo, Do you mind me asking how much you paid for those wheels, even a ballpark figure? Now worries if you don't want to say.

I noticed them last night and wondered what they were. Waiting around before the club races is great for some armchair judging. I can remember as a kid the way that everyone would eye everyone else up and down at mass and pass comments like "well, would you look at him, getting awful fond of himself with that new tie, isn't he. And his poor wife having to wear the same earrings for the second week in a row, the poor craytur. Tsk!", the next generation equivalent is eyeballing people's frames and wheels on the road. Those wheels of yours defy categorisation due to the complete lack of showy/any labels, I'll have to consult the family manual on bitchyness for suggestions on how to react to them.

Colonialboy

Theres a review in last weeks Cycling plus magazine of Aero wheels. makes for interesting read. Metions Easton EA69, HED 60 and American Cos? or other as recomendations,
things to consider are not only the weight but the weight distribution .. ie weight closer to the hub is easier to move than weight at the rim ,
talks of how different aero wheels handle in a linear or non-linear fashion in the wind , if a deep rim is somewhat predictable and not jerky in the wind then its better than a wheel that performs non-linearly un-predictably ..etc etc ..

DirkVoodoo

They worked out ~ E750 delivered, all the prices are on the wheelsmith website so you can work out what the shipping might have been from that, I think it was around 40 euro, maybe more. Can't argue with the price really, 1440g for a set of tubs might not be the lightest but you can build them up even lighter if you want.

I agree, I had toyed with getting some custom decals made up, but I like the stealth look.