Carbon rim or alloy rim wheel for climbing roadbike?

Arequipa

Hi!
I hope you are all well...
I am building a lightweight, climbing roadbike..
It will be carbon frame with rim brakes..
I am looking for strong and light-ish wheels...
I am thinking Hunt race aero with alloy rims...
But I have been looking at a few carbon rim wheels, with basalt braking surface...one from Deng fu...
It will be a good weather, climbing bike.. not for everyday....

Which would you go for?
I love the look of carbon rim wheels, but have never bought or ridden them before...

Thank you!

A.

magicbastarder

i have no idea really on this topic, but just out of curiosity checked the hunt website. within their own range, you don't really save much weight moving from aluminium to carbon, unless you buy the specific climbing wheels - and they're tubs only.

at1withmyself

Aluminium for the good braking coming back down the hills, I picked up some Kinlin rims and novatech hubs on Ali express, then got DT revolution spokes and the build came in under 1300 grams. Cost me about 350 Euro. Great braking surface even in the rain compared to my carbon mavics.

07Lapierre

Descend at speed in the wet on carbon rims at your peril! Lethal!

byrnem31

I bought a set of hunt aero 33s yesterday. 1345g compared to the stock pr2s that were just over 2kg.
You'd d notice the difference straight away by picking the bike up. I'm not a weight weenie as the best weight can be lost around the waist. However, the comfort of the ride is about 3 times better. The wheels smooth out everything and glide along . 3 year warranty and a lifetime crash repair warranty for €67 extra.

byrnem31

Mine are discs forgot to mention. Wouldn't touch rim again with a barge pole.

koutoubia

07Lapierre wrote: »

Descend at speed in the wet on carbon rims at your peril! Lethal!

Ah there not.
I recently got a set of carbon rims from a company called BTLOS and told them that they would be used in the wet. They recommended a brake surface and I have them paired with lifeline blue pads and they are best braking wheelset I have.

For the record I cant find any difference between those rims and a mates Hunt wheels.

07Lapierre

koutoubia wrote: »

Ah there not.
I recently got a set of carbon rims from a company called BTLOS and told them that they would be used in the wet. They recommended a brake surface and I have them paired with lifeline blue pads and they are best braking wheelset I have.

For the record I cant find any difference between those rims and a mates Hunt wheels.

Must be my wheels then. Great wheels in dry weather, but descending in the wet is scary!

koutoubia

you need a new bike with new wheels!

at1withmyself

07Lapierre wrote: »

Must be my wheels then. Great wheels in dry weather, but descending in the wet is scary!

No, I'm the same. Have had 3 sets of Carbon Wheels and ran various brake blocks but if you have to brake suddenly then none of them compare to the alloy rims with swiss stop pads.

07Lapierre

koutoubia wrote: »

you need a new bike with new wheels!

Im working on it!

Cee-Jay-Cee

I have Fulcrum Quattro Carbon wheels (1480g) with AC3 braking surface and the wet braking is fantastic with them however they’re on my good bike and not often that they’re out in the rain.

I also live in Donegal and so have plenty of hills/climbs to contend with and never had a problem with over heating on long descents or blowouts etc

Alloy rims will never be as comfortable all carbon rims of a comparable weight.

If you can afford carbon then go for it.

cyclocross!

You can't go wrong with a set of fulcrum zeros. The ceramic bearings and how they roll are a thing of beauty.

Arequipa

Good morning!

Thank you for the replies....
I am just building this bike up as a lockdown project and trying to keep it light..and not too expensive...
I know the issues with carbon rims, dodgy braking in wet and danger of overheating and failure....
But I probably will use this as a good weather bike ... try and enjoy climbing on it and take it easy on descents...

Any of you had carbon wheels with basalt braking surface?!

koutoubia

The rims I have has what the manufacturer syas is a graphene coated brake track.

dahat

koutoubia wrote: »

The rims I have has what the manufacturer syas is a graphene coated brake track.

Those wheels you have look very interesting. Have you used them for long?
Any import duties with them?

koutoubia

I just bought the rim (they drilled them to order) and got them built up here to an old set of campagnolo huns I had. Wheel builder said he had zero issues building them.
I have them about 4 or 5 months and set up as tubeless.
Yeah there were import duties, I think about 100€.

I am gonna order another set soon as I have a set of DTswiss hubs laced to FForwrd rims that are starting to show their age.

monkeyslayer

Found the freehub on the zeros I had a couple of years ago was utterly crap, I was constantly replacing and repairing it tho they were lovely to ride. I have to say the Zondas I got afterwards were v similar and half the price, maybe even a little stiffer. Zipp 302s are lovely to climb with and smooth to ride tho whatever about the braking in rain, the wheel bearings will barely make it thru a wet ride.

Daroxtar

I have Campag Bora 35s and they are absolutely flawless for climbing and indeed all round cycling. Best wheel I've had by a mile.

Arequipa

Evening!
Thank u for the replies..
I have ridden a few disc brake bikes and they are very solid, great braking, but i find them.a lot heavier and sluggish to climb on versus a rim brake bike...

Will check out the zondas and the 35 Boras.....