carbon rims on dirt

[etu]

I have a tubular zipp 404's lying around and was thinking about putting some cx tires on them.
How many of you guys ride carbon rims on dirt, gravel. I don't plan to do any big drop offs or jumps, but there are some rocky fire roads (railroad grade) that I'd probably try. Is there a good likelihood to damaging these rims when running at low psi?
I weigh 150 and don't ride aggressively on dirt.

[Cicli]

They will be fine. Lots of carbon wheels off road.

[AngryScientist]

every professional and most ameteur cyclocross races are done on carbon tubies.

you're good.

[false_Aest]

If you have these hoops I'm going to assume that you know how to unweight your wheels when going over bumps. You should be fine.


The only issue you might have is getting a piece of gravel caught in the brake pad and gauging a rim.

[Tony]

Carbon rims seem way more robust and less likely to be damaged compared to aluminum mtb rims.

[R3awak3n]

I would have 0 doubts running carbon discs on gravel. As far as rim, I think I would prefer aluminum braking with all that dust and steep descents. As far as chipping and stuff, carbon is stronger than many think and its true, people dent a lot of aluminum rims, that won't happen as much with carbon.

[etu]

thanks for the advice.
can't get much for carbon tubular wheels on the classified so it will be great to repurpose these wheels even if they're much more than what I need!

[eBAUMANN]

Originally Posted by etu

can't get much for carbon tubular wheels on the classified

aint that the truth

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by etu

I have a tubular zipp 404's lying around and was thinking about putting some cx tires on them. How many of you guys ride carbon rims on dirt, gravel. I don't plan to do any big drop offs or jumps, but there are some rocky fire roads (railroad grade) that I'd probably try. Is there a good likelihood to damaging these rims when running at low psi? I weigh 150 and don't ride aggressively on dirt.

Originally Posted by false_Aest

If you have these hoops I'm going to assume that you know how to unweight your wheels when going over bumps. You should be fine. The only issue you might have is getting a piece of gravel caught in the brake pad and gauging a rim.

This is the key. If you hit a hard edge at speed and do not un-weight the wheel the low psi will effectively allow the rim to hit the edge and with little to protect it other than the rubber of the tire. the sharper and harder the edge and the faster you are going the more the damage. think extreme case trying to cross a concrete sidewalk from the dirt on either side.

[etu]

as a follow up.
I got a great deal on Racing Ralph tubulars at Merlin Cycles which I mounted on my Zipp 404's.
The ride is sublime! As others have mentioned how transformative wheels can be to a bike's ride quality, these carbon tubulars on dirt have similar effect as my road wheel sets - responsive and light. The RR's have tons of traction for the loose on hard stuff and at 30psi, they are plush.

[Pastashop]

Probably depends a bit on type of dirt and conditions and how much braking you do... if it's abrasive stuff, you're likely to chew through the rim sooner than with Al. But if you can't get much $$ for them, just use them up. If the tires use latex tubes, you'll get fewer pinch flats. :-)