Real life benefits of carbon wheels?

[ripvanrando]

Older carbon rim resins had rather low TG (glass transition temperatures) and could "melt" under prolonged braking. Probably everyone knows but alternating front and then rear braking giving a few seconds "rest" can lower rim temperatures by 100F. I know that I have burned myself touching carbon rims that were heated from braking. Depending upon the resin, TG can be over 400F. Zipp measured 700F at the braking surface during simulated (extreme) testing.

I suspect these elevated temperatures during rainy, technical descents explains my observation that my Flo carbon rim braked much better than my HED aluminum rim with Kool Stop Salmon pads.

To those who doubt the performance advantage of using aero wheels with good tires, all I can say is my times have improved. I have gone from really slow to slow.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...ms-oman_361634

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/...braking_286605

[sirskialot22]

Not to hijac the thread, but how about durability, specifically for disc wheel applications where brake track is not relevant? I've had quite a few dings and dents in my 450g aluminum "wider" 18-21mm ID, 30mm deep rims from a few different manufacturers, and am thinking carbon wheels may be a bit more durable here. Sure, it's likely that my tire pressure was too low when taking my cross bike in places it had no business going, but any thoughts one whether carbon rims are more durable than aluminum rims?
"

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by sirskialot22

Not to hijac the thread, but how about durability, specifically for disc wheel applications where brake track is not relevant? I've had quite a few dings and dents in my 450g aluminum "wider" 18-21mm ID, 30mm deep rims from a few different manufacturers, and am thinking carbon wheels may be a bit more durable here. Sure, it's likely that my tire pressure was too low when taking my cross bike in places it had no business going, but any thoughts one whether carbon rims are more durable than aluminum rims?
"

They 'can' be but if you hit something hard enough, the carbon 'lip' will break/crush/splinter rather than bend(tubeless? No mas air in tire). Not going to fix that easily(at all?)..where there's a chance you can bend a aluminum sidewall around a little bit.

[dem]

I'm 3800 miles into abusing the living heck out of a set of light-bicycle carbon rims. They have 100s of chips scratches and dings, but nothing that looks more than cosmetic.

This is probably an example of the worst (I believe this was acquired when I had 60+ creek crossings to do, and I got tired of getting off the bike.. so I just ended up bombing into huge rocky creeks and seeing how far I could get!)