carbon rims with aluminum brake track anything good? am I a dinosaur?

[fiataccompli]

I had a very enjoyable set of Easton wheels that were 38mm carbon with an aluminum brake track. These were my 'go to' wheels for my Campy bikes, they were light & strong enough for me (?) and I tended to use them for racing and training. The fact that I could change them between bikes w/o changing pads was nice and, hey, I guess I'm old-fashioned and prefer the aluminum brake track.

Fast forward to a year or so ago & alas within a few weeks of one another both front & rear wheels had issues. The front had a broken spoke...a hassle, but easy enough to repair. I got a replacement for the front and before I could use it, I found myself in a tight/fast group that went straight over a road that put a massive crack in the rear wheel....so, I decided they are "parts" wheels.

Fast forward to now and I wish I had a similar wheel set for my Campy 10 bikes and I'm looking at a Record hub set I have with the thought of building a similar wheel set (vs. buying another set of Eastons or whatever is today's equivalent). That said, it seems like light(ish) carbon wheels with aluminum brake tracks are far less common than even a few year ago. Is there a good option for carbon/aluminum rims to build with? Basically, I'd like to hear if there's a current recommendation for rims of this type I ought to look into building wheels with.

[Mark McM]

Can you tell us more about what you are looking for in a rim? Clincher or tubular? Rim width and depth? Number of spokes? Your budget in both cost and weight?

There are a number of good carbon/aluminum rims still being made - but unfortunately, as far I know they are all only available as complete wheels. In particular, the HED Jet series of wheels are very good. They have carbon/aluminum clincher rims that comparable in both aerodynamics and weight to full carbon clincher rims of the same depth and aerodynamics (except the HED Jets cost less).

[fiataccompli]

yes, sorry about that. Cost...hell, I don't know. I think I bought this set or they were a gift from my wife for <600 and I believe they were Easton EC70 SL ...per a 'net search, wheelset weight 1660g...these have a rather light spoke count, but that's not necessary. and CLINCHER for certain. hopefully any time I use them I weigh no more than 175 and with more hope it's more like 20lbs less than that. Perhaps even when I got these (maybe 2013?), they were already a bit passe and also more likely only something to buy as a wheel set.

[foo_fighter]

I don't think there are many options for rims but Shimano C24s are very highly regarded wheels with carbon rim+Al Brake tracks.

[Gummee]

Lightweight? C24s

Aero? HED Jets

The braking on the carbon rims has gotten better if that's a concern.

M

[old_fat_and_slow]

Head over to Evil Bay and start looking for some older Zipp 303's or 404's with aluminum brake tracks. They can still be found for a reasonable price. Pretty bomb proof too. Most that are for sale have Shimano freehubs, but a conversion freehub kit to Campy is still widely available on the inter-web. The freehub conversion is simple to do, and takes about 5-10 minutes. I've done it three times now. No redishing of the rear wheel is necessary. Zipp has some YouTube videos that walk you through the process too.

BTW, umm I have some HED Alpines (Jet predecessors) that are Campy compatible, that I would love to unload if those might interest you.

[vqdriver]

i think carbon rim braking has improved enough to be comparable to al rims, tho admittedly i don't have much wet weather riding to say either way. i recently made the jump from al to carbon wheels and i don't feel that i gave up anything in terms of braking. in fact, with the right pads and a recent update in brakes (came with a new group) i think the braking may actually be improved from before

fwiw, unless you're looking for the aero benefit of a deeper rim, i'm not convinced that carbon is necessary. given the choice, i'd probably go with something like the aforce or altamont ceramics vs a hybrid al/carbon

[fiataccompli]

Thanks ! All good thoughts there. I do realize carbon fiber braking has improved. I wasn't being coy with the post....your questions and actually help me crystallize what I'd like to have and why I was thinking what I was thinking.

Probably would only seize an option that was sort of of the inexpensive end of the spectrum for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the wheels themselves.

These seemed to fill the niche of aero wheels w/o being massively heavy...That niche meant being able to swap from a non-aero set to these and not have to swap brake pads. I'm guessing even with modern carbon fiber you want pads dedicated to the material they mate with?

An alternative I considered first & may go back to is the old tried & true Velocity (or that type) aero rim on the hubs I want to use. It makes this thread moot, but my riding at the moment is in fitness loss mitigation mode so strong, simple wheels on the heavy side that might check a lot of boxes.

eBay....I'll look. Not sure if I'd be comfortable buying a set like my destroyed set since they don't seem to fit into that "bulletproof " category, but other options are good.

If nothing else, it's reassuring that what I was thinking of isn't really out there so it wasn't that I was just missing it.

Thanks again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kppolich]

Check out the HED Jet 4+ rims/wheelset. Super nice brake track, carbon fairing is nice but not structural, can be run tubeless, and super wide. I've seen wheel sets go for $600 shipped but haven't look too deep into rims only

[vqdriver]

yes, carbon pads for carbon rims. you don't want to use the same pads for both.

i'll add tho that swapping pads is easy enough. it's realigning the pads every time you do the swap that gets tedious.

[fa63]

I have used both the HED Jet 4+ and 6+; great wheels. That said, the non structural fairing can be an issue if you carry your bike on a rack that secures one or both of the wheels by the rim.

[fogrider]

Aero benefits of deep section rims are huge, but don't write off true lightweight rims. But the only way to get there is with tubulars and no aluminum braking track. Think about it, lightweight tubulars will be less than 1,000 grams. that's 600 grams, or almost a pound and a half in rotating weight!

[fiataccompli]

Swapping pads is not difficult, it's just a 4x (or 8x) task added to moving pedals that i would be happy to not do & I know would have the effect of the wheels tending to stay on one bike vs swapping through a few bikes and enjoying some variety.

I don't necessarily need/want tubular light right now. In fact, in my current maintain (or don't lose) fitness mode, maybe a little heavier is good & durability/easy service (which tubular is not, for me) is valuable.

Heck, you also reminded me of my other dinosaur perspective in that most of my wheels, my experience & brakes are with 16(ish)mm rims, so wide stuff adds another minor hassle in swapability. I was clearly spoiled a few years ago with an array of mix & match bike pieces that all worked like Legos...they still do, but there is a slight increment more fiddling & with 2 very active small kids (thus the aforementioned fitness/non-race mode) and a small fleet of vintage Fiats that still all have some long sort lists, I find myself evaluating choices like wheels in terms of the usual cycling aspects (weight, strength, service, etc) as well as labor time for use (swapping pads, blah blah). Hmmm.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GonaSovereign]

I don't think there are many options for rims but Shimano C24s are very highly regarded wheels with carbon rim+Al Brake tracks.

The C24 is an aluminum rim with carbon reinforcements at the spoke holes. Very nice wheels.