Aluminum v Carbon Rims for an 'Allroad' Wheel Build

[brewsmith]

As I am getting ready to start piecing together the components for my incoming Bingham, I stumbled across this article and it got me thinking.

My use case is a bit different as I will be more in the 70/30 road to gravel split, but I was curious if anyone other than the author above had insight on the ride feel of carbon v aluminum wheels on the fatter tire disc builds.

[Gummee]

If you go off-road, ya gotta pay to play so keep replacement rims in mind

M

[Hilltopperny]

I have used Belgium+ as a gravel allroad wheel and loved them. I currently have Reynolds carbon wheels on both of my gravel bikes and love them, but I do cringe sometimes when riding through leaf covered rocky trails. They have held up quite well so far, but I do not recall having the same feeling when running the Belgium+.

[Likes2ridefar]

After seeing the condition of my ksyrium all road rims after two years of riding mostly road but also a number of miles on gravel and single track...

Dents, huge scratches and gouges in the bed of the rim - these surprised me as I never really thought I was hitting the inner rim that often on rocks, and all over the external areas as expected.

I don’t think I’d ever consider carbon for gravel riding unless someone else is paying.

[pottshead]

I’m running the HED Belgium+ Eroica on my Bingham. I was comparing the weight vs some of the comparable carbon rims and it actually seemed pretty negligible in terms of difference. I wouldn’t hesitate to go with the Belgium+ for an all road build, if you’re leaning that way.

[dem]

As a leading "ride gravel bike inappropriately" contender, I'd say carbon for sure. Rock gardens, baby head stream crossings, deep rail road ballast.. carbon just bounces stuff off with no damage, aluminum gets dinged and bent up. After 10,000+ abusive miles, the carbon rims are scratched up but still rocking.

Also make sure you're running tires about 1 cm wider than your rim OD, that will help protect the rims.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by dem

As a leading "ride gravel bike inappropriately" contender, I'd say carbon for sure. Rock gardens, baby head stream crossings, deep rail road ballast.. carbon just bounces stuff off with no damage, aluminum gets dinged and bent up. After 10,000+ abusive miles, the carbon rims are scratched up but still rocking.

Also make sure you're running tires about 1 cm wider than your rim OD, that will help protect the rims.

Or it catastrophically fails (that’s dramatic for no longer being usable after identifying cracks) which is what happened in my case though I’ll admit it wasn’t the wheels that hit rocks but a handlebar and frame (not at the same time )

The handlebar was perhaps a bad example as i understand they probably aren’t designed to take hits from the side.

The frame though was a mountain bike and a rock jumped up and ruined the down tube.

[.RJ]

splitting hairs.

I've got a set of aluminum (Easton R90SL) rims on my CX/gravel bike and they've been pretty bomb proof over several seasons of road, gravel, singletrack and generally not being nice to them. I finally dented a rim at Monster Cross this year (stream crossings... ) and had it relaced with new nipples and rims. Maybe it would have survived longer if carbon, but, I'd need several more rim replacements before I approach the same cost of using carbon rims.

[Kirk007]

Another thing to consider is the roads/off roads you will be riding. Baby heads and rock gardens - for me that sounds more like mountain bike territory than gravel, and you say 70/30 road so .....

No real weight savings with carbon (indeed you may be gaining weight compared to a nice alloy wheel) unless you spend $$$$. Do you need the aerodynamics of a deep rim? Do you want a really stiff rim? Is it going to matter much with big tires with high volume and low pressure?

I think only you can answer these questions but I wouldn't shy away from alloy just cause carbon is the new hot thing on the block. For example, Boyd Cycles makes some nice alloy wheels - Altamont, Altamont lite, the new CCC gravel specific design rim - I've had very good experiences with his wheels.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

Another thing to consider is the roads/off roads you will be riding. Baby heads and rock gardens - for me that sounds more like mountain bike territory than gravel, and you say 70/30 road so .....

No real weight savings with carbon (indeed you may be gaining weight compared to a nice alloy wheel) unless you spend $$$$. Do you need the aerodynamics of a deep rim? Do you want a really stiff rim? Is it going to matter much with big tires with high volume and low pressure?

I think only you can answer these questions but I wouldn't shy away from alloy just cause carbon is the new hot thing on the block. For example, Boyd Cycles makes some nice alloy wheels - Altamont, Altamont lite, the new CCC gravel specific design rim - I've had very good experiences with his wheels.

Ccc replaced my ksyrium all road. They are soooo much better riding with higher volume tires and easier to mount and seal the tires.

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by dem

As a leading "ride gravel bike inappropriately" contender, I'd say carbon for sure. Rock gardens, baby head stream crossings, deep rail road ballast.. carbon just bounces stuff off with no damage, aluminum gets dinged and bent up. After 10,000+ abusive miles, the carbon rims are scratched up but still rocking.

Also make sure you're running tires about 1 cm wider than your rim OD, that will help protect the rims.

What are these wheels?

[BlueHampsten]

I have run one HED C2 wheel set and two HED Belgium Plus wheel sets on three of my bikes with no issues.

I don't see how you can beat the value for the dollar and reliability of a HED Belgium Plus rim brake wheel set with Chris King hubs for $1,000. Check out the Chris King website for other options like disc brake hubs for a bit more money.

I am 5'10" and 190 lbs and am fairly hard on wheels since I have no aerobic capacity but plenty of fast twitch muscle. No issues with my HED Belgium rims going out of true, cracking at the nipple, developing hops or turning into a potato chip.

Hope your bike build turns out to be everything you want it to be!

[tepextate]

Originally Posted by BlueHampsten

I have run one HED C2 wheel set and two HED Belgium Plus wheel sets on three of my bikes with no issues.

I don't see how you can beat the value for the dollar and reliability of a HED Belgium Plus rim brake wheel set with Chris King hubs for $1,000. Check out the Chris King website for other options like disc brake hubs for a bit more money.

I am 5'10" and 190 lbs and am fairly hard on wheels since I have no aerobic capacity but plenty of fast twitch muscle. No issues with my HED Belgium rims going out of true, cracking at the nipple, developing hops or turning into a potato chip.

Hope your bike build turns out to be everything you want it to be!

Not OP, but I'm eyeing a set of Belgium+, exactly as you described (CK hubs, disc brakes). I see they're $1,215 on CK's website. Do you know if these wheels ever go on sale? If not, I might just bite the bullet and buy them from my LBS.

https://chrisking.com/collections/he...isc-r45d-28-28

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by tepextate

Not OP, but I'm eyeing a set of Belgium+, exactly as you described (CK hubs, disc brakes). I see they're $1,215 on CK's website. Do you know if these wheels ever go on sale? If not, I might just bite the bullet and buy them from my LBS.

https://chrisking.com/collections/he...isc-r45d-28-28

Wonder if CK will embrace N3W?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mistermo

Wonder if CK will embrace N3W?

Doubt it..as per the 'EKAR' thread, CK has abandoned Campagnolo FHBs all together(9s, 10, 11s)..so doubt they would go back to servicing a small by comparison, but viable part of the market.

No great loss, IMHO..Hubs are a "$500 answer to a $50 question", too complex, to proprietary. I used to be a fan of their headsets but many other really good options out there(CaneCreek)...

BBs, yawn...