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(Cheap) Chinese Carbon Rims?

2M views 9K replies 1K participants last post by  chomxxo 
#1 ·
I've seen multiple discussions of carbon 29er frames, but no such discussion of 29er rims. Current domestic carbon rims are more expensive than one of these frames. Anybody found carbon 29er clincher rims cheap?
 
#7,976 ·
Thanks everyone who has contributed to this thread. I'm building my first set of wheels and went with the CarbonBicycle 35/29 asymmetric 29er rims and Hope Pro 4 hubs. I was looking at the Sapim Laser spokes with brass nipples, but was not sure of the proper lacing pattern? Is 3x okay to use on both the front and rear (drive & non-drive side)? Using an online calculator with an ERD of 589mm, it gives me 286 & 284mm spoke lengths for both the front and rear wheels.
 
#7,977 ·
3x is fine as far as I'm concerned. If it's 32 spokes I don't see any reason not to copy the high end carbon wheel companies and do different lacing patterns on different different sides and wheels. Was thinking about copying my specialized roval carbon lacing pattern or someone else's. Of course if you do radial lacing in any section it's best to have a hub that is designed for it.

Others will weigh in. I've built a few pairs of wheels there are others on here who have built hundreds.

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#7,978 ·
I went with 2x after reading a paper about the pros and cons of the different lacing patterns, and also after reading the lacing philosophy of Nox and Enve.
Making it simple, because alloy rims are soft, they are laced 3x so they can have more vertical stiffness, on the other hand carbon rims are already vertically stiff and you don't need/want the extra vertical stiffness of the 3x, so they lace their carbon wheels with 2x so that the wheels can have more lateral stiffness, and lateral stiffness is never too much :D.

But you can lace your wheels with any combinations you want, as long as your hubs allow it, meaning radial is probably out of question and 4x is also probably out of question.
 
#7,982 ·
OK so that's the difference!

Mine are indeed 142+ but maybe not SL or whatever because those only have 24 front and 28 rear spokes. At 200LBs I would ruin them!

Not sure what all they did my guess is the front has less drive side spokes for the same reason I was mentioning earlier it will increase their tension and get them closer to the tension of the brake side. The reason why we run offset holes on some builds is this same thing... Ultimately trying to get more tension on what would be the longer spokes by making them shorter or making them have to pull further.

Sounds like they took it to the extreme. I've laced enough wheels with different lace patterns on drive vs non drive to know that playing these tricks is ultimately good for the spokes and wheel stifness... Not to mention the stay true longer... If you can't tighten your longer spokes tight enough they can bend as your riding over and over and over and over until they break.

Anyways you can't go wrong with 3x on a MTB since the front isn't really that big of a deal if you have 32 spokes and having discs means the offset in the rear isnt as bad as on a road bike. So tensions are close enough

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#7,983 ·
Has anyone used this rim? I am running the light-bicycle 38/31.6 rims with a 32mm depth on my other bike currently and I was wondering how different these would feel with vertical compliance and lateral stiffness. Also wanted to see if anyone had any experience with the durability of this particular design. 40psi seems like a pretty low pressure limit. Thanks!

Hookless all mountain carbon rim 35mm wide 23.5mm deep for 29er &27.5er mountain bike - Hookless Rim - Carbonfan|Carbon Rim|Carbon Wheel|Carbon Bicycle|Carbon Frame|Carbon Bike Part|Mountain bike Line Kitchen appliance accessory Clip art Small appliance Kitchen appliance
 
#7,984 ·
Has anyone used this rim? I am running the light-bicycle 38/31.6 rims with a 32mm depth on my other bike currently and I was wondering how different these would feel with vertical compliance and lateral stiffness. Also wanted to see if anyone had any experience with the durability of this particular design. 40psi seems like a pretty low pressure limit. Thanks!

Hookless all mountain carbon rim 35mm wide 23.5mm deep for 29er &27.5er mountain bike - Hookless Rim - Carbonfan|Carbon Rim|Carbon Wheel|Carbon Bicycle|Carbon Frame|Carbon Bike Part|Mountain bike View attachment 1065873
I don't think the PSI limit has anything to do with the strength of the wheel. That said I believe Stan's pressure limit is right around the same. Personally I'd never run over 40LBs on a MTB but I know someone who did on a pair of Stan's Arch wheels and it blew a hole in the Stan's Rim Tape which is not a big deal... You just take the tire off clean it out and install new tape. I think he had like 70LBs in it because he was running cross tires on pavement.

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#7,999 ·
A friend of mine was interested in purchasing the hoops I used from Carbon Bicycle. Reguler 35/30, not Asym. They were "on sale" for $145 each before shipping. Can't find them now on the site. Anyone have a current link or did they move on from that product? If so, too bad. @eb1888??

EDIT: I emailed them to see if they are still available. If not, I guess Nextie or Light Bicycle will have something very similar.
 
#8,000 ·
Just received a 35/30 rim (not asym) from Light Bicycle. Took 4 weeks from the day I ordered it to when I received it yesterday. $180 plus the $50 to ship. (I saw the Carbon Bicycle sale two days after I ordered mine). Rim looks beautiful. I kinda hate to get it dirty.

Anyway, it's another option. Not as cheap as Carboncycle's blow out sale but...if they're out of em...Light Bicycle is still one of the best deals out there.
 
#8,001 ·
Aight!
I ordered from carbonbicyle not long ago as well and rim USA flat rate shipping was 64USD not 50USD for me btw. Maybe because I got spokes in the package as well, don't know.

Light bicycle is cool but their asymmetric rim price is crazy. Can get them cheaper in the US! Hopefully they'll change that in the future.
 
#8,002 ·
I'm about to start building up my 35/29 asymmetric wheels. I placed my order to CarbonBicycle on April 14th and they arrived at my house (Pittsburgh, USA) on April 26th. There was a scratch on the rim that appeared to have occurred during shipping and after emailing a rep about it they gave me a small refund for the hassle. They respond very quickly and I hope the rims turn out as good as their service. The rims were 415 grams each, which is the upper limit of the stated range on their website.

Anyway, my truing stand is on the way and I hope to have it done by this weekend. I was told that the ballpark spoke tension targets were 120 kgf on the drive side and 100 kgf on the non-drive side. Would those be the approximate targets for the front wheel as well? Just curious what kind of numbers people were getting. I'm 165 lbs, btw.
 
#8,006 ·
I greatly appreciate your response. If you have a moment, could you briefly describe what you mean by 'stages' and 'stress relieve'? My plan was to bring the D and ND sides up rather evenly until around 90-100kgf. At that point I would take the D side up towards 120 and, like you said, then bring the ND side up to the point of dish.
 
#8,005 · (Edited)
So the person/department I dealt with via email for my rims at Carbonfan emailed my back after I asked and said they still sell those 35/30 hookless rims I used, but that their website was being updated, and you cannot find them right now on the site. Supposed to be fixed in several hours.

EDIT: if you still don't see them I bet you can email them and ask for the standard 35/30 rims and they would help you out. just a guess.
 
#8,010 ·
Hey guys, figure this is the place to ask questions about rim choice.

So, LB caught my attention, and I am thinking about a set of rims to replace the wheels on my Lynskey Pro29 Lefty. Currently the wheels are Stan's, with a ZTR Race up front, and a Crest out back. I picked this bike up from a wealthy friend who ended up not liking the sizing, as I would have gone with stouter wheels myself, having experience with lighter Stan's rims needing frequent truing.

So, current Stan's specs say both should be about 24mm internal width, however these are a few years old, so I am not sure if they are that wide or not. I run Icon's and Ardent's in 2.35 and 2.4, respectively, and am basically in love with those tires. The new move to wider rims makes a lot of sense, but I can't say I fully understand what internal width I should be looking at. I am 170ish without gear, and ride in Boise where the trails are well groomed most of the time, with a few rocky sections I approach VERY conservatively. So, I typically don't demolish wheels, but I really want something that will last as long as I don't do something stupid. So, LB has the RM29C19 at 24mm internal, and the RM29C07 at 30mm internal, with the former being roughly what I have now, and the latter obviously a bit wider. Is the extra width worth it? It should, I would imagine, also be a little bit stronger, which is obviously a plus to me.

Where I get tripped up is the massive amount of companies selling rims similar to this now, and if I order, I want to make sure I go with the right company. LB, CB, Yishun (ACE) etc... this thread has hundreds of pages so I doubt I will receive a consensus, but from those who have graciously gone before me, what are your recommendations for me and my riding style? I want to keep it in the general price range I am looking at, so no NOX, Derby, etc.

I also may be ordering the new Marin Pine Mountain 1 that is going to be released soon, so I was thinking about getting 4 rims at once to cut down on shipping, and also possibly getting a better deal from whoever I order from, anyone have experience with a slight bulk discount?

Thanks!
 
#8,011 ·
Hey guys, figure this is the place to ask questions about rim choice.

So, LB caught my attention, and I am thinking about a set of rims to replace the wheels on my Lynskey Pro29 Lefty. Currently the wheels are Stan's, with a ZTR Race up front, and a Crest out back. I picked this bike up from a wealthy friend who ended up not liking the sizing, as I would have gone with stouter wheels myself, having experience with lighter Stan's rims needing frequent truing.

So, current Stan's specs say both should be about 24mm internal width, however these are a few years old, so I am not sure if they are that wide or not. I run Icon's and Ardent's in 2.35 and 2.4, respectively, and am basically in love with those tires. The new move to wider rims makes a lot of sense, but I can't say I fully understand what internal width I should be looking at. I am 170ish without gear, and ride in Boise where the trails are well groomed most of the time, with a few rocky sections I approach VERY conservatively. So, I typically don't demolish wheels, but I really want something that will last as long as I don't do something stupid. So, LB has the RM29C19 at 24mm internal, and the RM29C07 at 30mm internal, with the former being roughly what I have now, and the latter obviously a bit wider. Is the extra width worth it? It should, I would imagine, also be a little bit stronger, which is obviously a plus to me.

Where I get tripped up is the massive amount of companies selling rims similar to this now, and if I order, I want to make sure I go with the right company. LB, CB, Yishun (ACE) etc... this thread has hundreds of pages so I doubt I will receive a consensus, but from those who have graciously gone before me, what are your recommendations for me and my riding style? I want to keep it in the general price range I am looking at, so no NOX, Derby, etc.

I also may be ordering the new Marin Pine Mountain 1 that is going to be released soon, so I was thinking about getting 4 rims at once to cut down on shipping, and also possibly getting a better deal from whoever I order from, anyone have experience with a slight bulk discount?

Thanks!
Their website says the Race is 21.3mm internal.

The Crest is 21mm internally as well.

You could go wider in front, narrower in rear. That's what I'm running, and really like it.

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#8,015 ·
Hey guys, I received a PM from Peter at Carbon Speed. What have been the results of using his wheels? I have been through a huge portion of the recent thread history thusfar, but his rims aren't as popular it seems as LB, CB, Nextie, Derby, etc, but he does have some pretty darn good prices.

Thanks!
 
#8,016 ·
My experience with HR933C asymmetric and without internal spoke holes, from them, has been flawless.
For the last 5 months I have put them to some abuse and they are awesome.
At the time he was the only one with that design and at one unbelievable price, for me it was a no brainer.
He even helped me with some troubles I had with my country customs, and was really quick to reply.
 
#8,018 ·
Just wanted to share my experinence with the DH940C from XMCarbonspeed. Hit Peter up with a mail last fall and he responded super quick and answered every quenstion with great detail. Rims were ordered, and arrived to Norway quickly. They were massive and spot on the claimed weight. Building went smooth, and I've been railing them every chance I get. They have been exposed to a beating which would have dented and bent alloy wheels. (Went through 3 sets of flow EX rims on last wheelset).
They are still 100% round and true, with some "battle scars," but just scratches in the paint, no structural damage what so ever. I've gotten 3 of my friends to order the same rims from Peter and all of them have been equally satisfied!

Link to the rims: DH940C 29er DH carbon mtb rim 32mm depth 40mm wide - Xiamen Carbon Speed Sport Goods Co.,Ltd

Bicycle tire Tire Bicycle wheel Wheel Bicycle frame

Tire Automotive tire Product Bicycle tire Rim
 
#8,019 ·
Gents

I had ordered carbon wheels from Yishunbike recently and I have been very satisfied with pricing for the pair (409) and the overall customer service is very efficient given the huge time zone difference.
I should be receiving my wheels via Ems sometime today or tomorrow. I plan on documenting this build and using Novatec 881 hubs, Dtswiss Champion spokes and nipples. The total cost for everything is coming in under 600 dollars for all the parts including rimstrips and tubless valve stems.
Ill keep everyone updated as I go
 
#8,022 ·
Bicycle tire Tire Bicycle frame Bicycle wheel Bicycle wheel rim

Bicycle tire Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel rim Automotive tire


Got mine from Carbon Bicycles (Carbonfan|Carbon Rim|Carbon Wheel|Carbon Bicycle|Carbon Frame|Carbon Bike Part|Mountain bike) a little while ago and they've a bit of mileage now (still brand new though, I'll report again if there's changes).

So far:

- customer service was excellent, even thus I bothered them with a bunch of questions and specific needs, they've been fast and nice!

- The rims look great. I inspected them for a while and found no issue. ERD 1mm off on one of the rim, that's it (not an issue/pretty common)

- Got em build here in the US for a little fortune with the pillar bladed spokes and nipples, 28h, and DT240s hubs that came from switzerland (DT240S centerlock straight pull with boost spacing front/rear, turns out these really *just* came out)

I made some jumps on the trail, some more on the street, etc. So far love em. Just as stiff as I wanted em (asymetric + boost seems to make things really good in that area).

Oh and for weight weenies, rims came out at 380gr and 390 grams, wheelset came out at around 1440gr (yeah that's extremely light for the size)

would buy again.
 
#8,025 ·
Got mine from Carbon Bicycles (Carbonfan|Carbon Rim|Carbon Wheel|Carbon Bicycle|Carbon Frame|Carbon Bike Part|Mountain bike) a little while ago and they've a bit of mileage now (still brand new though, I'll report again if there's changes).

Oh and for weight weenies, rims came out at 380gr and 390 grams, wheelset came out at around 1440gr (yeah that's extremely light for the size)

would buy again.
Which rim width did you order? That weight is very nice. Just a little more than my 30mm external width LB rims.
 
#8,023 ·
Nice! Still liking mine very much as well. For my weight (mid 180's now), with a 2.25 ardent in the rear and a 2.4 ardent up front, I need 24 or 25 pounds in the rear, and maybe 23 or so in the front to avoid clunks. I am going to move up to a 2.4 ardent in the rear and consider a 2.4 minion up front when I replace tires. But for me, the difference is very distinct. If I fall below that number in the rear, on that tire, it is not enough. Front tire seems more flexible. Performance of the rims seems excellent. such an improvement!
 
#8,024 ·
Two CarbonFan 29mm 29er rims. Both have the exact same weight, 3 gm over spec, and specified ERD to with in fraction of a MM. They look perfect, but I haven't built them into a wheelset yet. Followup communication on the order and shipping was perfect and the rims arrived ahead of schedule by several days.
 
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