Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

26in chinese carbon all mountain rim

337K views 2K replies 226 participants last post by  pb123hou 
#1 ·
I really enjoy the 29er chinese carbon rim thread but l didnt see anything for all mountain chinese wheels or rims. I'm looking for some 26in carbon all mountain rims that need to be wide, pretty light and strong to go on my Tracer2. Going through all the Asian carbon stores is big undertaking. That, and l dont fully understand everything about wheels. Are all the rims pretty much for xc if not can someone point me in the right direction
 
#782 ·
After several rear hub shipping mishaps I finally got my set built up, 1450g!

Wider Rims UD Matte (~360g)
DT revolution spokes (~110 kgf tension)
DT 240S Rear Hub (10mm)
Hope Pro Front (20mm)

I also managed to mount them up tubeless without any issue. This is my first tubeless (and my first carbon) wheelset so I was pretty jazzed when it all worked right away.

This is what I did:
1" (25.4mm) Gorilla tape on the rim (overlapping the valve hole by 2" on either side)
Mounted Tires (Mountain King II 2.4 Protection)
2 Scoops of Stan's per wheel
Inflate!

I had recently purchased a high volume floor pump from Lezyne that supposedly can mount tubeless tires. Not the case here and I don't have a compressor so I was kind of annoyed that it didn't work. I decided to try a CO2 cartridge (16g) and it worked right away on both tires, it took one cartridge per tire and they were about 25 psi after the cartridge had emptied.

I did not put any soap on the bead and the beads still seated right away. The tires were mounted on another wheelset for the last few weeks though which supposedly helps.
 
#783 ·
I had recently purchased a high volume floor pump from Lezyne that supposedly can mount tubeless tires. Not the case here and I don't have a compressor so I was kind of annoyed that it didn't work. .
Heh,heh... I fell for that sales pitch too. I wanted a pump that moved the most air for setting up tubeless and naturally the salesperson said the Lezyne was the best (coincidentally the most expensive!) but it didn't work worth crap. I hate the heads on those as well.

I bought a Topeak Joe Blow Pro and it has worked about 80% of the time. That new Topeak JB Ace looks even better, though!
 
#784 ·
Ha ha. yep. What's even more funny is that I bought the CNC version... Wait, maybe that isn't funny....

The head is kind of annoying, I found out pretty quickly that if you use the screw on "flip chuck" adapater they have it removes the core when you're taking it off... ughh.. Oh well, I'm very happy to just use a CO2 cartridge to get teh job done.
 
#785 ·
so it looks like an even wider/DH version will be available at some point.
info from ridemonkey :

"Hello Noah,

Thanks for your mail. Wish you will like our rims.
One of our customer is going to design the much wider rim, it will be 35mm wide, and 27mm for the inner width. But it will take quite a long time to test.
You can order from him when the rim is ready to sell. We will manufacture the rims for him.

Thanks,
Nancy"
 
#788 ·
My experience with the Light Bicycle carbon rims has been very disappointing. I built a set of their UST compatible 26in wide rims in August 2012 and the rear rim cracked while I was preriding the Moab Enduro race course down Porcupine Rim at the end of September. I had a Conti Mountain King II 2.4 tire tubeless at 28psi mounted on the rim when it cracked and I weigh 165lbs. For reference, I had ACL reconstruction surgery in May so am not taking any chances this year and riding very conservatively.

I had to scramble and buy a rear wheel so I could ride in the race and finish my Moab trip.





They replaced the rim under warranty and they sent me what they called a reinforced rim (around 400g). I rebuilt the wheel (CK hub and DT Comp spokes at 110kgf driveside tension) with the new rim and after only 4-5 rides it cracked again. This time I was running a Conti Mountain King 2.4 tire (850g) with a much beefier sidewall than the first generation MK tire, also tubeless at 28psi. I cracked the rim rolling down Bailey's at Blue Mountain (Peekskill, NY) - definitely just an XC trail with some rocks.







They replaced this rim under warranty again and sent a new reinforced rim. They still charge $40 for shipping for the replacement rims, so not free, and I need to rebuild the wheel, again. Definitely not worth the uncertainty and the hassle for me. I am going back to the Stan's Flow that I had on those hubs for 4 seasons.
 
#789 ·
Sucks to see - out of curiosity what did your stans flows look like after 4 seasons of riding (dents n dings?) Some people are just harder on wheels then others - and for those that do dent/ding alloy rims I dont think carbon is a great option.

Plus side is their customer service appears ok - replacing both rims. Ya - you had to pay shipping, but that is not uncommon.
 
#790 ·
Front Flow rim is perfect (that's the one I am going to use to rebuild the rear wheel) and the rear one had a couple of small dents over the years that I straightened out with channel locks and still holds air for a tubeless setup without any problems. The only reason I bought the carbon rims was to try and lose some rotating weight without compromising stiffness and width.

In both cases when I cracked the rims the tires did not flat and Stan's sealed the crack. I don't consider myself particularly hard on gear. If you look at this video I shot a few years ago at Blue Mountain you will see exactly the spot on the trail where I cracked my rim (somewhere between 0:26 and 0:31):



Fall ride at Blue Mountain from Luca Marinelli on Vimeo.

Ian, Pete, and Luca ride at Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill, NY on November 29, 2008.

As I said, it's an XC trail. Not really where I would expect a 30mm wide rim to fail.
 
#792 ·
Noob question:

If the trails I ride are generally free of thorns, can I just choose to get a pair of Stan's universal valve stems, a set of UST tyres (say Small Block 8s), pump it up and go ride, without adding sealant?

Currently running a tubed setup and I believe yellow tape was already installed by my LBS. Thanks!
 
#798 ·
I don't think so, but try it and report back. Dry tubeless might work on a UST system - I believe that was the design goal - but in a Stans-style system, sealant helps to seal the system. The puncture repair aspect is another benefit. I don't have many tire-puncturing thorns where I live, but I have pinch-flatted and punctured tires, running tubeless, and sealant has gotten me home without putting a tube in. (Sometimes, I have to put a tube in.)

Never a preposition end your sentence with,

Morgan
 
#797 ·
I disagree, 28psi in a 2.4" tire is not low pressure, especially for a 165lb rider.

I've got ~400 miles of mtn bike racing on a set of Edge Composites (now ENVE) XC 29er rims. I've only ever run them tubeless, with xc-level tires, and I think the max I've ever had in them was 32psi. I'm just over 200lbs. I usually raced them at 28/29psi. I'm a lot heavier than nybike1971, and these tires were in the 2.0" - 2.2" range. I don't know anyone running tubeless that regularly puts more than 32psi in their tires, and no one running 2.4" tires who inflates them to more than 30psi. These light-bicycle rims should be able to survive in conditions, as well as or better than aluminum rims.

I have a set of the 29er wide rims on the way, built with extra material. I do have some trepidation about their durability, but I'm treating this like an experiment. I will build them up and ride them hard on my fun bikes, and hopefully they hold up. I'd get more ENVE rims if I could afford them. Right now I have Stans Flow rims on three 29ers. Ideally I'd race them in the Downieville Classic next summer, but... we will see.

There's a human tendency to defend an idea in which we've invested resources, or in which we place a lot of hope. Right? Keep an open mind about these rims. The price does seem too good to be true. We'll all find out. Hopefully light-bicycle.com, and carbon manufacturers like them are using our real-world experiences and broken rims to improve their product.

Morgan
 
#804 ·
nybike1971
I dont have any relationship with light-bicycle.com. I'm a costumer like all of us.
I just think that with carbon rims, we shuld use more tire pressure.
for me it's easy, becouse I like my tires pressure high. even when I used aluminium rims.
I dont like the feel of the tires foldes when I take a turn....
and I like the feel of my bike suspension working under me, and not the tires.
I hope you understand what I mean :)
 
#805 · (Edited)
I'm 200lbs, and sure I can put my tires at 25f/28r PSI and make my rims survive, riding at a moderate pace. If I ride with any less than 32f/35r my 800g tires(any kind) squirm and are unpredictable, at the pace I want to ride. At higher pressures like this, I also have a tendency to make rims last pretty long. I can remember very well the last time I dented a rim. My Light Bicycle rims have been doing GREAT, even blasting hard.

If you regularly put dents in your aluminum rims, in my opinion, carbon rims are going to be a risky deal for you, unless you increase your pressures a bit.

I guess for the record, here is my riding level. This is my other bike, but I don't ride my bike with the LB carbon wheels any less aggressive. Fast forward about 2min in for better terrain.

 
#809 ·
Thanks guys. Lets me just say again, that I have been charging with these rims even on rocky terrain(even though there is little rock in that above vid), and as long as my pressures are high, I have NO worries. I smashed into a couple rock sections yesterday on the trail, which reminds me I should give the rims a go go-over today, as I know my front pressure was down in the 29psi range. I think the buttery 160mm fork did it's job though.
 
#814 ·
I am about to have a set of these laced up to some Hope Pro 2 Evo's for my Stumpy FSR evo (can never have to many products named evo)

Can anyone confirm the spoke length needed? I'm having trouble finding the right specs to punch into DT's calculator for hub info, and I've searched this thread but found some varying results. 260? 262? 263? - confused, and just want to have my LBS order the right thing. Thanks!
 
#817 ·
I got my spoke lengths wrong, and had them too long by 2mm.
But it was a relatively easy fix.

Just got a 14g spoke roller, as it was cheaper than buying a new full set of spokes.

Scar
P.S. Mine are still riding perfectly!
1500g all in with American classic hubs, running tubeless.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top