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Carbon rims for a DIY wheel build

by Mathemagician
Fri, Oct 25, 2019 21:12
10

Hi all,

Looking to build a set of disc brake wheels with carbon rims. I bought some cheaper aluminium rims and Miche hubs for my first set, to get some practice in building wheels, and they've stood up to the test of time. So now I'm looking to build a set of light(ish) weight mid section wheels. Looking around tinterweb, I can't find too many places to buy carbon rims. Wiggle sell Prime rims, but the price seems quite high. Light Bicycle rims look good value, though I don't know much about the brand if I'm honest. That's about all I've found apart from Alibaba type Chinese rims. I don't necessarily have anything against those but just wondering what other suggestions people have?

Cheers

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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Smiley miles | 5 years ago
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i've used lightbicycle rims and they are just fine.. got stung a bit on postage..  but i was just buying one rim..their communication and customer service were fine...extremely easy to build .. in fact i'd eat my hat if i'm wrong, but the new Prime Black edition DB50 wheels in this weeks Cycling plus  Friday 22/11 look remarkably similar to the lightbicycle 700C WR50 rims..same weight, same dimensions, same 2 weight options... you'll have to judge fully if they are cheaper with duty and postage...

Avatar
NickJP | 5 years ago
4 likes

I've built two pairs of wheels using Light Bicycle carbon rims. Both pairs of rims were well made, built up easily, and have given no problems and remained completely true in use. Ordering directly from the factory was pretty easy: I just specified the finish on the rims and whether I wanted a logo and if so what colour, and delivery was about three or four weeks from placing the order.

One pair I built was for a road bike: R25 disc rims (https://www.lightbicycle.com/Carbon-700C-25mm-wide-road-disc-rim-clincher-25mm-deep-New-Gen-Aero-shape-tubeless-compatible.html),  using 24h front, 28h rear, Sapim CX-Ray spokes, and DT Swiss 240s hubs. The built wheels came in at just over 1400g for the pair with tubeless rim tape and tubeless valves fitted.

The other wheels were for a gravel bike using their AR36 650B disc rims: https://www.lightbicycle.com/Disc-650B-gravel-rims-29mm-wide-36mm-deep-tubeless-for-cyclocross-and-gravel-bikes.html.

I built these as 28h front, 32h rear with Sapim D-Light spokes and 240s hubs. Didn't bother to weigh these, as I'm running 47mm tyres on them, but they built up pretty light as well.

There's a long, long thread on the Weight Weenies forum about Light Bicycle rims. The view there seems to be overwhelmingly positive as well: https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=152443.

Here's the pair of road wheels I built:
 

Avatar
alotronic | 5 years ago
1 like

Wiggle/Prime sell their rims online too FWIW. 

EG: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-cc-38-clincher-disc-road-rim/

Avatar
Miller replied to alotronic | 5 years ago
0 likes

alotronic wrote:

Wiggle/Prime sell their rims online too FWIW. EG: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-cc-38-clincher-disc-road-rim/

...and very cheap at that price.

 

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peted76 | 5 years ago
0 likes

I'd buy Lightbicycle (indeed I almost did very recently) they are a well proven and longstanding brand, or Farsports. I'd be very hesitant about buying from any other far eastern brand.

If you wanted to buy rims closer to home, you could try:

https://ridefullgas.com/

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/

to name but two.. 

Avatar
Mathemagician replied to peted76 | 5 years ago
0 likes

peted76 wrote:

I'd buy Lightbicycle (indeed I almost did very recently) they are a well proven and longstanding brand, or Farsports. I'd be very hesitant about buying from any other far eastern brand.

If you wanted to buy rims closer to home, you could try:

https://ridefullgas.com/

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/

to name but two.. 

 

Cheers...not heard of ridefullgas, but they don't seem to sell just rims. Might look into their hubs though. 

Avatar
Mathemagician | 5 years ago
0 likes

Thanks for the input...I'm surprised there aren't many UK options- even though they would just be rebadged Chinese rims, would make potential aftersale issues more straightforward.

There does seem to be a lot of competition around at the moment for carbon wheels in that £800-£1000 bracket I agree, and JRA are just 10 minutes away on the bike. I guess it's more about the feeling of making it myself that I want, same reason I don't really buy full bikes off the peg.

Avatar
Miller | 5 years ago
1 like

The light bicycle rims are really nice. Not super cheap but very good and very up to date with design. The other companies as mentioned, also yeoleo.
That said, complete wheels with carbon rims are now available at £800 or less from the likes of just riding along. The cost saving for buying from China is not as great as it was.

Avatar
Nick T | 5 years ago
1 like

Light Bicycle have a good reputation. There's FarSports and ICAN also. Most of the small "wheel manufacturers" just order their stuff from one of these with their own stickers put on

Avatar
fixation80 | 5 years ago
1 like

I built my time trial tubular wheels with carbon rims from China and hubs from ebay, two years on, no issues, lightest and best wheels I have ever had. Never had to true them up since building.

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