Mountain Biking - going ceramic?

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moabrider47
07-12-02, 06:29 PM
Hey-

Wondering what the good things, bad things, and concerns are about ceramic rims. I know they are supposed to give better braking traction, and they need special brake pads. I have also heard horror stories about the special braking surface rubbing off the rim. Has anyone had this problem? Has anyone had any other problems? Did you think that it made a signifigant difference in braking? Any other concerns or plusses??

Thanks all for the help.


EDIT: Sorry, I didn't ssearch for this subject first, but any new opinions or answers to the questions above would be appreciated!

KleinMp99
07-12-02, 11:29 PM
When I had my mavic crossmax wheels, the ceramic surface performed well, nothing rubbed off prematurely. I didnt really notice and difference in stopping power with them though.
Mashimaro
07-13-02, 02:42 PM
I'm still running my CrossMax wheels and the ceramic surface is wonderful. I went up from a mavic 221 and XT vbrakes to the XMax and XTR vbrakes and koolstop ceramic (green) pads. The front brake is really noisy for some reason (sounds like constant grinding) but the power is noticable over the old setup. My rims haven't flaked off at all (i've heard that happens to older ceramics) and they are superstrong wheels. If you can afford a ceramic rim, i'd suggest you go for it...unless of course you want to go to the disc brakes...:)

xMetal
07-17-02, 12:21 PM
I've run the Mavic D521 on my trials bike for years and they work quite well. I've had no problems with the coating coming off. Braking force is quite strong hwen the rim is clean and you have a good brakepad.

The only downside that I have noticed is more noise. Depending on your brakepad material, you can create quite a howl. This might be more of an issue with the Maguras I run, as they tend to hit the rim pretty flat due to slightly less room to give them toe-in on my bike.

The dark gray rim looks cool too. :D
Rich
07-18-02, 02:08 AM
Hi Moab :)

I recently bought a pair of X517 Mavic rims and have been riding them for about a month...first impressions are very good...much better braking performance than my last set of rims.

I friend previous to me had a set on his Pace, and was very pleased, even after a year or so.

Eventually the braking surface will eventually wear, but I should have thought that would be quite a while down the line!

Take it easy

Rich :D