Road Cycling - some opinion about carbon deep wheels

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bakman
10-02-02, 02:58 PM
i'm gonna buy two new deep carbon wheels and i'm a little confused about all the products around. i'm thinking of zipp 58mm, but i've seen also corima 45mm and hte Hed wheels or now the lightweight wheels from Obermayer (www.lightweightwheels.com), and what obout mavic cosmic?
maybe somebody can tell me about the good and wrong about deep carbon wheels.
thank's to the answers
ciao

mechBgon
10-02-02, 09:53 PM
I had Zipp 440's, which were the deep-depth all-carbon tubulars. I went with titanium spokes and the Zipp carbon hubs. Pretty light, not practical. And I eventually began to crack the front rim a little.

I used standard brake pads on them, and got a surprising result: they MELT the pads! :eek: Hard stops generated fascinating odors, and beads of resolidified brake-pad material at the front edge of the brake pads.

Any more, I would look just as strongly at some Ksyriums or other clincher equivalents. The aerodynamic benefit is what those wheels are really best for in the first place, and you don't need carbon for that. Having to carry a 60-gram inner tube for a clincher, instead of a 250-gram spare tubular for the fancy carbon wheels, is going to offset a portion of the weight savings. Just my 2c worth, having been there/done that.
RacerX
10-03-02, 12:35 PM
Carbon wheels are awesome! If you were to simply follow instructions and buy the correct pads for full carbon braking surfaces, all would be fine:rolleyes:
The pad dissapates the heat, not the rim (like on a aluminum rim) so you need to change the pad-everyone knows that.
Zipp has some new coating that allows regular pads-- haven't tried it.

Zipp's are great- they have a patented shape that is better for crossswinds. Cane Creek Carbons use Zipp rims with different hubs.

Lightweights are awesome but good luck buying them. They are rare and really expensive because only 2 guys make them. They have kevlar spokes.

Mavic CC's are fast wheels but are not really carbon- the V section is just a cover for a open pro rim.

Lew Palermos are good. I have no experience with corima or HED.

Zipps are pretty damn tough for me. I use the 404's (58mm section) for cyclocross and they work great.