mooder

Hello,

I haven't purchased my wheelset that I am already planning my next upgrade.

Anyway, I am wondering if carbon wheel = disk brake.
For me, a logical upgrade would be disk brake. Pads wear the rim and it seems to be a good idea to use disk brake so you basically don't have to replace worn rims... With carbon rim costing 6-7 times common rim it sounds logical to reduce as much as you can the wear on them. Plus with carbon wheels, the lesser braking power and the risk of over heating seem to completely disqualify pad braking.

So should I also upgrade my brakes if I go the carbon route?

bt

carbon wheels with non disc brakes are fine.

wait ten years and maybe disc brakes for road bikes will be sorted out.

GlennR

Disc brakes are for mountain bikes.

bt

amen

fa63

First, just want to make sure that you understand you can't just upgrade your brakes to discs if your frame isn't made to take them in the first place. In that case, you would have to buy a whole new frame.

Second, I find braking on carbon wheels to be just fine, as long as I am not riding in the mountains. At those time, things can get a bit sketchy if you ride your brakes too much in technical descents.

Third, I agree that disc brakes on road bikes are butt-ass ugly. That said, I can't help but feel that they are here to stay and soon it will become difficult to buy an off-the-shelf bike without them.

mooder

Thanks for clearing lot of things up! The articles I read were some what old and might not reflect the reality (notably the terrific allusion of tire exploding due to overheating).
I wonder how long a typical carbon rim will last? Any difference versus normal rim?

fa63

I have been on carbon clinchers for about two years, 7,000 miles. I also bought them used, but not sure how many miles the previous owner had on them. Anyways, there is no sign of wear on the brake track that I can discern with my eyes.

Jiggle

I recently switched to carbon clinchers. The braking is the same as aluminum except they are louder. I'm a convert.

mooder

Nice... Now I just need to save enough money

valygrl

Braking on my zipp firecrest rims sucks in the wet, and is not as good in the dry, but acceptable. I would keep the old aluminum front wheel for rainy days or steep technical descents.

hueyhoolihan

i just priced a disc (front only) conversion for my road bike's carbon rimmed front wheel. new hub, spokes, fork, rotor, hydraulic XT lever and caliper is about 350 and the better part of a pound. just so there were be no surprises, i'm only considering this is after testing out a FS Ibis Ripley with XT brakes for a day on some tough, dusty singletrack and fire roads. the brakes were fine, zero noise, zero grab, and very smooth in actuation.

Bob Dopolina 

Incorrect.

Is that drum worn out yet?

Braking on carbon rims is not an issue in the dry. Add water and alloy is the way to go but even then braking suffers.

redfooj

some ( many??) carbon rims should have a high-friction low-wear material applied to the braking surface to enhance performance and longevity

Bob Dopolina 

They don't.

There are two factories in China I know of (and 1 in Taiwan) that use a Basalt layer on the brake track. This isn't to improve wear; It's there to deal with heat.

The problem is that it eventually flakes off leaving carbon exposed that is not HTg. Bad plan.

The real solution is in brake pad compounds. Those can be tweaked to help with longevity but performance usually suffers. A good pad is a balance between these and othe factors like squealing!

What does help is to clean your brake pads once a week or so with a flat file to remove any imbedded materials. It takes less than 5 minutes and keeps braking performance optimal.

zatopek

What does help is to clean your brake pads once a week or so with a flat file to remove any imbedded materials. It takes less than 5 minutes and keeps braking performance optimal.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this tip B Dop.

caloso

Use a quality pad like Reynolds blue pads and braking is not an issue.

Jed19

Can't be true.

GlennR

I previously had Easton EC90SL clinchers with Swiss Stop yellow pads. I now have Zipp 303 with Tangente grey pads.

Both stop just fine.

Jed19

Oh, they'll stop just fine alright, just not as good as aluminum wheels, in my experience..

GlennR

Maybe you're right, but i live on Long Island where there are no steep descents that go on for miles.

And while i'm not a pro rider, many pros do run carbon wheels on mountain stages where there are steep descents.

Jed19

Bet you dollar to donuts those pros are running tubular carbon wheels and not clinchers.

Bandera

No.
Shimano Carbon/AL composite wheels have no braking disadvantage when wet, or otherwise.
Just bought a set of RS81-C24 for my CF Merckx.

Product

-Bandera

Jiggle

Why can't it be true?

Jed19

There is not a single carbon clincher that I am currently aware of that can stop as well as an aluminum clincher in rain conditions or on a mountain descent. And I have been around bikes for close to thirty years.

Bandera

Product

Shimano Carbon/AL composite wheels have no braking disadvantage when wet, or otherwise.

-Bandera