sac02

A couple months ago I bought a set of 60mm full carbon clinchers for (what I consider) a good price. I've been using them for "special" events - races, the occasional hard ride, etc.

I was out of town for a wedding and found a small group to ride with. Three of them were on Reynolds 46mm carbon clinchers, and all three said they rode them as their "everyday" wheels and had never had a single problem after several years use (anywhere from 10k to 20k miles).

It made me feel that my "nice" wheels stay in the garage more often than not. I'm debating the merits of using the carbon wheels more regularly:

Pros: It would make me happy (maybe a little faster, but I don't care about my average speed for training / recreational rides)
Cons: Durability - scared of damaging them. They are supposed to have a crash replacement policy, but idk if say, a pothole is considered a "crash". If they were damaged and NOT covered by a replacement policy, it would be hard for me to justify/afford replacing them. Also, I wonder if 60mm may be too far on the edge of "difficult to control in a stiff crosswind" for daily riding.

What say you, bikeforums?

Anyone ride full carbon rims regularly? Have you found them to be more durable than you expected? Or did you wind up regretting it for some reason?

Thanks

adriano 

go for it.

ColinL

A pothole is a crash. I've not read any crash replacement program that stipulates you have to be in a competitive event to qualify. (Some could exist, however.)

But have you read the crash programs? They generally are 15-30% off MSRP. Guess what... if you shop on the internet, you can often match that anyway or even beat it.


I would not ride them daily but that is due to the roads I ride on. If I were on smooth, good quality roads then by all means...

StanSeven

I ride CF/Al wheels (Zipp 303) daily for the past 5 years with absolutely no problems. Switching back and forth is a pain, especially when I usually needed to do fine barrel adjustments.

The only problem you may have with all CF is they don't stop as well in the rain. So long as you allow for that, should will be fine

GDA

How often have you crashed or damaged your "training or normal" wheelset? Ride them and enjoy them; it is why you bought them in the first place.

Inertianinja

I ride 50-something carbon clinchers regularly. there's no problem with them - but i found that i actually want to use non-aero wheels for training

Seattle Forrest

I wouldn't buy them if I couldn't use them as everyday wheels. Although I'd probably not ride them in the rain.

The pothole thing ... I think I've hit two potholes unexpectedly in the last year. One, I didn't see because of rain and flooding. The other I didn't see because of the road conditions. Neither was that bad. It's not really something I'd worry about.

rdubbz

yeah, I train, race and sometimes commute on a set of 60mm chinese wheels. They hold up fine, but absolutely suck when it's raining. They are ok with light rain, but if it pours braking is almost non-existent.

Homebrew01

How long do the brake tracks hold up compared to aluminum rims ?

haaseg

I pass a lot of people puttering around on their 404s around here. I think it's a combination of people with money to burn and a few very good salesmen getting people to go for wheel upgrades on new bikes (the local Cervelo dealer must be particularly good).

If you can pedal fast enough to get the benefits of aero, buy them. Oh wait - you already own them so just ride them.

KendallF

I'm on my second year, and perhaps 10k miles, on a set of Psimet carbon clinchers. I race on them, commute to work on them, ride centuries on them...you get the picture. I have the Gigantex-rimmed ones with the slight bump in thickness at the brake track, which is also lowered from the rim edge slightly. With Swisstop yellow pads, these brake comparably to my aluminum rims, even in the rain. I took them down the back side of Hogpen Gap at 53 mph in the rain a couple of months ago.. Brake tracks look great on these still.

jmX

I ride around on my carbon clinchers every day, don't see any reason why I wouldn't aside from rain. I bought them to use them. I wouldn't say they are more or less durable than I expected, they work like any other rim and I expect to get years out of them.

DropDeadFred

best believe if I drop this dough on some 404s I'll be sporting them daily...

tanguy frame

why you want all that money sitting in your garage?

botto 

no.

I <3 Robots

Yes

EvenKeel

I fit your stereotype to the tee. 404 carbon clinchers, used everyday. Thanks.

MajorMantra

I wouldn't partly because it's often windy round here and at my weight I'd get blown off the road on 60mm rims. Heck, I've had some scary moments on my 31mm wheelset. I'd be interested to try some of the newer rims (Firecrest, HED etc.) that claim better behaviour in crosswinds though.

Secondly, I like light wheels and deep section carbon clinchers tend not to be super light unless you drop serious coin. Even a set of Firecrest 303s weighs 60g more than my Soul S3.0SLs and costs more than five times as much. Sure they're somewhat more aero but everyday purposes the difference is pretty meaningless and you have to put up with the iffy carbon braking.

If you already own the wheels then by all means ride them every day, but I certainly wouldn't choose them for the purpose.

lwrncc

If I lived in a relatively flat place, sure!

Inertianinja

I'm surprised you wouldn't look at Soul's carbon clinchers. I have the S2.0 and the C5.0, and they're both light and affordable for training wheels.
If i ever get to be decent as a racer, i then i will get a set of really high-end race aero wheels.

primov8

Since recovering from ACL reconstrustion this past spring, I've been riding on my Enves which are tubulars too. I won't be going back to clinchers unless they're given to me.

Psimet2001 

I was basically going to say something similar. I often ride carbon daily. Why? Well....because I can. Let's face it: I "know a guy".

Building wheels you'd be amazed at the number of people/clients that ask me if they can use their new carbon clinchers as "daily" wheels. I've never had a good response to this other than, "it depends".

1. They're carbon. Although they are strong and perform well, their failure mode is catastrophic plastic deformation.
2. All wheels can fail. It just depends on what you do with them.
3. If the amount you spent on carbon wheels makes you feel like you NEVER want anything bad to happen to them well...then you probably should NEVER ride them. Stuff happens when you ride.
4. Your wheels don't care if you have a number pinned on or not.
5. I have been on crit courses that are rougher than my weekly ride roads are.
6. "Don't ride/race what you can't afford to replace"
7. Any carbon failure I have seen in real life was brought about by a riding condition that would have caused an aluminum wheel to fail as well in the same situation.
8. Brake surfaces on carbon rims are "eaten" up or "worn down" as you use them. eventually this will require the rim to be replaced....oh and same thing for aluminum. FYI.

So....it depends. Personally I have ridden roughly 2 main sets of clinchers for 3 years without issue. These sets have been put under roughly 20-30 other riders/racers as demo wheels, race wheelsets ('hey Rob i just flatted, my race starts in 10 minutes - do you have any wheels?' or 'Rob - can I borrow a set for this race?' or 'Hey, I want to use a set of fast wheels for the Ironman....can I rent yours?') without issue. They have survived a genetic freak who is the brother of a current Pro who flatted on them during the state road race and then rode the rim back a few miles to the wheel pit in a panic.

So...can you use them as a daily wheel? "Depends".

ancker

I can't afford to let my carbon wheels sit in a closet most of the time.
I ride my 58mm November wheels every day.

MajorMantra

The Soul carbon options are very appealing but they are still more than twice the price of the 2.0s or 3.0s. I could definitely see riding them as summer wheels for everyday but not for the grit and grime of winter.

That's a point actually: I'd be more inclined to ride really nice wheels on a daily basis if I lived somewhere where it was sunny a good deal of the time. I live in Scotland, where the roads are damp and/or muddy and/or gritty an awful lot.

ahson

Why not?

I ride my 50mm carbon clincher regularly. Unless you're asking if you should ride a 88mm wheelset, otherwise I don't see the problem here.