Originally Posted by
Hiro11
2. Hookless allows the manufacturer to use steel fixtures, as opposed to hooked rims that require soft fixtures so that they can be removed after molding. The steel fixture leads to more consistent rim profiles, stronger rims and more reliable tubeless setups - maybe? I've never had an issue with hooked rims.
3. Hookless rims have more material on the bead wall (a lot more) and are therefore much stronger - this seems plausible to me and one of the more compelling reasons for hookless. Although again I've never had a carbon bead wall fail.
Thank you,
Hiro11. These two points make a lot of sense, assuming by "fixture" you mean the mold in which the CF rims are formed.
To date, I have bought two pairs of CF wheels, both hooked. The first set, Mavic Cosmic SLR 40 (top of the line rim brakes, <1,400 g), had a defective rear wheel where the side wall bulged out after the tire (with tube) was inflated, and had to be returned. The second set, FFWD F4R FCC, has been working out great so far.