rekon

I've been experiencing a bit of flex only when I climb or sprint out of the saddle. I can hear the pads slightly rub against the wheel. The pads are about 3mm away from the wheel. I can probably solve the problem by opening it up to 5mm but I'd rather keep it at 3mm or less. Is this typical with Enves? Should I get the tension tightened?

Andrew R Stewart 

How many spokes and what's the drive and non drive side tensions. We see far more problems with component wheel side ways flex then traditional hand built wheels with 32 or 36 spokes. Andy.

TimothyH

Sounds like the rim is actually too stiff relative to the spokes.

Strong riders can cause wheels with stiff carbon rims and relatively light or low spoke count to rub.


-Tim-

rekon

24 spokes on the rear. I'm not sure about the drive and non drive side tension.

rekon

Thanks for sharing the article. This def helps put things into perspective.

But i'm still confused as to what to do... Do I just live with the occasional rub?

TimothyH

I'm laughing right now because I was thinking exactly what you wrote when I posted and it caused me to hesitate.

All this is great but what do I actually do to get it to stop? Long on theory and short on practical advice.

Unfortunately I don't have an answer except to say that if you are indeed a strong climber then different wheels might be something to consider.

But please, given the cost of those wheels please don't take my word for it. I'm just pointing out the article and could be completely wrong.

andr0id

I'm gonna guess 24 spoke on that rear wheel.

OP, it's going to depend on your weight and the hubs and cross pattern to some degree.*
Who built your wheels?

Most brakes want 4-5mm *total* gap according to mfg docs, so if you are going 3mm per side, that is about right. 3mm total is too tight and I would expect wheel rub, bikes and wheels do flex 1.5mm easily.




* haha, yes all this stuff too mentioned in the SlowTwitch article.

-Axle diameter and thickness
-Spoke count
-Number of spoke crossings
-Spoke thickness
-Spoke material
-Spoke type (j-bend or straight pull)
-Rim depth
-Rim width
-Rim material
-Fork leg stiffness and steerer tube diameter
-Chainstay and seatstay design
-Dropout alignment

rekon

You don't have to guess the spoke count. Just read post #4.


Moreover, I spoke to Enve and they said it's normal. They said all their wheels do it and the only reason I can hear it is because I have the newer textured brake track.

Andrew R Stewart 

So Enve suggests that pad/rim side rub is normal for their products? Andy

andr0id

Well, if you read the slowtwitch article, it's probably normal for any very rigid rim built with aero spokes.

You notice it on the Enve because their Gen2 brake track has a fine checkerboard texture that makes a distinctive sound.

The solution is to open the brakes up a mm or so or get ear plugs.

Andrew R Stewart 

The goal I had in asking my question was to get the wheel manufacture's view, not what is generally known but not really talked about by those making and selling said wheels.


I imagine if a wheel manufacturer did come out and did say that pad rub was normal for their rims they'd be panned in the market place. So my question was to make a point, not to really search for an answer.


I did read the Slowtwitch article and agree with most all it says. It certainly matches my 45 years of shop wrenching (including building many hundreds of wheels) experiences.


So once more the true cost of fancy bike stuff is found out after the credit card has been processed. Andy.

andr0id

Well, not to be argumentative, but cyclists have complaining about rear brake rubbing climbing and out of the saddle for all of the 4 decades I've been riding.

It just goes to show that expensive aero carbon wheels don't solve all wheel problems (barely problems, really tiny annoyances) in existence.

It sounds like a "climbing wheel" that really didn't flex and rub the brakes would be built with more and heavier spokes. That goes completely against the grain of what cyclists want to buy as "climbing wheels."'

They'd sell about 3 of them.