Hello!
I hope everyone is well!
I want to upgrade my wheelset from aluminum to carbon, and i dont want tubeless or tubular wheelset,
I searched on Bike24 for carbon wheels and i’m totally lost.
all i know i want this size 28" (622mm)
And what about height? Shallower rims save some weight but that’s not really important since you should look at the total weight of the entire system (you+bike+spares+food&drinks). Those 200 grams are not gonna make the difference between being dropped on a climb or beating all your pb’s.
Deeper wheels are more aerodynamic but can be harder to handle in windy conditions. Especially when descending the height can be an issue when it’s windy.
Wheels nowadays are often tubeless-ready meaning they can be fitted with inner tubes as well. Just don’t take hookless rims because they can only be fitted with tubeless tires.
Also consider wheels for disc brakes or rim brakes, they are never interchangeable.
Lastly: what is your budget?
I can only second the crosswind stability thing. My bike came with 35mm deep wheels which is not that much. Recently I did a ride with gusty 60kph winds and it was very sketchy at places, especially if you are passed by trucks coming the oppsite direction. Even the professionals rarely use the 80mm wheels any more we saw some years ago. For mere mortals like me, the saved power is less of an issue because I don’t ride 60kph like the pros and the savings are even less for me.
The DT Swiss ERC series seems a good compromise for normal riders, however they are disc-only.
On cross wind stability etc. the consensus in design seems to be wide tyres and wide rims. The older very narrow v shaped winds stalled very easily. This stalling is what causes the sudden twitch in cross winds.
Agree on the ERC. Living in a flat windy country, my ERC’s 47mm deep are stable. Yes you hang on a degree with a sidewind, but you hang stable. No surprises. Not even when riding in between houses. Recommend the ERC’s!
To add: they are quite friendly on fitting continental tires!
Are you running disc or rim brakes?
First off if you running rim brakes then I would stay with a good quality alloy rim and top quality hubs.
Second look at the hub quality as it can make more of a difference than a few grams weight saving on the overall wheel set. Poor quality bears and pawls will cause more friction and when coasting could be as much ha 20yards difference. Weight in the hub isn’t really rotational weight like in the rims themselves.
As already said something with a little depth 35mm or so should be a good all round option. I do find my Bontrager can still be impacted in cross winds.
Thanks all!!
my bike has disc breaks , i live in Kuwait which is totally flat , and we don’t have many windy days during the year
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I utterly beg to differ. I do ride either a 35mm set of rims, or a 52/62 combo, latter ones a newer design. Turns out that there is not much difference if a wind gust hits you. I would actually say that the deeper ones handle better, especially on descents. Funny thing, a fried of mine has a 30mm set, which I had to borrow one time. Turns out it had some sort of bladed spokes which made them almost unrideable in crosswinds (he is 190lbs, so perhaps less of an issue for him than for me with 150lbs).
Got to throw in that the 35mm were my climbing wheels. The 52/62 were something I just wanted to play with, try out TL … The 52/62 literally have been on the bike all year now … I just cannot see myself ever going back to shallower rims, or even aluminum rims (yes, got some ultra light 32mm climbers there as well, collecting dust). And yes, this is rim brake, and yes, I do 125+ mile rides, and do climb, a whole lot.
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I don’t like to get into technicals. All I know is a bought a pair of boras and they are flipping great