The DT Swiss wheel that came with my Cube GTC feels really flex when you sling the bike around a tight bend. I appreciate some of this will be tyre deformation, but I keep reading about how much stiffer a carbon rim is.
If you have switched from an alloy 29er wheel to a carbon rim, please do post your thoughts.
1. What alloy rim did you have and what carbon build did you go for
2. Was lateral stiffness immediately evident. Was it worth the expense?
3. Would you have made the same decision again today?
Thanks
I am lucky enough to have a carbon 29er wheelset which is verh stiff k also ride o a 28 spoke velocity blunt sl wheelset which is not as stiff. I cannot feel the difference when cornering apart from the tubs on mh carbon wheelset offer more grip than the conti x kings on my tubeless wheelset.
Unless your dt swiss wheels are reallh floppy i would put it down to tyre flex. The big advatage to carbon is you can have 35mm wide rims that are 30mm deep for jnder 500g and you can also build with a lower spoke count using thinner spokes and still have a relaible wheelset. The carbon build k have done for my self is a 28 spoker with sapkm laser spokes. The wider rims will help the handling a bit.
I got fulcrum 29 metal xls when I first bought my bike and they where fine.
I then got lightbike xc carbons on hope hubs and they are night and day. I don't notice any flex at all and they accelerate and change direction so quickly.
Trade off is they are not as comfy as the alus.
I notice less front wheel deflection in rocks when I switched from Flows to 35mm LB's.
I went from some really light DT rims, to some 35mm lb carbon rims on my yeti sb95. I could really notice the difference. There was a lot less flex in big berms, and also the bike stays straighter on really rough stuff. I did notice a slightly harsher ride on certain surfaces though, that trail centre kind of stuff.
My Rocky Mountain came with a (fairly heavy) wheelset with DT OEM rims.
I built a set of wheels with LB XC rims on DT240s, and while they are a big chunk lighter (best part of 500g), the most obvious thing on the first ride was the bike just going where I pointed it and tracking accurately over roots etc. I came home with a huge grin.
So yes, well worth it for me and would definitely do the same thing again.
Oh and the rear tyre no longer buzzes the chainstays on real hard cornering.
The Reynolds carbon wheel-set that came as standard on my Scalpel is noodlier than a noodlie noodle, unlike the Crests that I have for the same bike.
Not enough spokes and what there are are blooming thin, so a carbon rim isn't able to compensate for a daft build it seems.
