[Closed] So ... carbon wheels, are they all that?

Mine are pikey carbon not Enve. They're not amazing really, they're just like my old alu wheels only better. Which is exactly what I wanted, and the price is right, so I'm very pleased, but I can't identify any magic carbon-ness other than they weigh nowt and make a pleasing noise when you tap them

I rode a demo bike with Enves, it didn't really feel any different to my cheap crabonz tbh but I only rode it for an hour or so and who knows, maybe it had heavy tyres or <spit> tubes or something, maybe it wasn't a fair comparison

Are your cheapo ones the lightbicycle efforts? I would imagine the weight loss helps the zippiness at least.

Not a massive difference in my experience.

I went from some dtswiss ex5.1d aluminium rims that weighed about 520g, to a set of light bike carbon 33mm wide all mountain rims that weighed 380g. The bike felt a little bit 'zippier', but it really was only a little bit. I also couldn't really tell any difference between the old rims and new carbon rims in terms of the width of them. IMO probably not worth the extra expense.

I've now gone to 27.5 wheels and have gone back to aluminium rims (dt Swiss m442 at 465g) because they were cheap and available instantly rather than waiting a few weeks, and once again they don't feel significantly different to the old carbon rims.

The one difference there does seem to be is that the carbon rims never went out of true regardless of how hard they were bounced off rocks. They were either straight and true, or completely destroyed, nothing in between.

The carbon rims looked nice though, were of good quality and you could notice the weight difference when you put the bike on a set of scales.

Fat-boy-fat - Member

Are your cheapo ones the lightbicycle efforts? I would imagine the weight loss helps the zippiness at least.

They are Lightbicycle. In my case, I didn't save any weight as I went from a too-light alu wheelset to a much stronger carbon one, at pretty much the same weight. But if you do a fairer compare with say, a pair of Flow Exes or 721s or something, yep the weight loss is substantial and you almost certainly would notice and approve. They're stiffer too actually, forgot to mention that as tbh, I don't care. But some folks do.

But then if you can get away with lightweight alu rims currently, the weight loss will be much less.

It's probably quite complicated- some of this has got to be psychological. But psychological doesn't mean unimportant- light wheels just feel better to me and when my bike feels better, I have more fun, I ride it more, and faster, and better. So the wheels themselves do have a performance advantage but they also help me produce a performance advantage. Does that make sense? It's like, ti bolts make **** all difference but believing your bike is lighter than your rival makes a difference

I keep my ally wheels for trashing on uplifts etc and swap to the carbon LBs for races or long distance rides

i definitely notice the zippiness when i go to the carbon rims (they are about 150g lighter) and the allys feel slooow at first when i swap back

the carbon ones definitely stiffer though get more feedback in rock gardens etc

i think the carbon ones corner better not sure if its stiffness, lighter weight or wider profile or all in my head- justifying the price 😉

If you cracked an Enve would you glue it back together?

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sharkattack - Member
If you cracked an Enve would you glue it back together?

If you crack an Enve they just replace it, don't they?

if you crack an LB theyll replace it too, but slower!

whether enve will, id ask pinkbike they seem to destroy them on every test

If you crack an Enve they just replace it, don't they?

Yep.

I've a coupke of pairs of 27.5 Enves (AM and M70 thirtys), I'm not going to lie, they only feel marginally stiffer then the 26 Mavic EX729s of my previous bike, in a blind test I couldnt say id know the difference every timr.

But, they are a hell of a lot lighter which makes the bikes, at least feel, faster.

edit, i took the pinkbike stuff with a pinch of salt. 'We noticed a crack, so deliberately rode the wheel into the ground and it broke!!11one!!'

If you crack an Enve they just replace it, don't they?

I thought so. Not sure why this one was for sale on Pinkbike with the crack full of resin.

Sram roam. Light bomb proof

The gushing praise for Carbon rims, and in particular LB, seems slightly less than I have seen in previous threads here, which is interesting.
I'd priced up some LB for my new bike, from previous comments here, and especially in relation to the stiffness benefits on 29ers and for "heavier" riders (80kg) it seemed a worthwhile place to splash the cash. But not necessarily getting that sense from here? Might be a bit better but not all that?

Sram roam. Light bomb proof

Which ones? You've got cheap Alu to super expensive carbon! The carbon ones are overpriced IMO.

LB rims are excellent, but they're not life changing compared to alu rims, which was the question here. I'd buy them time and time again for sure, but they're not gonna shave minutes off all your Strava times!

I'd priced up some LB for my new bike, from previous comments here, and especially in relation to the stiffness benefits on 29ers and for "heavier" riders (80kg) it seemed a worthwhile place to splash the cash. But not necessarily getting that sense from here? Might be a bit better but not all that?

I think on those criteria it's worth it, if you're buying anyway. demo'd a Whyte 29C and it certainly felt a bit zippier than other 29ers I'd ridden at getting up to speed. Not sure I'd pay north of £500 for that though.

I felt a far bigger difference going from Mavic 717s to Stans Podiums than I did going from crests to carbon wheels on a 29er.

The main advantage seems to be that they don't go out of true as often.

I thought I really wanted some. I jumped at the chance to ride a demo set of Enve rims on CK hubs from a shop when I had a chance a trade price deal. They were light, they were stiff, but not mind blowingly so. They were wider than what I had at the time and made my tyres buff up a bit and that made more difference than anything else.

I know of some pretty catastrophic failures as well but they didn't happen to me so I feel like I need to keep it under my hat. I don't like the way they sweep failures under the carpet. They're not on my shopping list anymore.

I always understood the big difference to be stiffness for racey rims and weight for heavy duty ones- light ally rims are already pretty light and heavy ally ones plenty stiff.

Carbon ones. Why are they overpriced? You tried them or own them?

Are they better? Pretty much undeniably.
Are they worth it? Not a bloomin' chance.

If you try a bike with arch ex rims vs flow ex, that's about the difference in 'zippyness' that LB carbon makes to me - which, funnily enough, is about the weight difference of LB 35mm compared to flow ex.

Honestly, it's not that much increase in speed, but for a fat bugger like me it's a big improvement in stiffness. So much so that I've altered my riding a little because of it, and going to even wider rims is lovely (in my opinion). If you're light, you probably won't notice this though.

I've had a few hours on enve rims and honestly don't think I could tell you the difference in a blind test between enve and LB though. The enves are finished to a nicer/higher standard but they ride about the same.

I went from Hope/Stand Flows on my old trail bike to DT Swiss EXC 1550's with carbon rims and they did feel noticeably ace, stiffer with marked easier acceleration, lovely lovely things.

Worth the money? Not sure, Diminishing returns? Definitely, but lovely.

Carbon ones. Why are they overpriced? You tried them or own them?

You'll notice I said IMO. The 'O' is opinion. That's based on them costing nearly £1700, a price which would get you your choice of carbon rims from a Chinese manufacturer with even the most boutique of hubs. Indeed you could build an near identical set of wheels for far less.

But if a possible, but entirely unquantifiable performance advantage and the peace of mind and bragging rights a sticker gives you is worth £1000, then they're not overpriced.

Comparing flow ex to the weightier light bicycle rims, it only looks like 90 grammes of difference. On that basis, probs not worth the bother. I think I'd have to go for a super wanghy wheels et instead. Mebbes not given the feedback above. I'm no racing snake, so being "faster" doesn't bother me ... being "funner" does and the overwhelming feeling I'm getting is, in the words of Sir Chris, marginal gains.

If you can put them to good use their worth every penny. Certainly makes a difference to my riding. Straight, bomb proof and extremely light. Nothing to do with bragging rights, Lots on here have opinions mostly based on their prejudices. I gave give a short opinion based on owning and using a product. But someone on the forum always knows better but have not owned or tried the product.

honourablegeorge - Member

If you crack an Enve they just replace it, don't they?

Crash replacement policy- other than the standard warranty, you can buy a replacement for 50% of MSRP.

Fat-boy-fat - Member

Comparing flow ex to the weightier light bicycle rims, it only looks like 90 grammes of difference.

Even the middleweight lightbicycle ones seem tougher than a Flow Ex though- I saved not much shy of 250g over my Flow Exs and they've taken blows that would have left at least a big dent in an Ex, and maybe written it off. After almost a year of use on my newer set, they've got a few scratches but they look a ride or two old, whereas my Flows looked like a washboard after similiar use (and the Flow Ex was wrecked)

I swapped from a set of Flows to some LB rims, the wide AM 26" ones. There's a little bit of added zip, but the real difference, I noticed, was that they felt more precise on rutted, rubbly stuff - top of Rushup Edge semi frozen for example, they seemed to hold a line better and go where you put them more precisely.

I could, of course, be imagining that and I doubt I'm a good enough rider to really push them, but that's how it felt. I couldn't justify buying Enve wheels to myself, much as I'd like to try some, but the LB ones aren't insanely expensive, look good and, so far, seem to ride well. YMMV etc.

There were some quite frankly laughable claims last time this was asked from some people claiming to be a whole 10% faster on the equivalent carbon wheels.

I have a set of carbon wheels and some alloy spares. They both weigh the same, I don't go any faster on one than the other.

I can notice the difference in stiffness, sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it isnt.

I love my LB wheels, so much lighter, stiffer and betterer.

IMO it's one of those things, until you try carbon rims then you don't believe the difference.

Plus, the placebo effect is worth a million times the price 🙂

If you can put them to good use their worth every penny. Certainly makes a difference to my riding. Straight, bomb proof and extremely light. Nothing to do with bragging rights, Lots on here have opinions mostly based on their prejudices. I gave give a short opinion based on owning and using a product. But someone on the forum always knows better but have not owned or tried the product.

Get over it. They're three times the price of an equivalent! I'm not saying the same, nor that they're bad, but that doesn't represent good value for money [b]in my opinion[/b]. There it is again. Not saying I know better. They're not light, and you could easily build lighter, on similarly tough rims and save £1,000. But you've spent the money, so you're somewhat blinkered.

If you want a comparison though. My LB wheelset has wider rims, cost £500 and is 300g lighter than the Roam 60. You could build on DH rims and they'd still be lighter. They are in no way "extremely light".

I'm not sure what to do as well.
Building a nomad C at the minute and although I want a set of ENVE's the price is ridiculous. I do believe that they are a quality product the finishing and construction seems top notch but IMO it's the application that is at question.

Is a carbon rim right for off road with the current technology available ?

Does mating a modern composite with a traditional spoke \ hub construction devalue the added advantage of a lighter stronger rim ?

I recon it does. The most worrying tell tale for me is that they are happy to replace them for SFA if they break. That tells me two things.
Firstly they know they will break.
Secondly you have already paid for the replacement in the price.

My two penith

I have LB 35mm rims on my 29er. Used to have some arch ex's and then some sun ringle black flag pros. My light bike rims are nearly a third wider, are perceivably stiffer laterally (substantially so) and vertically (adding a tiny bit of zip) and weigh the same. Why wouldn't anyone want that?

I bought them for their characteristics, not their material. IMO its an small improvement that's worth having, but not for the ridiculous prices the enve and some of the other high end carbon wheels cost. I will be happily buying LB rims for the foreseeable because the cost/benefit level is about right.

Just get LB rims and stick ENVE stickers on

Fitting carbon rims to demo bikes is evil genius.

It probably had lighter tyres or less rebound damping.

The money you save from not buying carbon wheels; spend on a skills course. Best upgrade you can buy for your bike.

skiboy - Member

The most worrying tell tale for me is that they are happy to replace them for SFA if they break. That tells me two things.
Firstly they know they will break.
Secondly you have already paid for the replacement in the price.

Err. Company stands behind its products and you take that as a bad thing? That's just weird tbh.

Has anyone got the new LB 38 mm rims? Northwind what LB Rims you running?

I replaced a 35mm 700g Salsa Gordo with a 400g 35mm LB rim, and a 72mm 920g Jones rim with a 65mm 550g carbon rim, the difference is night and day.