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Carbon wheels durability

by DarraghM
Thu, May 21, 2020 12:55
5

Hello all,

I frequently cycle on rough roads, where there are many potholes and roads where expansion joints no longer have any fill material within them resulting in quite a big opening! This means I can never really avoid them all! How good in your experience are carbon wheels on poor surfaces like those mentioned above? I currently have aluminum wheels and would like to upgrade, but if carbon wheels are not very durable over poor surfaces and prone to cracking then I think I might stick with the aluminum!

Thanks!

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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5 comments

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Grahamd | 4 years ago
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Have had my Shimano C24 for 4 years without issue. One of the reasons I chose them was for the aluminium brake rim as it meant I could keep my older heavier wheels for winter use without needing to change brake pads which has worked out really well.

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DarraghM | 4 years ago
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Thanks all, now it's just to decide what wheelset to go with!

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sparrowlegs | 4 years ago
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I've been riding carbon wheels for years and never had any issues. I've been as heavy as 100kg and the roads near me are more like the cobbles of Roubaix and I've probably only needed to have a carbon wheelset trued once. I will also add that I've always run tubeless tyres on them which may have helped with the bump absorption. 
 

Don't go cheap with carbon wheels. The usual ones you find on eBay are rubbish. Have a look on lightbicycle.com as friends have wheels from there that are very high quality. I'm waiting for a set of AR46 on Bitex straight pull hubs with CX-Ray spokes being delivered as a set of training wheels. 

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
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Depends on the wheel, but in general there's no problem with carbon wheels.

This video will give you a good idea of how robust they can be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfjjiHGuHoc

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fenix replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
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I've never broken a rim of any description. Worn out a couple though.

Get the wider tyres you can fit for comfort over crappy roads.

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