I'll rephrase that "anecdotal evidence suggests..."

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

agree some kit requires caution, when it come to wheels i accept you may have to avoid the bigger potholes etc but they should always be able to stop you.

you can ride around a hole, you dont always have a choice in how hard you break. The first breaks the wheels if the second fails you could die

+1...RKP is perhaps the worst cycling blog/review site on earth...just parroting what they read and most of the time not even getting that right. Just my two cents...EM3

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My 2011 Cervelo R5

Pretty easy to know which rims.


Are they an upside down U or a V?

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

I don't know about other riders here but I wouldn't do that descent on carbon clinchers, it averages 12% with sections up to 18% and a pretty windy road. Not a place for novice descenders on carbon clinchers.

It's quite common for carbon clinchers to do that when over heated, especially earlier models.

thanx, my friend said the wheels are a recent Enve model so i think would incorporate current technology on brake tracks. I know he is ready this thread with interest and has lost confidence in the carbon clinchers at this stage. i've mentioned to replace with a Mavic exalith processed wheel to keep the stealth look of his all black c59.

The older Edge rims were definitely howlers. However, from what I have seen, the new ones are a bit better. It really is imperative to clean the brake track and pads regularly though. I assume your friend is using the Enve pads?

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http://www.zencyclery.com

http://www.wheelbuilder.org

Zen, he mentioned grey pads.

So yes.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Carbon clinchers + Baw Baw descent = FAIL!!!!

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"It never gets easier, you just go faster..." - Greg Lemond

"Because technology alone is a poor substitute for experience." - Richard Sachs

With all respect if your friend is considering getting rid of the wheels he is missing the point. The wheels are top notch when used in the right application.
Just tell him to buy something more suitable for the mountains and save the Enves for flatter days. (That is unless all he does is go up and down Baw Baw.)

I’d assume that with a c59 and 3.4s already, Fulcrum Zeros aren’t going to be out of his budget.

As one weight weenie once put it, - Life’s too short to have one set of wheels.

Milroy
I hope he reads your reply. Excellent it is..

I just got a lesson in BawBaw.

It doesn't sound like a place where not riding the brakes is always an option, especially if there's any traffic. It's also not going to have anything like "Alpine" cooling.

But it's not a super long climb and the profile looks pretty manageable.



That said, with all the generalizations popping in here about Carb clichers...

It's worth a mention that Zipp are at 2.5 years without a heat related claim on firecrest clinchers... Like most things I would guess others will eventually get there, but they just have a design that shouldn't get lumped in with generalizations about carb clinchers at this point.

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Good point Charles. We should definitely give Zipp their due on the carbon clincher thing. Zero heat related failures. Very impressive.

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Hi,
Just to add my 5 cents to this discussion.
I have a number of Carbon Clinchers.
A set of Carbon Sports Lightweights Gen 3, a set of Mad Fibers, and two sets of Tune Swarzbrenners, 42 mm, and also the 32mm. Also some Zipp 404 Firecrest.
Also a set of Enve 3.4 tubs.
I do a reasonable amount of recreational riding in the mountains of Europe, and also here in Victoria.
So far I melted the braking surfaces of the Tune 32 mm wheels in Italy. The braking surface has integrated alloy for heat dispersion, not really adequate.
I have also managed to damage the braking surface of the Lightweight front wheel twice. Yes. The first time CS would not cover warranty as I used Yellow Swiss Stop pads, instead of their proprietary Grey Pads. The second time they covered wheel damage and replaced wheel with new Gen Millenstein wheel with new improved braking surface,
What does all this tell me?
Well, as I don't use my brakes really anymore than any other middle aged recreational racer they are probably manifestly unsuited for hot conditions, steep descents, eg Mortirolo, Baw Baw etc, or the prolonged 30/40 Kms descents found in Italy/France etc. Trailing brakes stuck behind vehicles can be a significant problem.l
IMHO stick to alloy clinchers in the big mountains, less chance of a catastrophic failure that could really really ruin your day.l
Lew Targett

Yes. My experience too. It would be nice if these were "do everything" wheels given the price. But you learn that the more expensive the equipment, the more specialised it is in application.

The Tunes are Xentis rims are they not?