Aero wheels that stop in the wet

[Lieblingsleguan]

What do they cost in the US? I like the wheels on paper but 2000€ for a carbon faired aluminum wheelset is bonkers.

$1100 or less USD from reputable sellers with warranty.

That is a price I would happily pay

[crux]

The breaking performance with my Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon and the red Campy breakpads is far better than with alloy wheels...
Maybe because of the diamond braking surface

[andylav]

Braking surface on new Cosmic Carbon Pro SL C with supplied SwissStop yellow pads is better in the wet than my alloy Ksyriums

[bikerdan]

Braking surface on new Cosmic Carbon Pro SL C with supplied SwissStop yellow pads is better in the wet than my alloy Ksyriums

Wow...that's a pretty big endorsement. Have you also tried with black prince pads??

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

[bikebreak]

My Zipp 303 tubulars were pretty good in the wet, after half a second of pre braking to clean water off the rims

the new Easton EC90 55 are about as good

neither as good as alloy though

[1415chris]

Braking surface on new Cosmic Carbon Pro SL C with supplied SwissStop yellow pads is better in the wet than my alloy Ksyriums

It is hart to comprehend that yellow Swiss on any carbon rims can perform better than any aluminium rim with any descent pads.
I'm quite surprised that people still use yellow Swiss. Black Prince offer better modulation and power as well.

[andylav]

Braking surface on new Cosmic Carbon Pro SL C with supplied SwissStop yellow pads is better in the wet than my alloy Ksyriums

Wow...that's a pretty big endorsement. Have you also tried with black prince pads??

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

It is hart to comprehend that yellow Swiss on any carbon rims can perform better than any aluminium rim with any descent pads. I'm quite surprised that people still use yellow Swiss. Black Prince offer better modulation and power as well.

Hi guys,

I haven't tried Black Prince pads as I'm still on the original pads that were supplied with the wheels (though they are getting to the last bit of life left in them after regular use from March of this year).

I didn't have any issues with the yellow pads on the carbon rims and for comparison purposes, I've used Campagnolo standard pads and am currently running SwissStop green pads on the alloy wheels (non-Exalith or Fulcrum equivalent). The first wet ride that I had on the alloy rims in September was terrifying - seemed to take a lot longer to clear the water from the rim and offer any kind of bite compared to the wet runs I got caught out on with the carbons over our 'summer'.

Hadn't considered trying anything other than the yellow pads on account of potential warranty issues but if Black Prince pads offer even better performance, I'll definitely look into them.

[ryanw]

Well my 404s (Zipp/SwissStop Platinum Evo pads) stopped better than my NBT Enves w/Enve pads.

Have bought SwissStop Black Princes for my upcoming trip to Barcelona. Hopefully they will work better on the Enves...

[Lieblingsleguan]

Problem is - there is no baseline for "alloy braking". Brake adjustment, brake pads and rims play a big part.

My experience is that SwissStop Flash Pro BXP Pads on Ultegra direct mount rim brakes with Campy/Fulcrum alloy wheels only need perceivable time to clean the water of the rims when it's really really wet. And it still doesn't pose a big problem then even though I am a heavy rider. But other people tell me that their rims brakes don't work at all when it's wet.

This wide range of effectiveness of rim brakes, whether there are carbon or alloy rims, might also be responsible for parts of the heated disc brake debate.

[aeroisnteverything]

Braking surface on new Cosmic Carbon Pro SL C with supplied SwissStop yellow pads is better in the wet than my alloy Ksyriums

Wow...that's a pretty big endorsement. Have you also tried with black prince pads??

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Having the same wheels and brakes - I would not say the same. Aluminum > carbon, in my experience, although YMMV.

[TheKaiser]

With rim brakes the water has to be cleared first before the brakes bite. No fancy tricks can get around that.

Since you (and others) have brought this water "clearing" issue up, I am curious to get all of your perspectives on how this works. I have often heard people say that you need a full rotation of the wheel for the pads to clear the water, before they can then bite on the now cleared braking surface. That would basically mean little to no braking for a little over 2m before your brakes actually start taking effect.

When you guys are talking about "clearing", is that what you are thinking of? Or do you imagine that partway through that 1st rotation the pad kind of bites through the layer or water?

The reason I ask, is that there have been several pad designs over the years that had some sort of angled tip that was intended to act as a sort of "squeegee" clearing the rim before it contacts the primary pad face, which would reduce the distance before the pad hits cleared rim from 2m to whatever the length of the pad is, so say 50mm. Kool Stop has had a few versions of this design over the years, both inserts for cartridge pad holders, and standalone pads, and in all those cases, the squeegie was part of the pad material, and also served to set toe-in automatically. Some of them had a cutout behind the squeegie to allow it to flex back more as pressure was applied, presumably reducing wear on this part, whereas others had it all more rigidly fixed. Here is an example: https://www.ebay.com/p/Kool-Stop-Eagle- ... 959&chn=ps

Delta also had a design they called "Rim Rakes" where there was a sort of hard plastic piece that was installed between the pad and caliper arm an served the same purpose, in this case with a clearing blade that was a different material and much harder than the pad itself, acting as kind of a scraper rather than a squeegie. The lower pics in this link show them: http://www.bikepro.com/products/brakes/ ... pads.shtml

In theory that design seems to make sense, but it seems little used. I've actually used them on the MTB back in the day, but on MTB's its such a muddy nasty mess that the effect was not totally clear, as the positive clearing effect, if any, could have been overwhelmed by the volume and thickness of the mud.

[mpulsiv]

For those of you with bold claims about aluminum wheels that perform on par with carbon wheels, should toss your firm Shimano pads in trash. Install Kool-Stop salmon pads, then start talking. Aluminum with Kool-Stop salmon pads provide the best performance, especially in foul-weather.

[silvalis]

Agreed. I even thought BXPs were good until I switched to koolstop salmons. Completely different level in the wet.

(note: BXPs are a step up in the wet compared to shimano R55C4 and whatever comes on campy sr skeletons)

[mpulsiv]

Agreed. I even thought BXPs were good until I switched to koolstop salmons. Completely different level in the wet.

(note: BXPs are a step up in the wet compared to shimano R55C4 and whatever comes on campy sr skeletons)

Kool-Stop salmon pads and aluminum rims is the reason I haven’t jumped on disc bandwagon. It’s that good. I will keep waiting for disc brakes to improve. Marginal gains is not good enough. Someday disc brakes will outperform rim brakes.

[silvalis]

I went across then went back. The real difference I noticed was full time 1 finger braking.

Also I didn't mind being able to brake with random fingers when grabbing the top extension on sram hydros.