Light Bicycle wheel rims?

[PeytonM]

Thanks for the outside shots. Wheels look great and nice bike btw.

[baldheadbiomed]

AR 46 3k Satin rim brake, black decal. Since 3k weave is optimal for rimbrakes I went for full 3k as I think it looks better than combining UD with 3K The transition is less visible than with e.g. vertical twill, but still annoys me a bit




Will build it up with silver Sapim Dlight or CX-Ray spokes brass silver nipples and Dura Ace 7700 hubs (24/28, I'm 90 kg) for a full DA 7700 Pinarello Cadore build - should be fast, beautiful, comfy, light-enough, stiff-enough and not costing a fortune buying used parts

[PoorCyclist]

How does the weave have to do with braking performance? I think it's just the top layer "skin" more like a cosmetic wrap.

[baldheadbiomed]

How does the weave have to do with braking performance? I think it's just the top layer "skin" more like a cosmetic wrap.

It's still a woven fiber layer which can give some benefits, for example if you groove your rim for better braking: "laser grooving will destory the continuity of UD fiber, while the broken 3K fiber can still be supported by the fiber of the other direction. Another situation is that, when the sand is stuck in your pads, it can hurt UD more easily than 3K". according to a forum member.

According to lightbiycle: "normally we make UD weave with 3K brake track, as the surface will gain more resistance to improve braking performance. Also 3K is a grid pattern woven of carbon fiber, it‘s not easy to be delamination when braking, that's why we make the 3K weave for brake surface by default."

How big the differences are IDK, but it seems pretty clear it's superior for the brake track. For a disc wheel it'd be more purely cosmetic, apart from perhaps less risk of flaking when drilling spoke holes :p

[toephi]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about buying my first set of carbon wheels after riding alloy wheels for the last 3 years. I'm torn between the R45 and R55 with Bitex hubs. Anyone got some advice? Is the aero benefit of the R55 noticable compared to the R45? I thought of going with the Bitex RAF12 in the front because of the larger bearings but I'm still undecided what to go for in the back. The Bitex RAR9, RAR12, RAR13 and RAR16 all are pretty similar.
Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

[hartmannce]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about buying my first set of carbon wheels after riding alloy wheels for the last 3 years. I'm torn between the R45 and R55 with Bitex hubs. Anyone got some advice? Is the aero benefit of the R55 noticable compared to the R45? I thought of going with the Bitex RAF12 in the front because of the larger bearings but I'm still undecided what to go for in the back. The Bitex RAR9, RAR12, RAR13 and RAR16 all are pretty similar.
Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Why do you consider buying R45-55? Those rims have smaller inner width of the rim, while most of the guys here buy LB rims because of their wider rims - for road it is recommended to have at least 21mm inner width if you plan to run 25c tires. Tire tends to baloon out on a narrower rim, when a wider rim streches the tire and supports its sidewalls better, giving you better handling and less rolling resistance (in theory, at least).
As far as I understand - you chose those rims due to the rim brake frame you have. So your main concern and limiting factor would be the maximum measured width of inflated tire, which can be fitted to your frame, as well as the maximum width of the rim on the brake track - which is limited by the model of the rim brake callipers you have.

If you can fit a 28mm wide rim into the brake calliper, and the frame fits a tire with measured width ±30mm - go with AR46, AR45 or AR55.

[rhs2z]

My flyweight rim AR56s just shipped. With carbon ti, they came to 1359. This was 17g above claimed, but within stated tolerance of +/-30.
That's a bit heavier than what I originally was looking at (ar46s with extralite was 1270 claimed). But it should still have nearly 500g off my HEDJet6s.

[alanyu]

My flyweight rim AR56s just shipped. With carbon ti, they came to 1359. This was 17g above claimed, but within stated tolerance of +/-30.
That's a bit heavier than what I originally was looking at (ar46s with extralite was 1270 claimed). But it should still have nearly 500g off my HEDJet6s.

17g above claimed is mainly due to Carbon Ti. They have reinforced the flange. The X hub is 15g heavier than before and the disc hub is 19g heavier.

[toephi]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about buying my first set of carbon wheels after riding alloy wheels for the last 3 years. I'm torn between the R45 and R55 with Bitex hubs. Anyone got some advice? Is the aero benefit of the R55 noticable compared to the R45? I thought of going with the Bitex RAF12 in the front because of the larger bearings but I'm still undecided what to go for in the back. The Bitex RAR9, RAR12, RAR13 and RAR16 all are pretty similar.
Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Why do you consider buying R45-55? Those rims have smaller inner width of the rim, while most of the guys here buy LB rims because of their wider rims - for road it is recommended to have at least 21mm inner width if you plan to run 25c tires. Tire tends to baloon out on a narrower rim, when a wider rim streches the tire and supports its sidewalls better, giving you better handling and less rolling resistance (in theory, at least).
As far as I understand - you chose those rims due to the rim brake frame you have. So your main concern and limiting factor would be the maximum measured width of inflated tire, which can be fitted to your frame, as well as the maximum width of the rim on the brake track - which is limited by the model of the rim brake callipers you have.

If you can fit a 28mm wide rim into the brake calliper, and the frame fits a tire with measured width ±30mm - go with AR46, AR45 or AR55.

I'm riding this Canyon Endurace frame but with Ultegra 6800. I don't think I have enough clearence even when I buy some R8000 calipers or does anyone ride this exact setup?

[rhs2z]

My flyweight rim AR56s just shipped. With carbon ti, they came to 1359. This was 17g above claimed, but within stated tolerance of +/-30.
That's a bit heavier than what I originally was looking at (ar46s with extralite was 1270 claimed). But it should still have nearly 500g off my HEDJet6s.

17g above claimed is mainly due to Carbon Ti. They have reinforced the flange. The X hub is 15g heavier than before and the disc hub is 19g heavier.

Ah, this made me check again. The +17g was just for the rims themselves (I had LB scale them like you suggested). The claimed weight for the whole set was actually 1334, so +25g total. This would leave +8g for the new carbon ti hub, a little less than you had calculated off of your own set.

[we51]

I'm riding this Canyon Endurace frame but with Ultegra 6800. I don't think I have enough clearence even when I buy some R8000 calipers or does anyone ride this exact setup?

I don't have an Edurace, but am using AR46 (28mm external) with BR-6800 center-mount brake calipers with no issue - so the caliper is not going to be a limiting factor for AR series. I can not speak to your frame clearance though.

[PoorCyclist]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about buying my first set of carbon wheels after riding alloy wheels for the last 3 years. I'm torn between the R45 and R55 with Bitex hubs. Anyone got some advice? Is the aero benefit of the R55 noticable compared to the R45? I thought of going with the Bitex RAF12 in the front because of the larger bearings but I'm still undecided what to go for in the back. The Bitex RAR9, RAR12, RAR13 and RAR16 all are pretty similar.
Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

You should be able to fit the 28mm external rim with the newer brake calipers but it will probably have a small pad gap and it may rub and the lever will engage the pad immediately. I personally do not like pulling lever by 1mm and brake pad engages. But some people do.
The pads also sit like / \ more or less so braking is less than optimal until they wear down.

For me 19mm internal 26mm external is the spot for me for rim brakes. That's not the latest tread where you cramp the biggest tire, but I also have other bikes with 21mm internal rim with the next tire size up or two and I don't feel it is faster (the tire are close to 50-80g more) except for riding down very broken roads you don't need to dodge things as much and thus typically can go a little faster.

[toephi]

@we51 @PoorCyclist

Thanks for your advice. I don't think I'm comfortable to go with the 28mm external because of the little pad clearence.

[charirider]

Hi fellow weightweenies,
I have a question: does anyone has RAW UD finish falcon series rims?
Not finish-less falcon pro; regular falcon, but with NO PAINT (straight from the mold)?
Like this one posted earlier in this thread, but UD finish.

[malizeus]

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about buying my first set of carbon wheels after riding alloy wheels for the last 3 years. I'm torn between the R45 and R55 with Bitex hubs. Anyone got some advice? Is the aero benefit of the R55 noticable compared to the R45? I thought of going with the Bitex RAF12 in the front because of the larger bearings but I'm still undecided what to go for in the back. The Bitex RAR9, RAR12, RAR13 and RAR16 all are pretty similar.
Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Why do you consider buying R45-55? Those rims have smaller inner width of the rim, while most of the guys here buy LB rims because of their wider rims - for road it is recommended to have at least 21mm inner width if you plan to run 25c tires. Tire tends to baloon out on a narrower rim, when a wider rim streches the tire and supports its sidewalls better, giving you better handling and less rolling resistance (in theory, at least).
As far as I understand - you chose those rims due to the rim brake frame you have. So your main concern and limiting factor would be the maximum measured width of inflated tire, which can be fitted to your frame, as well as the maximum width of the rim on the brake track - which is limited by the model of the rim brake callipers you have.

If you can fit a 28mm wide rim into the brake calliper, and the frame fits a tire with measured width ±30mm - go with AR46, AR45 or AR55.

I'm riding this Canyon Endurace frame but with Ultegra 6800. I don't think I have enough clearence even when I buy some R8000 calipers or does anyone ride this exact setup?

I have endurace cf sl 7 with shimano r7000 full groupset, using LB falcon pro AR55 with no issues