Carbon spokes - why?

[TidyDinosaur]

Very nice. Let us know how hard it is to build them. Do you have the actual weight you could report?


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I have weighed them and it is like they say.

[RDY]

Farsports are using them in the new C wheel lineup

That should mean they're generally available as they're using their normal Hyper 35,50,58 rims.

I still can't believe how slow FS are being to make >30mm EW with <25mm IW rims though.

[toxin]

Also deeper wheels. Surely they could make some modern 65+ mm rims

[Kubackjeee]

gotta ask in their thread.

[CuoreTi]

Nextie have an interesting new spoke design, too bad they only make spokes with interfaces for regular straight pull hubs

https://www.nextie.com/carbon-bicycle-s ... ro-NXTCS06

Tensile strength nearly identical to cx ray

So has anyone tried these yet?

Got two samples here, since the first one has been delivered in the wrong length. One of the samples has visible quality issues in the thin carbon part.

As far as I know and what I have seen: the titanium insert sometimes seperates from the carbon, maybe due to oxidation. This may have been be caused by an inappropriate glue and therefore it would be easy to fix or it has already been fixed. But I don't know.
Anyhow, I won't build anything with them, as with any carbon spoke with titanium or alloy inserts.

The spokes with an outer alloy shell seem to offer better stiffness and reliability, but require special hubs with 4mm spoke holes (e.g. Cadex, Newmen). Still it remains incredibly lightweight.

[northshore]

Has anyone seen any impact testing of carbon spokes? I've definitely had rocks get flung into my steel spokes at speed when out on the road, and wonder how carbon spokes would fare.

[toxin]

Yes, they re fine

[TidyDinosaur]

I noticed that LB is now offering the Alpina steel spokes for the AR25 builds. They are 1g lighter than the CX Ray. Has anyone tried them? My friend just ordered a set of AR25 with them (28 spokes for the rear based on my recommendation).

I have build the wheelset with Alpina Hyperlite Aero spokes. It was a faily straightforward build. The spokes twist like crazy because they are so thin, so obviously you need one of those tools to keep the spokes from twisting.

Dit my first ride yesterday and all is well.

Total weight of the wheels is 1380gr

Specs:

• Aliexpress 54x31mm rims (470gr each)
  Alpina Hyperlite Aero spokes
  Goldix R240Sl hubs (255gr)

[apr46]

I've historically been in the more reliable is better camp when it comes to wheels, but I am currently in the market for wheels and am looking at some higher end lightweight hubs (e.g., nonplus, 0011 RX) and wheel builds and it looks like total weights are really similar between those superlight hubs + steel spokes (e.g., CX-Ray, CXRay Super, Alipina Hyperlight Aero) and the carbon-spoked builds with the 3rd gen spokes and H Works hubs.

The carbon spoked builds are a couple hundred dollars cheaper, but there isnt that much in it. Thoughts and opinions? Which would you go for?

[OtterSpace]

The carbon spoked builds are a couple hundred dollars cheaper, but there isnt that much in it. Thoughts and opinions? Which would you go for?

No answers but a couple thoughts.

Carbon spokes & maiting hubs are evolving quickly which is great but you want to dive into the details to make sure whatever you are buying aligns with your goals. Spoke type, spoke number, how captive are the spokes etc.

Carbon spoke builds can feel quite different to ride depending on the above factors compared to conventional wheels. They can ride similarly or much stiffer than convential wheels. In general bigger people are wanting stiffer bikes and smaller people are wanting for more comfort built in for bikes in general which extends here. Some of the more recent carbon spoke wheels are dropping spoke count to combat this.

I'd ask to try out a set if you have friends that ride carbon spoke wheels currently to see how you get on with them. The center of gravity in the wheel world is radically shifting east for at least the bare parts.

If going carbon spokes stick to hubs designed specifically for carbon spokes.

In general the fast pace of change and lack of wider brand recognition of many of the new players make selling a used set of carbon spoke wheels difficult. This might change with time but should be known if you change parts often. Often times a brand is the new hotness then the show moves onto the next new thing.

On the other hand the established high end western stuff is just too expensive for what it is when you get down to it. Many are just doubling down and making more expensive stuff.

A good play is to look east for full or custom builds and expect to eat depreciation or just get the parts individually and do a fully custom build. If buying parts I'd pay more to stick with the established eastern rim suppliers.

Aero matters more at the front and comfort more at the rear for overall performance.

Regarding the nonplus most of the cost is from the rear hub. If you are willing to build a rear with something like an extralite 6 bolt hub weights are the same and platform weight will be lower with 6 bolt rotors and the extralight hub is much cheaper. There are fewer 6 bolt rotors but rear braking is less important than front braking.

I like to complicate things so I try to go bladed carbon spokes at a low spoke count for the front with centerlock. Meanwhile for the rear polymer spokes and 6 bolt with a high spoke count to mittigate lower lateral stiffness of those spokes.

Buying just a front wheel is tough from the east but eie seems like a good option although I have yet to use them myself.

[toxin]

I have several ideas for steel spoke builds that rival carbon spokes in weight for well under 1000€ with chinese hubs and rims.

Mostly thinking about that direction because there just isn't anything with carbon spokes that exactly matches my wishlist and if I wanted to custom build with carbon spokes my choices basically boil down to "get *f##k* nerd"

[Hensem]

I ordered Wheelsfar(Farsports) wheels with RD270 hubs with a depth of 45mm with carbon spokes. I will use them as the main wheels for training on the flatlands and group riding. For training and racing in the mountains, I want to try to build a wheelset myself (for the first time in my life) based on Lightbicycle AR25 rims. I started studying the carbon spokes market and came across the Nextie website. In my opinion, aero spokes are not so important for ascend, but will aero spokes have any advantage over oval spokes on descents? Which option is preferable? I see on the forum that there is a mention of a 3rd generation. What does this mean and how can I find out what generation these spokes are? What other manufacturers make high-quality carbon spokes and is it possible to buy them?

[toxin]

First off, if you're gonna build a wheelset yourself, only use farsports carbon spokes. The type that nextie sell are shit and stren don't sell their stuff to consumers.

Aero spokes will be slightly faster on descents, but that's not really relevant. Unless you are doing climbs above 10% gradients only, aero spokes will be faster almost all the time.

Most carbon aero spokes aren't neccessarily faster than good aero steel spokes. Carbon spokes can be more aero because their strength can allow for drastically lower spoke counts (see newmen vonoa wheels). Read the posts here for more detail.

3rd gen carbon spokes aren't a defined thing and it's something Joe from Panda Podium/China Cycling 'made up'. He likes putting labels on things or smth, idk.

Other than buying a set of hubs and spokes from farsports there really isn't a serious way of building your own carbon spoke wheels rn.

With the right hubs, you can build steel spoke wheels at the same weight as fs with rd270.

[Hensem]

First of all, thank you very much for your answer. How can I buy Farsports spokes? I couldn't find any information on their websites. It's also not clear why their hubs, if I can buy them for example from H-Works (in my opinion, they are the supplier of Rd270 spokes for Wheelsfar). Also, Extralite has started making hubs for carbon spokes, but there is a narrow hole for the spokes, I need to check. I like the look of a carbon spoke and it seems to me that such a wheel is more modern.

[toxin]

You can contact farsports customer support and see if they'll sell you a set. You're better off contacting them directly for pretty much anything that isn't from farsports.com. Yea h works supply those hubs. Heard about those extralite hubs. Haven't seen them yet, maybe it's not a fully public thing yet. Don't know if they changed anything, but in the past their ratchet system was flimsy af to achieve those weights.