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Anyone build there own carbon wheels?
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I'm just curious if any of you guys have either built your own carbon wheels or had someone build you a carbon wheel what Rim you picked. Looking to build a 90 mm deep front wheel. Don't want to go crazy but also want to build something with decent quality where would you guys start looking.

Also I tend to race around 155 to 160 pounds at most so probably thinking 20/24 spokes
Last edited by: Fishbum: Dec 12, 18 10:30
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I bought some older Zipp 404s that were damaged and rebuilt them with Flo 60 rims last year after the Black Friday sale. A local shop recut the spokes for me (was 2 & 4mm shorter if i recall) and i used new spoke nipples. All in was around $500.
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I built lots when I had a custom wheel business. Enve, Zipp, and Reynolds mostly.

But the one I'm using on the front is a 86mm Carbon Cycles rim. They drilled it in 16h, price was good, good profile (25mm brake track, 29mm max) and I have no complaints. You can also go with a prebuilt wheel using then same rim. Bitex and Novatec hubs are quite good.
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Just pick up a used Jet9 plus. Best wheel out there for the money
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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You only need 16 or 18 spokes for that wheel.
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond wrote:
You only need 16 or 18 spokes for that wheel.

Because of it's depth?
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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Fishbum wrote:
I'm just curious if any of you guys have either built your own carbon wheels or had someone build you a carbon wheel what Rim you picked. Looking to build a 90 mm deep front wheel. Don't want to go crazy but also want to build something with decent quality where would you guys start looking.

Also I tend to race around 155 to 160 pounds at most so probably thinking 20/24 spokes


I built around 60-70 sets. For carbon rims I had pretty good results with folks at Carbon Cycle (they sell through Ebay). They told me the rims they sell are made by FlyBike Sports.
I built 40mm X 27mm wide tubulars ( on Dura Ace 9000 hubs 18/24 spokes), ridden by my daughters for 4 years approx. 10 000 miles, two big crashes in races with no issues, brake tracks are still in good shape, and also 56mm X 25mm tubulars ( 20/24 on DTSwiss 240 rear and Alchemy ELF front, ridden by me for a year at 170 lbs). I had a dozen of the same 40mm rims in clincher version bought by a local store also. I noticed a 3mm hairline crack near one of the spoke holes and sent a picture to Carbon Cycle: They asked for the serial number and a week later I received a new rim ( I honestly can't even retrace the thing now...:-) ) !
I'll order their 80mm X 23mm track rims ( no brake track) this winter to build two track wheelsets.
So yes I'd recommend buying them, yes.

I heard lots of good things from friends who bought LightBicycle wheels, both in XC and road bike. They're approximately the same price and specs.

Oh! I also built some FFWD wheels both F6R and F4R. Amasingly well made rims, underrated IMO. The F6R were very nice to ride even on side winds. So for a front maybe a F9R would do ok. Don't know their aero numbers though...

Louis :-)
Last edited by: louisn: Dec 12, 18 15:36
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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And your light-ish weight.
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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I've built several sets of carbon and aluminum wheels. It's not that hard, just requires some patience and attention to detail. You need to do some reading to understand spoke patterns and calculating length and I'd recommend getting a tension meter and quality truing stand. If you like tinkering and wrenching on your bike, it's pretty rewarding to build your own wheels. If you aren't into it that kind of thing, it's not really worth the hassle and I'd recommend just buying a wheel built or from a reputable builder. You aren't going to save that much $ building yourself compared to buying off the rack or using a high production builder like wheelbuilder.com (who builds great wheels).
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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When I read the title of the thread I thought you were asking about making carbon rims, which would be crazy.

My wheel guy does a bunch of custom carbon wheels for cross, gravel and adventure touring. For disc applications, carbon rims are great. Carbon rims have great stiffness and maintain their true-ness. The problem with budget carbon wheels was oftentimes the poor heat tolerance of the epoxy when braking, which isn't a problem with discs. The big name companies have also invested in aero research on profiles.

For regular riding I don't know why you would want a custom build. I am a fan of the Jet+ for rim brakes. Flos are great for budget carbon. Zipp, ENVE, Bontrager, ... All make great aero wheels and you don't have to do any fiddling
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Re: Anyone build there own carbon wheels? [Fishbum] [ In reply to ]
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I'd probably buy a flo 90 rim
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