Carbon fiber has great tensile strength ("pulling" motion). When embedded in resin, the resulting composite also has great compressive strength.

What neither have is very good sheer strength. You can lift one end of your car with a few strands of woven carbon fiber. Tie those same strands in a knot and you can break them clean through with a little tug. This is why spokes were (are) prone to pulling through carbon rims.

The engineering problem is to build the sidewalls of the clincher rim so that the tire pressure doesn't break them off. That is a sheer-strength engineering task, something carbon composite is not inherently good at. A tricky thing to pull off.

I, for one, will not ride an all-carbon clincher until they've been out on the road for a few years. I'll let other folks be the crash-test-dummies on this one.

Please define the word "numerous".

Dre'

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Yes, you should be concerned.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Does anyone, really, know of more than the obvious two ("C", and recently "R")?

CuriousDre'

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there's another "c" as well. How about "Ca" and "Co"

Oooohhhhh ... didn't know about Ca. It's becoming numerous.

Dre'

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Julian said it more eloquently than I ever could. Maybe with Easton's new moulding process, it could be done. But I think it's years away from happening (just my opinion).

Corima's carbon clincher has a max pressure of either 110 or120 psi. That ain't going to cut it, I am sorry to say.

Campy might have done it correctly, though I see the current Hyperion going the way of the 650c Shamal.

Reynolds is doing it. Mac Clean Quality Composites is the one who makes those rims, and they also supply the tubing for the Wound Up fork. This is significant because it is the ONLY threaded carbon steer tube fork on the market, and I have not heard of ANY failing (which does not mean it hasn't happened).

I dunno. From my experience repairing and fabricating from this wonder substance, I wouldn't ride a carbon clincher if you paid me to, and this stance does NOT stem from my aversion to clinchers. I have ridden clincher race wheels in the past. If there are problems with carbon tubs on a descent, then I would hate to think of the problems from a heated braking surface could be from a carbon clincher and what dangers it could pose to the rider in question.

I believe I read somewhere that the Campy carbon rim is being manufactured by Corima, so in fact they are the same rim. If you compare a Hyperon rim next to a Winium rim, they appear identical, so there may be some truth to that.

Campy is also not the type of company to test potentially unsafe products on their customers. I cannot think of any product recalls, and they have a very good R&D and test riding program, which uses high level amateur teams in Italy to test this stuff out well before it hits the market. If they are selling it now, then they have probably had riders using the product for a couple of seasons already.

Like any other piece of lightweight, high end exotica, this stuff should be handled with care, and regularly inspected for any problems. But to say that all carbon clinchers are inherently unsafe is wrong IMO.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Also read Dan's article/review on Zipp's He explains some there.