Anyone know the expected mileage lifespan of carbon wheels? Specifically, the HED3 carbon tri-spoke (tubular, 650c). Can they ever be trued?
the HED3 carbon tri-spoke (tubular, 650c). Can they ever be trued?
Sure. No problem. You only need a REALLY hot oven.
Frank
I think that after the Apocalypse, the only thing left will be cockroaches, and HED3 wheelsets. 
It’ll be hard to get new tubbies for 'em then, but otherwise you’ll still be good to go.
I have a set of 1993 Specialized tri spokes that I ride everyday. They are perfectly true and totally bomb proof. They have to have well over 10,000 miles on them by now.
Yes…the HED3 can be trued, but not really by anyone but HED. There is a “shim” behind the cassette body that is of varying thickness. If you ever remove the cassette body and mess (don’t get it back exactly the same) with the “shim” the wheel will no longer be in true. I beleive that this is the reason you can notice the cassette “wobble” slightly when you spin the wheel…this is only a guess on my part.
They will last foreva
If the wheel has a buckle that goes from one side to the other in a 180deg wheel turn
This wheel has been constructed in a way that the wheel goes into a mould and comes out NOT TRUE. it basically means that it spins off axis…imagine the world spinning off axis and wobbling…same thing.
That is, the wheel is as you describe, (in my words) leaning to the right and then half way round (180degs from that point) leaning to the left.
If HED were to make this wheel perfectly true, it would be a $3000 pair, and not a $2000 pair. And not even Corima can get it right or it would be a $5k pair.
So…in order to make it true, a micro spacer is glued onto the hub, to centre it up, but also requires the cassette body to be in the ‘perfect position’. This will cause a wobble in your cassette. This is not an issue. If it is outside HED’s tollerance level, the wheel gets thrown into a fire, money down the drain. But the wobble will still work with your gearing, there is nothing to worry about.
Once that ‘perfect cass body position’ has been tampered with, as in the case of replacing the bearings, then it needs to be refound.
This is a simple procedure.
Remove the axle, and the the cass body. you’ll see that the cass body, where it joins the wheel hub, has 10 teeth type splines on an inverted position. All you have to do is replace the cass body, in a different position than when you took it off. Replacing the axle each time, you will eventually get it right.
But…if the wheel is buckled, like a training wheel does, then you need an Arbor (sp) press…and some nerves
I have one I bought on EBay that has the outer carbon delaminated from the inner structural carbon and there is one spot where I can feel the structural carbon can be pressed in about 3 mm. But I raced on that wheel for fifteen weekends last year.
I had a pair of the old Stingers that had the same delamination problem. I thought originally it was loose spoke tension, but then after getting them tight, the noise was still there. I sort of prefered tubular rims after that as there are less things to separate or get funky on you.