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Light Bicycle Carbon Rims
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
Hi All,
Have been looking around at some Chinese Carbon Rims for a couple of weeks now and am tempted in ordering a set or two and was hoping someone here has had some experience in these rims and the Novatec Hubs, either MTB or Road.
I'm looking at getting the 50mm clincher road wheel set
http://www.light-bicycle.com/carbon-mtb-650b-whe...
and also a set of 650B to convert my Ibis.
http://www.light-bicycle.com/carbon-mtb-650b-whe...
Any feedback would be great good or bad.
Cheers.
-TJ
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I think Steve '01 has a set of 29er MTB rims from these guys. He's notoriously hard on equipment and after I found out they hadn't exploded after a few riders I picked up a set of road rims from the same place.
The Novatec hubs seem to roll rather well. After 4000km I have had 2 broken spokes. One front, one rear. Both replaced myself as I had 3 spares per wheel included with the purchase.
Steve also bought some road wheels exactly the same as mine (well - supposed to be but the cross section was slightly different) and had 2 spokes go in his rear wheel on the last ride we did together. The good news is that even in this situation the wheel was good enough to ride home. I guess that is a testament to the strength of a carbon rim, but not so the spokes these guys use.
The braking surface on these road rims isn't the best for brake modulation and can be a bit uneven, but this isn't relevant for MTB rims.
On the weight front, my wheels were around 100g overweight. They are 38mm carbon clinchers and even being more than quoted, still weigh pretty much exactly the same as Dura Ace carbon laminate C24 I also have. Only the Light Bicycle set are much stiffer and obviously more aero.
I still think buying from China like this is a little hit and miss, but given the price it's worth a punt.
I would recommend checking out the many threads on rotorburn.
Great rims but very very very poor service from the company. I would look at one of the many other Chinese carbon rim manufacturers.
26 inch rims are lightest.
Nah, mate. If you want lightest, 12" is the go.
The narrower XC 29er rim (hooked) is a straight swapsies for the alu roval controls on my special as it has exactly the same ERD. It has been fun to learn wheel building.
Rumour has it that the 'old' hooked roval control sl carbon rims were made in the same place in China (er, identical)?
I have now sent Light Bicycles 6 emails without reply.
They supplied me wheels with custom stickers on them. I approved red stickers but the showed up nipple pink!!!
The stickers are actually under the matt clear coat so not so easy to remove.
Light Bicycles is still not replying to any of my emails.
I have a friend that is still waiting for his wheels to arrive from them 8 weeks later!
I WOULD NOT USE THEM AGAIN!!!!
Like any Internet retailer... be sure to pay in a method that has protection.
I recently had a dispute with someone on eBay. PayPal is meant to offer protection, but because I got some kind of service, just not the service that was advertised and I paid for, PayPal wouldn't make a refund. Second line of defence: I used Amex to make the payment to PayPal and they gave me a refund.
Like most things in life, you do (within reason) get what you pay for.
Massive thread on mtbr about these rims and wheelsets which is why they do take a while - no shortage of orders. Also Chinese New Year recently, so 2 weeks of nothing happening - should be catching up about now.
Re stickers - yes, I read they are clear coated after stickers so would never get stickers installed.
Generally light bicycle are about product, they aren't retailers and service is not their thing - you have a nice Chinese girl in the office who is too polite and will never say no. If you want the product be prepared for possible delays, especially the more non standard your order is - ie don't order if you need a set of wheels on your bike in 14 days ( it ain't going to happen)