A subversive riding experience is the greatest feeling that carbon spoke wheel sets can bring to you. Carbon fiber spokes are nothing new, once only for professional cyclists in the Tour de France, now used by most amateurs, not just for racing, but also for training. Brands are also making efforts to develop carbon-fiber spoke wheel sets which make them no longer unattainable.
What are the advantages of carbon spoke wheel sets? Is it worth buying?
- Carbon spoke wheels have lighter weight.
Carbon spokes weigh only about 65% as heavy as top steel spokes. Let’s take a pair of climbing wheels using the front 21/ rear 24 holes, a total of 45 spokes as an example, carbon fiber spokes can provide a weight advantage of around 90g in spoke weight, which is quite a difference.
- Carbon fiber spokes have higher tensile strength.
Carbon fiber has higher tensile strength than metal in certain directions, therefore, carbon spokes are basically radially laid with UD unidirectional cloth to obtain the best tensile performance. The high frequency vibration absorption capacity of carbon fiber spokes is better than that of steel spokes.
In DRIVE DISC 40mm，the tension values for each spoke of the front and rear wheels are almost the same, reaching 145kgf. The tensile stiffness of carbon fiber spokes improves wheel performance by 17%.
- Carbon fiber spokes have higher load capacity
Each spoke is strong enough to carry a load of 450 kilograms(more than many spokes and rims can handle)
Disadvantages of carbon spokes.
- Difficult to install.
Carbon fiber spokes can’t be made in the same way as normal steel spokes. It’s impossible to add threads to carbon fiber, so you have to design different ways to connect them to the hub and rim. After years’ of development, many of today’s carbon spoke wheels are easy to maintain and replace like regular spoke wheels, you may need a bike shop to help you. DRIVE DISC carbon spokes wheel set adopts split carbon spokes, and the spokes head and tail are made of aluminum alloy. As a result, they are not integral carbon spoke sets like traditional ones. If the spoke is broken, you only need to replace the spoke. Elitewheels has dealers and service centers around the globe, if you have any after-sales problems, they can be solved quickly.
- Easy to break.
Carbon fiber has higher tensile strength than metal in some directions, so carbon fiber spokes are essentially radially aligned with UD unidirectional prepreg for optimal tensile properties. When the tension of spoke is greater than 120kgf, the tensile deformation of steel spoke is larger than that of carbon spoke. So the tension of carbon spokes can be set higher than steel spokes, which is why carbon spokes feel better and have more direct power when riding. But carbon fiber has less lateral impact than steel spokes, so carbon fiber spokes are more likely to break when hit sideways than steel spokes.
- Expensive
Some people say this is the main drawback. In fact, expensive is not a disadvantage, after all, production costs and technology development costs are higher.
The most expensive and lightest carbon wheel set: DRIVE DISC is the lightest carbon spoke climbing wheel set, weigh only 1260g, and cost just $1000
After the above analysis, will you consider buying carbon wheels for your next wheel set?
