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Old 09-19-19, 08:28 PM
  #5  
smashndash
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Depends on your use case. If you’re constantly slamming potholes and like to run your pressures low, then maybe carbon isn’t worth it. Maybe someone else can point out whether carbon rims are actually better at taking impacts than alloy but... I doubt it.

You have disc brakes, which pretty much takes away the #1 reason to go alloy. The #2 reason is cost, but China carbon can range between absurdly cheap and reasonably priced. Many people on this forum (incl me) are running Light Bicycle wheels with much success, and they’re somewhat close to creeping into the mainstream.

So I would say that for disc brakes, it makes more sense to go with China carbon than ever. I would weigh your wheelset without rim tape (meh - like 20g?) or skewers or cassette to see how much your wheelset weighs. If it’s over 1900g, has round spokes, and is only 15-17mm wide, a solid alloy wheelset with aero spokes that’s 19-20mm wide and 1500g will feel much better.

If you’re already somewhat close to ~1700g, you’ll want to go carbon in order to perceive a difference. An LB wheelset will come to less than 1400g if you go weight weenie and will cost ~$650.

Lastly, the real gains for those choosing carbon wheels come from extra wide and deep rims. Low profile carbon wheels are actually a worse value since they save much less weight over their alloy counterparts.
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