Originally Posted by
smashndash
Yes. My bike rides more sluggishly uphill with deep carbon rims. I feel that. That’s ride feel. This thread is specifically about wheels. OP has alloy wheels and is thinking about getting carbon wheels. So I’m sharing my experience and opinion about that upgrade.
I think it is important to qualify comparisons when discussing statements like sluggish uphill with deep carbon rims. Compared to what? For example I a set of shallow aluminum Mavic Askium's that came with a bike with some middle of the road tires and cheap butyl tubes (now just collecting dust on my wall because I don't ride them at all anymore). However, I did ride them a few times. I also have a set of Zipp 404's with latex tubes and Conti 5000 tires. The Zipps are extremely more responsive than the Mavics. The Aluminum wheels are the sluggish wheels when compared to the Zipps. The Zipp combo weights 300-400 grams lighter too. The Zipp hubs roll better, the latex and conti 5000 also roll better. The zipps at 58mm depth fly up hills and a significantly better "ride quality" compared to the shallow aluminum rims. However, that doesn't necessarily hold true for all wheels. Back in the day I had set of Mavic Helium aluminum wheels that rolled very nice and also were great climbers. Not the most robust wheel though. I would take the 404's over them any day as an all rounder.