Aznman

Note that my questions would involved the types of wheels shown below:



1. Are there any designs whereby the rims are made out of metals (aluminum, steel, titanium) instead of carbon fiber?

2. I mostly see these aero rims used with rim brakes. Would using disc brakes ruin the purpose of such rims?

3. What is the largest tyre width that can be accomodated by such rims?

chainwhip

I neither own nor use disc brakes or carbon wheels.
That said :

1) there definitely are wheels with aluminum brake tracks and carbon fairings , as an attempt to get both more effective braking and the aero effect of deeper wheels with a modest weight penalty ( vs. Deep , aluminum sectioned wheels).

2) there are definitely carbon wheels utilizing disc brakes. By removing the carbon wheel rim from the braking mechanism,
problems with brake-track wear, over-heating, delamination, and other carbon wheel failures go away.

Shop around some of the big bike names and look at their high end road offerings: aero carbon wheels+ disc brakes.
There have been several threads lately about the imminent disappearance of rim brake offers at the high end from many bike retailers.



2019 trek madone



Zipp 858 NSW Carbon Clincher Disc Brake

Aznman

Thanks, Chainwhip.

Seattle Forrest

I'm riding a set of Enve 4.5 AR which take disc brakes and 28 mm tires, which wind up being about 33 mm wide on these rims. They're very aerodynamic.

Dean V

1- no, not the whole rim.
2- no
3- as big as you like.

CliffordK

There are deep V aluminum rims, often used with "fixie" bikes.

Velocity Deep V is a 30mm rim.
Velocity Wheels - Hand Made in USA

H+Son makes 42 and 43mm rims, with or without brake tracks.
Products | H PLUS SON

The ALForce AL33 is a toroidal 33mm rim.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...bicycle-wheels
https://www.bikehubstore.com/category-s/268.htm

There must be some generic manufacture making all those fixie rims.

Carbon Fiber rims come in a number of different flavors including carbon aluminum hybrid rims.

For the Carbon/Aluminum hybrid rims, the carbon can either be structural or non structural. Look how the spokes/nipples penetrate through the rim.

Disc brakes are becoming more common, and complement the carbon rims well (less brake track wear), or no need to make the brake track, saving on materials.

Oddly, I'm not seeing a lot of deep carbon rims advertised as 29er wheels.

Aznman

I've checked and you are right. I've even seen them on fat bike wheels

Marcus_Ti

1. There are some all-alloy and fairing options. But they are heavy. CF is preferred because it can be used to middling depths with no weight penalty at all--road cycling being a weight weenie-ism obsessed sport.

2. This is mostly a matter of road cyclists being the last in the room to take up using disc brakes

3. Max tire size is limited by your frameset, not your wheels. Min tire size is dictated by maximum pressure of the rim and your weight. The wider-the-rim, the lower the maximum pressure.

Rides4Beer

Not with 33mm tires.

Seattle Forrest

With 28 mm tires, stretched to 33 mm, yes. There's nothing magic about 23 mm.

Rides4Beer

It's not magic, it's boundary layer transition, and having your tire wider than your rim causes turbulence and increases drag. So while your wheels are still aero, they're not as aero as they could/should be. Seems a shame to spend all that money and give up 85% of the aero benefit.

Seattle Forrest

Yes with 33 mm tires. It's less a shame to run these with the tires the rim maker recommends based on wind tunnel testing than it is to say something with complete certainty when you don't know what you're talking about.

Rides4Beer

They recommend running 33mm tires on 31mm rims? Or do they recommend running 28mm tires, so that the tires are not as wide as the rim? The label doesn't matter, what matters is how wide the tire actually measures. I'm guessing the size they recommend would be the actual measured size, which would be in keeping with all of the wind tunnel reports I've seen on tire/rim sizing. But so long as you're happy and enjoying them, that's really all that matters.

Dean V

Enve recommend a tyre of 28mm minimum. That is a label size, not measured.

Seattle Forrest

Again, they recommend 28 mm (nominal) tires, which wind up being 33 mm on those rims, because of the giant internal width. The OP asked if there exist any wheels that are aerodynamic with disc brakes and wider tires, and these are a sweet set.

rubiksoval

Well, yeah, compared to 23mm there is. Narrow is faster at speed. The faster you go, the less the yaw angles, the larger the impact of the wider shape.

33mm is not faster. No way.