Carbon rims on a touring bike, a pretty controversial topic I am sure.
I am looking into having a set of wheels rebuilt with new rims, for a couple of reasons (wider interior rim width, the possibility of going tubeless in the future).
I came across a set of carbon rims online, 32 spoke holes, 30mm deep, 24mm interior rim width, tubeless compatible, and lighter than the alloy equivalent (handy since I have also started using the bike for weekend club rides).
I was wondering if anyone has toured on carbon rims, and their thoughts on it. I am not overly heavy 70kg + 10kg of gear + 10kg bike + and add an additional 5kg just to be on the safe side = 95kg (210lbs), would that be to much to reliable tour on carbon? I'm hoping to go on a 6000km (on road) tour next year, so hoping to find out if would they be just as strong as alloy rimmed wheels?
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As requested by a couple of people a few months ago, some photos of my latest touring bike build. Also for those that may be interested I have written up the details of the build as well as the logic behind some of the component choices.
The bike isn’t meant for touring in the most remote places in the world, I already have a steel touring bike for that. When I set out to build this bike I wanted it to have the following characteristics:
- Comfortable over long distance (a relaxed riding position)
- Robust enough for multi month tours with a couple of panniers in first world countries
- Lighter & faster than a traditional touring bike (good enough to weekend bunch rides when I take off luggage)
- Fender and rack mounts, and underside of down tube braze on
- Braze-ons for strapless custom frame bag
- Internal cable routing and through axles
- Tyre clearance for upto 700 x 45mm tyres (40mm with fenders)
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Frame: Custom Titanium, with internal cable routing, and through axles 12mm
The frame builder advised me to pick a frame that I already know and like, and base the new frames geometry off that so I used a 2017 Kona Sutra (another bike I have) geometry to start with. I made a few tweaks though:
o 10mm shorter chain stay length, for a bit snappier handling. Its still plenty long enough for heel clearance though.
o 8mm more BB drop, for a lower centre of gravity.
o 50mm longer head tube, as you can see in the photos I have no spacers under my stem, it gives me the same stack and reach as my Kona Sutra, so is a reasonably relaxed riding position
o Lastly I have the top tube/stand over height raised up to the highest I could comfortable have it and still be able to stand over the toptube, in order to increase room inside the frame triangle for a larger frame bag.
Fork: Carbon Fibre, Kinesis Range
Handle Bars: Carbon Fibre, Pro Vibe Compact, with internal cable routing
Saddle: Titanium Brooks B17
Groupset: Shimano GRX 810 Di2 (I like the shifting performance of electronic shifting)
- There are 2 components of the group set that are not GRX 810:
o Brake rotors are the new Dura-Ace 9200, in 160mm front and rear.
o Chain is again the same as the new Dura-Ace 9200 (using a 12 speed chain on an 11 speed system is quieter, and the 12 speed chain will last longer aswell)
- The crankset is the 48/32 tooth, and at the moment the cassette is 11-34, but if need be the rear derailleur can run 11-40.
Fenders: SKS Longboards (I might shorten the from fender as it extends pretty low to the ground) Will be removed when not on a bike tour
Seat Post & Stem: Carbon Fibre (Can’t remember the exact model)
Pedals: Flat pedal, Titanium Spindle (Can’t remember the exact model)
Additional information: I did consider waiting for the new Dura-Ace levers and brake callipers, mostly for the extra brake pad clearance, since Shimano have di2 cable adapters, but I have the hydraulic sub levers of the GRX group set on the bike, and don’t want to give them up, and unfortunately they are not compatible with the “new” hydraulic systems on Dura-Ace 9200. GRX 810 brakes are still pretty bloody good though. They seem just as good as my XT 8120 4-piston callipers that I have on another bike.
Wheelset: I will break the wheel sets down into its components, and list reasons. Since what I planned initially for the wheelset is not what I ended up having built. I commissioned a specialist wheel builder who had a lot of input into what components he recommended I go with. This is now the 3rd set of wheels he has built for me, the other 2 sets are still going strong though, I just have a lot of bikes.
- Rims: Carbon Fibre,50mm deep, gravel rims
o Initially I was going to go with shallower 35mm carbon rims, but my wheel builder said if I didn’t mind the weight penalty I should go with 50mm since a bigger cross section will be stiffer and stronger.
- Spoke Count: 28 Front and Rear
o My initial though was 32 spokes front a rear. From my point of view anything less that 32 spokes is a “low spoke count”, but my wheel builder said for my body and gear weight, and intended use, 24 spokes front and 28 rear would be more than enough for bike touring. But 24 spokes on the front just seemed really low to me, I guess compared to 16 spoke road wheels, 24 is a lot. He assures me that 24 on the front would be fine since I don’t plan to have a front rack. In the end I decided to just go with 28 front and rear to put my mind at ease.
- Spokes: DT Swiss Competition
o Most of my conversations with my wheel builder were about spokes, initially I was planning to go with some bladed spokes like the Sapim CX-Ray. He said they would be strong enough, but not worth spending the 4 times the cost of round spokes for a single watt gain at 40km/h. My wheel builder said since the rims were so strong/stiff and I was having a relatively high spoke count wheel, the lightest round spokes would be strong enough, being the DT Swiss Revolutions, the only thing that would risk braking them was having a stick go through the spokes. My only concern was the chance of sideways force pushing into the spokes when the bike is packed away in a box and handed over to the airlines. So we decided on the DT Swiss Competition Spokes instead, mostly for my piece of mind than anything else.
- Hubs: DT Swiss 350 MTB
o I have had DT Swiss 240s hubs previously on other wheel sets and liked them, so I was thinking of going with them again, but my wheel builder said the new 240’s have had issues, and although the issues have now all been fixed by DT Swiss, the hubs the with star racketed rather than new EXP rachet were better (something about bearing sizes, I can’t remember what he said exactly)
- Tyres: Marathon Supremes 35mm / GP5000 TL 28 or 32mm
o Although the rims are tubeless compatible for bike touring/bike packing I will still run standard tubes with marathon supreme tyres. When not touring though I will run 28 or 32mm GP5000 tubeless (once I wear my current set of Supremes out.
The last bit of kit are the touring specific stuff ie the frame bag and rack. For a bit of perspective I travel pretty light, the heaviest I have ever travelled before was with only 2 x 20L panniers and a 1L top tube bag for 10 week trip, but most of the time I travel light than that though.
- Frame bag: Custom framebag from Rockgeist
o With all the bells and whistles, completely bolt on, internal divides, upgraded zips, hanging loops, map pocket, ect
o The shape of the bag has a cut out so I can still have a 1100ml water bottle on the seat tube.
- Top Tube bag: Don’t plan to use one
- Handle Bar bag: Don’t plan to use one
- Rear Rack: I haven’t yet gotten a rack for the bike, I am kind of taking my time deciding. I have a few options I am considering:
o Tubus Airy titanium rack (they don’t seem to be in stock anywhere)
o Custom made titanium rack (with narrow top platform width maybe 60mm, to keep the panniers tucked in behind my legs for aerodynamics, I don’t usually have anything on top of the rack anyway)
o Or I can just take a the Tubus Logo off my Kona Sutra
- Panniers/Seatpack: Modified Ortlieb City Front Rollers / Relevate Designs Viscacha
o Depending how much stuff I need to carry for a particular tour, I will either take my 14L Relevate Designs seatpack, but if that is not big enough I will swap it out for my 2 small 12.5L panniers
o I may upgrade to the Ortlieb bike packing panniers for the rear in the future as a lighter option, since my city rollers are starting to get a bit worn.