Originally Posted by
Plainsman
Looks like all LB wheels have hooked rims though. I'm just getting my feet wet in the whole hooked vs. hookless debate. Can anyone shed any light? I plan to run tubeless (I have read A LOT about tubed versus tubeless over the past few years). I've just decided I want to give it a shot., but I'll still carry a tube in case of a major road failure.
You can opt for hookless when you're spec'ing out a custom build.
I've been running tubeless exclusively for years, so I'm committed to it and going hookless wasn't much of a leap of faith. If you haven't been running tubeless, or if you don't already *know* that you want to run tubeless because of regular flatting, I'd have some reservations about recommending hookless/exclusively tubeless. Like most things, hookless is a trade-off. Pro: slightly lower weight, better against impacts, smoother/more aero tire/rim transition, lower production cost (ideally, this would be passed on to the consumer). Con: lower max PSI (most people really don't need to worry about this, though), you can only run tubeless tires (though you can run them with tubes) and not all tubeless tires are approved for hookless rims (the Conti GP5k TL being the most prominent).
In my case, rather than go with LB, I opted for the Zipp 303S - no offense to LB, but if I'm going to hang myself out there with newer tech, I'd rather have a company like Zipp behind me and go with a something that's hookless starting from the design phase, as opposed to a tick-box option (I'll also admit that the lead time was also a big factor - I'm impatient).
For hooked rims/wheelsets, I'd have no reservations about LB.