A2Doug

I believe Enve and HED carbon rims are US made. Any others made in US, Canada or Europe?

chaadster

You’re into that Western world, northern hemisphere thing, eh?

blakcloud

I believe the top line Bontrager Aeolus wheelsets are made in the USA and Lightweight wheels are made in Germany. Though each of these companies only sell complete wheelsets vs rims.

Cyclist0108

Enve said their forks were made in the US until they had a recall on the road forks a few years back. Then suddenly it is revealed that they came from Vietnam.

allepunta

corima wheels, made in france?

bOsscO

Woven from Ontario; https://wovenprecision.com/about/
We Are One from Kamloops; https://www.weareonecomposites.com/s...t/rim-only-519

RiceAWay

Most of the big name bike framesets are made in China. This has led to the fact that most of the high end very well made carbon components including wheels (SUPERteam). The problems I've had with carbon wheels is that when you over-inflate them the wheels become delaminated between the layers of the rims. I don't care who you are or where you're making wheels, this is a problem with the manufacturing method so it doesn't matter where they're made. Now I only use Clinchers because this is a lot less likely.

GlennR

Zipp are made in Indiana.

WhyFi

Not all of them, not anymore.

biketampa

Boyd cycling

trailangel

So.. carbon rims are not Clinchers? Is Clinchers a brand name or something? Why is it capitalized? I am dazed and confused.

indyfabz

Meilenstein?

Kapusta

Do the rims need to be white, or just the people making them?

Bald Paul

Boyd rims are made in Taiwan. Check their website.
That being said, I have Boyd wheels and love them.

chaadster

Woven build wheels, they don’t make rims.

A2Doug

Upon reflection, you raise a fair point, though one that is complicated and would need a better discussion venue than a bike-focused forum. I recognize that our hobby/sport, at least in the US, is not very diverse, and I also recognize that someone buying custom carbon bike wheels is privileged, by definition.

I have concerns with manufacturing quality from China, based on personal experience. There are certainly many Chinese suppliers making high quality products in many categories, but I do not know how to evaluate the rims coming from there and choose to buy products made elsewhere when possible. I believe my position is more anti-Chinese-manufacturing-practices, not anti-Chinese-people. So, why did I say US, Canada and Europe. I should have said "not China" since I am not intentionally avoiding all non-Western sources. For example, it appears that Taiwanese manufacturers make some of the highest quality bikes and components, and I own various bike products made there (as well as products made in China). However, I have had trouble determining which Taiwanese manufacturers are actually making product there rather than subbing it out. Manufacturers' websites are often vague. I would certainly consider other sources. I also recognize that manufacturing elsewhere is no guarantee of quality or of good manufacturing practices. Since I don't have a good way to sort, I am using a rough filter, which as you point out, raises some troubling issues. I am likely to go with Enve rims for a variety of reasons, but thought I would post to see what other options I may have missed. I apologize if asked an offensive question or asked it in an offensive way.

chaadster

Thanks for that. I do think the OP was poorly phrased for what you were trying to ask, and implied troubling, inaccurate, and unfair biases. I read the question you’re asking to be simply, “how do I choose quality carbon fiber rims?”

The answer to that, I think, is by brand reputation primarily. There’s not really that much variance in production methods (leaving aside filament winding for now), so the differences are in materials choice to some extent, and in large part, in process control.

In the case of materials choice, that’s stuff the consumer will never have access to onow about. Things like what the resin supplier is giving to the prepreg CF producer are just too far down the production chain for consumers to be making choices about that stuff, so that’s why I say it comes down to brand reputation.

Brands can communicate to consumers the steps they take to ensure quality, and can offer guarantees on that quality, which is probably the most important thing.

It’s about 8 years old, but take for example this vid from Easton documenting their production process. While it’s clearly had work intensive and requires care, the basic quality of the rim is controlled by the process, including the automated steps like laser cutting of the prepreg.


In which country this work is done is largely irrelevant to quality, but a major factor in the manufacturer’s labor costs.

David in Maine

Astral/Rolf Prima? I know the company is in Oregon but I'm not sure if their carbon rims are actually made there. https://astralcycling.com/collections/road-rims/carbon

David

Kapusta

I have to give you big props for responding thoughtfully to my snarky comment. I am impressed.

I get what you mean now.

Koyote

I give both of you big props. A reasonable question was raised, a thoughtful response offered, and a nice acceptance from the questioner. Things like this usually degenerate quickly, but this one went in the opposite direction.

Oh, and I'll add Whisky Parts Co as another option for rims. I don't know where they are made (I'd guess Taiwan), but it is a QBP company - so I would guess the quality is solid.

veganbikes

It's not true. Me I just wanted a woman but I never bargained for you.

Melvang

Rolfs cheapest alloy and carbon hoops and hubs are China of memory is correct, anything above that threshold is US made, with spokes from Belgium. All hand built in Oregon. Just put a set of Vigors on my Cannondale.

bOsscO

True, true.

mstateglfr 

beat back the beasts!