InvertedMP 

Yep no holes, no tape. I bought the LB pads but I might go with Swissstop. Wasn’t sure how LB handled that. Lots of wheel manufacturers want you to use their pad only.

Sy Reene

Folks also swear by the Campy red pads for carbon fwiw.

maartendc

I was wondering: How do you even build a wheel with no spoke holes to feed the nipples from the other side? How do you get the spoke nipple inside of the rim, since the bottom part is wider than the hole by design?

Pirkaus

Fed through valve stem hole and brought to spoke hole with a magnetic.

maartendc

Wow, that sounds like a nightmare to deal with! I guess I will order mine with holes, in case I ever need to replace a spoke!

Rides4Beer

I had good luck with Swissstop Black Prince pads. As mentioned, they wear out quick, but it's better to wear out the brake pad than the rim, imo. Braking performance was good, for rim brakes with carbon wheels.

I am now too! lol After getting my gravel bike last summer, I was completely sold on discs, so now my road bike is disc too.

colnago62

How stiff are these rims. After having good luck with EBay, I finally got burned a bit. Bought a 88mm carbon rim. When I got it, the walls were like paper. It might have been okay for a road wheel, but way too flexible for a track wheel.

smashndash

I’m going to be honest, I don’t think my WR56 wheels are the stiffest in the world. Most people measure stiffness by looking at rim edge to rim edge, and of course, a super deep carbon rim is going to be way stiffer end to end than a shallow alloy rim. There’s more material across the same distance.

However, few people ever measures stiffness from the spoke hole to the tire bead. A 25mm deep rim is going to have to deal with less leverage than a 56mm deep rim. I think that is the “X factor” that separates amazing carbon wheels from meh ones. Corima, for example, has a torsion bar in all of their rims to reduce flex in that area.

I enjoy climbing way more on my cheapo alloy wheelset. My hypothesis is that it’s because there is less spoke hole to tire bead flex. I assume this is what you’re talking about, and not the amount of flex at the “brake track” which is almost purely dictated by spoke stiffness.

I highly recommend getting 28-32 Race or CX-Sprint spokes for track. I get a considerable amount of brake rub from my 24 CX-rays (on my WR56) and I weigh 140ish lbs.

I’m fairly uneducated about this topic and didn’t think rim stiffness mattered until I bought these wheels. So ofc I’m open to having my mind changed.

SethAZ 

Have you ever read this article? Your brake rub is exactly what he's describing about halfway down. If this article is correct your problem isn't that your rim isn't stiff enough, it's that it's too stiff and your 24 CX-Rays can't keep the rim from tilting (not bending) in the curves. Maybe CX-Sprints would have just that little bit extra stretch resistance to keep the rim from rubbing the brakes, or maybe four more spokes would do it. I think that article was written specifically to contextualize wheel stiffness in situations exactly like yours.

colnago62

The wheel lacks lateral stiffness. It’s fine on the straights but gets a little squirrelly on the banks. I have some Zipp 808 wheels that are rock solid, so I know it’s possible. I just need to find the right rim.

SethAZ 

We're all familiar with the way communications technology has given us the ability to obsess and track our packages every step of the way. Who hasn't refreshed their FedEx or UPS or USPS tracking page multiple times per day knowing that their package is still 2-3 days out, but they just want to see where it's at right now? Light-Bicycle pushes this back even further, to the very manufacturing stages. After a few days of sitting in some generic "Processing" stage, suddenly this morning my Light-Bicycle order tracking page jumped straight to "CNC Machining." Since I ordered a rim that won't be painted nor built into a wheel, and knowing I'll not see this rim for weeks and weeks yet thanks to Covid-related shipping issues, I got that little burst of happy hormones in the brain just knowing they've made my rim, are about to check it for quality, and then drop it into some black hole from which it will hopefully emerge sometime next month and magically appear on my porch.

Also, I paid for a custom logo, so they literally did make this rim just for me, since with their new process for the "Falcon Pro" level builds they apply the decals before the cabon layup is put in the mold so their decal is baked into the rim surface.

smashndash

If you had read my post carefully, you would have seen that I said exactly the same thing.

I discuss 2 types of wheel flex. I’m not going to reiterate my post.

SethAZ 

I did read your post, actually. To clarify, if you're brushing the brake pad because the rim itself between the spoke-hole edge of it and the tire bead isn't stiff enough, then your positing that the entire rim all the way around is bending through that region such that that bend induced by the contact with the ground at one angle results in flex on the opposite side of the rim in the opposite direction, right? I'm having a hard time seeing that happening. I would think that a non-stiff rim through the central region of the rim between the spoke holes and the tire bead area would behave more like a non-stiff rim in the examples in that linked article, and be less likely to brush the brakes.

So how are you so sure that it's the rim that's at fault for your brushing the brakes against the rim, and not your spokes being unable to keep the whole rim from tilting?

smashndash

“I assume this is what you’re talking about, and not the amount of flex at the “brake track” which is almost purely dictated by spoke stiffness.”

I specifically said that flex at the brake track is caused by spokes not being stiff enough. We are in violent agreement here.

Spoke hole to bead stiffness is what I think dictates the snappiness of the rim - I assume this is what one would care about on the track. It’s also what matters when talking about lateral stiffness in corners. It doesn’t matter how stiff your spokes are if the rim pivots around the spokes’ anchor point.

This is a good video:

intence

For those who ordered recently, have you received your FedEx deliveries and have you been charged duties? Curious to see if FedEx might be more strict vs. USPS on deliveries as it may make sense to order from the North American warehouse.

Noctilux.95

Anyone own the Falcon Pro in flyweight? I'm around 70 kg's and worried a 1200 gram 35mm deep rim might flex or get damaged easily on some bumpy roads.

holybinch

I'm in the same boat:
For COVID-19, there are a few freight lines, the package is still in Hongkong waiting for the flight. It may take 7-12 days waiting for the schedule. Once the Package leaves HK to the customs clearance, normally it takes 7-9 business days, then the local post will dispatch you soon.
So, a few more weeks to wait for me. Initial estimate had them arriving last wednesday :'(

Immelstorm

And there is still no guarantee that the package will be sjipped within the menioned time.

They asked me to wait till the end of may to get known what the situtation will be. I've looked up in te internet and found that the nearest time of package arrival via EMS will be on 20th of August! That's the end of summer, I need the wheelset earlier =)

I cancelled the order and they gave my money back.

holybinch

Well, mine are in HK at the moment. But yeah, it blows.

noodle soup

Could you post a link to the information you found about EMS please?

intence

For those in the US, what shipping options have you been offered as an alternative to EMS? While I could potentially order from the North American warehouse, they don't offer brass spoke-nipples or the no-spoke options.

noodle soup

E-mail them. I'm sure they can handle the substitution.

holybinch

And now they've made their way to Czech Republic it seems.
God knows where from there, but I'm next door in Poland, so hopefully not too long to wait for :|

intence

I've reached out. My assumption is that the North American facility is assembly only, so spoke-nipples might be fine, but a rim without holes on the tire side needs to be taken care of during manufacturing.

They've changed wording now to show build time is 3-5 weeks (AR36/46) and EMS is 8-12 weeks. That's potentially 3-4 months. Alternatively, I can't find a comparable option that can do tubeless and traditional clinchers in a similar width from a mass manufacturer. The entry level options from Zipp for example are either not wide and not tubeless, or the newer options are hookless so traditional clinchers are out. So maybe waiting to have no spoke-hole, tubeless, and clincher compatibility isn't so bad.

holybinch

A week in Czech Republic, and they started getting looked at by customs. They've been looked at for a whole 4 days now. Thorough inspection!