sjanzeir

I'm interested (😏 okays, I was practically drooling all over my t-shirt) in these wheels for my Hemingway.

Now, before you tell me how I shouldn't be considering carbon wheels out of China at all, I'll go ahead and admit up front that I'm interested in those wheels more for style than any practical gain that they may or may not offer, so I'm completely open to being talked out of buying them, especially given the price and the unknown quality. But the bigger picture I'm really interested in is how everyone feels about running carbon wheels for everyday use - commuting and/or fun riding, strictly outside of any competitive context. What does everybody think?

Rolla

A 20" wheel on a folding commuter bike probably isn't going to undergo a whole lot of stress, but I'm glad it's you who's willing to spend $650 to find out, and not me.

krakhaus 

You have a bike that takes 20" wheels?

sjanzeir

Best talking out I ever had!

sjanzeir

Imagine that! Amazing, isn't it?

tempocyclist

They look awesome, buy them! 😁

sjanzeir

Boy are you evil! 😈😄

Camilo

Just to balance the feedback: not my cup of tea. But if I liked them I'd buy them! Why not?

sean.hwy

Can you get them from lightbicycle or winspace?

sjanzeir

Never heard of either until now but the answer is no. To be honest, I'm not all that interested in carbon wheels - or carbon anything, for that matter - but I was interested in those wheels, and it was purely for style. My original question was if they're worth it for everyday use.

wolfchild

It's carbon, run away from it and don't look back.

MattTheHat 

I’ve got 6,800 daily driven miles on my current carbon wheels. And 12,500 miles on my used to be daily driven previous bike that I still ride occasionally. Im not bumping curbs or anything, but the wheels have never even needed to be trued. Both wheel sets are Roval, so not no-name Chinese wheels. But daily driven they are.

My wheels obviously are not full carbon-they have traditional spokes. I can’t imagine a well-made 20” full carbon wheel would concern me at all. Whether the wheels the OP is considering are well-made is anyone’s guess.

indyfabz

You find that odd?

PeteHski

Only you can put a value on "style" as it's entirely subjective. From a purely objective point of view of course they are not worth it for everyday use.

BlazingPedals

One thing that carbon wheels don't do well is take abuse from bottoming out the tire. If you run 32+mm tires, they'll probably be OK. I'd trust Silverrock more than if they said, for instance, Zipp, since they're putting their own name on their own stuff. Hmm... unless it's a Chinese knock-off, imitating another Chinese brand???

Agree, they look pretty.

livedarklions

Were you looking to replace your current wheels otherwise?

rydabent

In that case I hope your bike has disc brakes, so you dont ruin those pretty wheels.

Rolla

It's a post by wolfchild, run away from it and don't look back.

Iride01 

If 200 grams less weight than a $79 20 inch wheel set costs is significant to you. Or perhaps you just think those wheels look sexy to you, then go for it.

Look like they belong on a children's bike to me though. But I'm not the person that has to like them, so I won't laugh out loud if you ever pass by.

bargainguy

You might like how they look, but they will definitely change the Dahon's ride quality over traditional spoked wheels, and not necessarily for the better.

Carbon is much less compliant than metal, everything else being equal, so the ride quality will also be less compliant. It's easy to overlook this. If you ride on pristine road surfaces, great, but for most of the rest of us, it means that this bike will be less comfortable with these wheels on anything less. Your call as to whether the fashion is worth it.

CrimsonEclipse

Looks like the Mag wheels on the old BMX bikes.

Paint them yellow!

indyfabz

A/k/a our supposed resident ‘bent rider from Omaha.

sjanzeir

Thank you for this, bargainguy. It was extremely helpful.

You see, children, this is one of those rare replies that exemplify the Supreme ideal of helpfulness that Bike Forums is definitely capable of, but unwilling to strive to accomplish. But then again, the Bike Forums Experience wouldn't be as distressingly fun as it is if everyone was all nice and helpful, now, would it? 🙃

sjanzeir

Yeah, so they'd go nicely with those yellow Oakley 3 grips I was eying. A pair of Comps with blue tread and skinwalls will round things off nicely, too.