Haven’t bought any new wheels in a while, and have recently built up a new bike which is rim brake. I’m not super keen on carbon brake tracks, as I prefer the braking performance of alloy rims.
I remember there used to be quite a few brands that made carbon wheels, will alloy brake tracks, that didn’t break the bank.
I see Bontrager does some, HED (but those aren’t cheap)… are there any other brands that still do this?
There used to be likes of Fast Forward, Vision, Mavic… and a bunch of others… is this something that’s just died out?
I was researching the topic last year and this combinatiin is relatively dead. You can get pretty decent 30mm deep wheels for rim brakes relatively cheap (I have ordered custom for 500usd), but deeper than that - it’s basically non-existent market.
Carbon brake tracks from most brands are pretty good and some are excellent but If stopping power is a really high priority then disks are the way to go.
Doesn’t really leave many customers for alloy brake tracks.
Light Bike wheels (and probably many other brands) make reinforced / enhanced carbon brake tracks. I am quite pleased with the Falcon R55 (55mm deep) with the groove graphene brake surface.
Bontrager still makes the Aeolus comp 5 (non disc). 50 mm deep. As noted you can get a fully carbon set form elsewhere for the same price, but this is an option for what you want from a major manufacturer.
I chose my Swisside Hadrons at the time because they had and aluminium brake track. It makes swapping in a training wheel on a blustery day easy. I’ve no idea if they still make them that way though.
I have a set of HED Jet 4’s. Love riding them but im always paranoid im going to wreck the faring even just mindlessly squeezing the tyres. Putting on a different set of wheels just to transport the bike is a pain in the ass
With Swissstop pads on the CHEAPEST Superteam wheels from Amazon Warehouse, the dry/flat road braking was EXCELLENT. I didn’t try wet nor would I ride them down a mountain, but for regular use I don’t see a need for AL tracks.
The problem you’re going to find with more AL track wheels used and new (like the Bontrager and HED RC4) is that they’re too narrow for 25mm tires; you might as well not even have any rim depth at all if the rim isn’t 27+mm wide. The Bonts are 23mm wide (at the brake track), so you’d need a 21c or maybe a 23c tire for that; same with the Citics. The deeper HEDs seem to have the right specs.
I had the same concern when I was looking at them (HED Jet). I ended up picking up a set of FFWD carbons when I realized that a) I don’t live in a region where I’m probably going to be riding the brakes all the way down a mountain/hill; and b) I don’t really ride in the rain!
What a difference the new wheels make, though! DT Swiss 240 hubs are deadly silent and seem to spin forever. I just hung the rear wheel on my wall (since my bike is on the turbo now), and I’d be really concerned doing the same thing with the carbon faring!
Light and bullet proof (german quality)