[Sasquatch1413]

I've been intrigued by carbon rims for the fat bike but I ride it year round and weight over 300 lbs. It gets ridden hard and punished on rocky trails. I've been running Holy Darryls and Mulefuts for the past few years and have only dinged a rim that needed hammering back out a few times. Is there a carbon rim that will hold up to the abuse? Looking for around 80mm width and 27.5 diam. Would prefer a chinese option as I'm not gonna spend $2k on a wheelset, will stick with aluminum if thats the only option.

 

[triathloner]

DT swiss 2300 I think it is are light and aluminum, I'm 250 and they are holding up great for me.

 

[manteufel]

No need to go with carbon for something strong and light. Go with lithic rhyolite. Comes with tape and valves. Match it with your choice of hub and get your lbs to build it for you.

https://otsocycles.com/collections/lithic/products/lithic-rhyolite-27-5-aluminum-fat-rims

 

[Way2ManyBikes]

Take a look at the Bontrager Jackalope rims / wheel set.

Very strong and comparable weight to there carbon wheel set. Best part as they are easy to set up tubeless and the 27.5 x 4.5 tires are great year round tires.


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[Jayem]

Carbon rims hold up great to abuse, unless you've gone with the totally ridiculous HED design, which is generally only recommended for riding on snow.

What they don't hold up to is not running enough tire pressure and bottoming out the rim on rocks.

I can launch huge jumps and come down sideways and my carbon rims take it and laugh it off, the same kind of abuse, big drops, jumps, etc., would taco or knock my old aluminum wheels out of true. Eventually, you'd start breaking spokes or have a rim that can't be brought back into true. Not so with carbon rims, they can take a whole lot more in this respect to an equal weight or even lighter aluminum rim.

Some of the double-wall rim options would probably work great, Nextie, etc., assuming you run enough pressure and don't bang the rim on the ground.

I've seen the "light" aluminum rims fail, there isn't much material there compared to the size. The light single-wall aluminum rims would be my last choice here. You don't want a flexy wheel at that weight, and if you aren't choosing carbon because you DO occasionally bang your rim on the ground, you are going to kill the thin/minimalist aluminum ones fast at that weight.

 

[mikesee]

I've been intrigued by carbon rims for the fat bike but I ride it year round and weight over 300 lbs. It gets ridden hard and punished on rocky trails. I've been running Holy Darryls and Mulefuts for the past few years and have only dinged a rim that needed hammering back out a few times. Is there a carbon rim that will hold up to the abuse? Looking for around 80mm width and 27.5 diam. Would prefer a chinese option as I'm not gonna spend $2k on a wheelset, will stick with aluminum if thats the only option.

Which tires are you running? At what (approximate) pressures? Is tubeless important? Mandatory?

 

[Sasquatch1413]

I've only ever ridden 26, been liking the Jumbo Jim 4.8 Snake Skin, although the sidewall seems to add a lot of rolling resistance below 5 psi. I don't like a lot of tread when riding 5" tires in dirt. Really like how the Big Fat Larrys roll but aren't durable at all. I typically run 6 psi in front and 8 psi in rear when riding dirt. Need to add a pound or two if I'm riding jumps/berms. For 27.5, I want to ride the 4.5 Cake Eaters but never tried them. Barbagezi 4.5 would be next option but don't think they are tough enough.

Tubelessness is next to godliness. Mandatory.

 

[Sasquatch1413]

Carbon rims hold up great to abuse, unless you've gone with the totally ridiculous HED design, which is generally only recommended for riding on snow.

What they don't hold up to is not running enough tire pressure and bottoming out the rim on rocks.

I can launch huge jumps and come down sideways and my carbon rims take it and laugh it off, the same kind of abuse, big drops, jumps, etc., would taco or knock my old aluminum wheels out of true. Eventually, you'd start breaking spokes or have a rim that can't be brought back into true. Not so with carbon rims, they can take a whole lot more in this respect to an equal weight or even lighter aluminum rim.

Some of the double-wall rim options would probably work great, Nextie, etc., assuming you run enough pressure and don't bang the rim on the ground.

I've seen the "light" aluminum rims fail, there isn't much material there compared to the size. The light single-wall aluminum rims would be my last choice here. You don't want a flexy wheel at that weight, and if you aren't choosing carbon because you DO occasionally bang your rim on the ground, you are going to kill the thin/minimalist aluminum ones fast at that weight.

For most of my riding, if I'm not dinging the rim once a ride, then I'm running too much air pressure and completely ruining what I like about a fat bike. If a carbon rim can't stand up to an occasional rock strike, then I'll never own one.

 

[mikesee]

I've only ever ridden 26, been liking the Jumbo Jim 4.8 Snake Skin, although the sidewall seems to add a lot of rolling resistance below 5 psi. I don't like a lot of tread when riding 5" tires in dirt. Really like how the Big Fat Larrys roll but aren't durable at all. I typically run 6 psi in front and 8 psi in rear when riding dirt. Need to add a pound or two if I'm riding jumps/berms. For 27.5, I want to ride the 4.5 Cake Eaters but never tried them. Barbagezi 4.5 would be next option but don't think they are tough enough.

Tubelessness is next to godliness. Mandatory.

Based on this and other answers of yours within this thread, I'd encourage you to stick to alu.

 

[Sasquatch1413]

Based on this and other answers of yours within this thread, I'd encourage you to stick to alu.

I'm not surprised by this answer, thanks for the feedback.

 

[kntr]

Whisky is the toughest carbon rim IMO.