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DIY Carbon Wheelset Build help

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13K views 55 replies 22 participants last post by  Schulze  
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#1 ·
I'm new to this but pretty sure I can build my own carbon wheel set. That being said, I'm wondering if the price savings is worth it. I'd like a light 29 wheelset for trail riding that isn't freaky loud while still being solid quality. Was thinking 240 hubs but it seems like there are so many options for hubs and rims and spokes etc. Hard to know where to start. Fwiw I'm building a bike and trying to stay under budget but trying to not compromise either.

So what would you guys build out and can it beat a Light Bicycle 1200$ in price by a fair amount?
 
#4 ·
Think this is the main point unless you already have the tools and skills to build yourself quickly and easily. If not, AND buying new hubs anyways, then just have someone build for you. Ultimately, cost difference will probably be negligible between the two, difference will probably come with quality of the wheels at that point.
 
#10 ·
If im paying $400 for a hub, a big part of what im paying for is vanity and something cool. Lets face it, by that price point, you're way past just buying quality. In that sense, I dont think you're getting what you paid for with 240s.

It seems like 350's stepped on 240's toes pretty severely. Its basically the same hub for half the price. Or less.

Or you can grab a set of bitex hubs for dirt cheap. They're light, 54pt, durable. They come in more colors than DT hubs. Its a solid choice too.
 
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#11 ·
One Pivot said:
If im paying $400 for a hub, a big part of what im paying for is vanity and something cool. Lets face it, by that price point, you're way past just buying quality. In that sense, I dont think you're getting what you paid for with 240s.

It seems like 350's stepped on 240's toes pretty severely. Its basically the same hub for half the price. Or less.

Or you can grab a set of bitex hubs for dirt cheap. They're light, 54pt, durable. They come in more colors than DT hubs. Its a solid choice too.
Click to expand...
Awesome man. This helps a lot. Are the Bitex hubs reliable? I feel like saw some old forum stuff about them having some issues etc.

I want a nice hub but vanity isn't a huge deal for me.
 
#13 ·
And in all fairness, better quality bearings too. I know the weight alone is worth it for some people. I think they'd be more palatable if the 240s at least had the higher poe ratchets to more stand out from 350s.

OP, I've had amazing luck with bitex. There's a huge thread with mostly happy people.
 
#14 ·
I'm not sure about all Bitex hubs, but if you get them from Bike Hub Store, they come with Enduro bearings. I just replaced the bearings in a 130mm road hub I got from them a few years ago and I should have just left them in there. They were silky smooth and I ride this bike every day, ten months out of the year.

I built a few sets of wheels with Light Bicycle rims, DT Swiss Supercomp spokes and Bike Hub Store hubs and they were fantastic.
 
#16 ·
I built a set of carbon wheels using Nextie rims (32 hole rear, 28 front), a Hope rear hub, the stupid expensive SRAM predictive steering front hub, orange alloy nipples, and Sapim spokes and it was something like $815.
(Front hub $160 - eBay, Rear hub $182 - Chain Reaction, Rims $363 - Nextie, Spokes and nipples - $108 Wheelbuilder.com)
That was August 2016, and the wheels have never needed anything. It was the first time I had built a wheel in 20 years, first time from scratch (usually it was an existing wheel that I took apart and rebuild).

It takes time, and you must have the proper tools. However, I don't consider wheel building a black magic art.

If you really want to get into wheelbuilding at all, take one you have now, tear it apart, and rebuld it.
 
E
#18 ·
You can run 28 on a front and asym brings the spoke tension for each side of the hub closer to equal. The need for offset for the cassette and disc can lead to 85-95kgf spoke tension on the non drive side and 125 on the drive side with a regular rim. The lower tension can become 'loose' when you have the bike leaned to one side hitting bumps.
 
#20 ·
Theres no need or benefit to ever running a 28h rim. Its just less durable long term. 32h for everything.

If you can justify to yourself running 28h up front, you can run it out back too. IMO, its a similarly bad idea on both ends.

Its really just cosmetic. It'll generally hold up for most people, but if you're hard on wheels its not a great idea. On the other hand, unless its a tandem or you're VERY heavy, you cant really go wrong with 32h.
 
#24 ·
There are a lot of good hubs out there but the DT star ratchet drive is brilliant IMO and super easy to service. Also quiet.



Truing stands are nice and make the job easier but they aren't necessary to get good results. Plucking spokes and listening to the tone is a reasonable way to make sure spoke tension is even but a tensiometer is the only way to make sure you are at the correct max tension, especially for beginners.
 
#28 ·
svinyard said:
you think the tensionmeter isn't needed eh?
Click to expand...
It's not a necessity, I built a lot of good wheels before I ever used one but like I said you're mostly guessing about correct max tension and IME wheels built without one are generally under tensioned. For me it's peace of mind knowing that I'm not under or over and overall I think they make it possible to build a better wheel.
 
#33 ·
In five years, carbon will be so cheap that people will go back to 142 rear because they don't need the extra stiffness.

And having owned Bitex, Koozer (star ratchet), and Novatec, I won't be buying ANY "budget" rear hubs in the future. They're just not worth the savings! I don't recommend them.
 
M
#37 · (Edited)
Here is the comparison of Bitex to Hope Pro 4.
Hope costs more than Bitex.
Bitex hubs weigh less than Hope, usually 20-40g.
Bitex specs are ABEC 5 stainless bearings, 6 pawls, 54 points, stainless steel anti-bite, medium quiet.
Hope specs are ABEC 5 stainless bearings, 4 pawls, 44 points, no anti-bite protection, very loud noise.
Bitex makes a solid steel freehub with three bearings, titanium freehubs also with three bearings for road and MTB, and large range of hubs that BHS doesn't sell, including heavy duty clydesdale hubs (BX207F/R) with 4 bearings in the front, three bearings in the rear hub shell, and three more bearings in the freehub. Bitex also makes chromoly axles for most of their rear hubs.
Bitex can use common sizes of top quality ceramic bearings.
So the lowly Bitex hub can actually be fully optioned to a higher spec than Hope, I9, WI, etc.
 
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#41 ·
Le Duke said:
If you consider Enduro to be high quality bearings, you don't know bearings.

I'd run a generic NTN or NSK or *** over any Enduro ceramic bearing.
Click to expand...
I use the Enduro XD-15 ceramic bearing with the hard nitrogen steel(stainless) races. for my bb. Those races use the material the vanes in jet engines are also made from. They'll never wear out. I haven't found anything better from any source.
 
#44 ·
I have no clue what their XD-15 material's alloy actually is, but I'll be hoping my next frame is PF30 so I can reuse this BB.

If I'd been on Shimano XTR BBs, I would be in the double digits with them now, in terms of replacements. Still on the original, and no signs of wear.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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#45 ·
"When nitrogen is added to austenitic steels, it can simultaneously improve fatigue life, strength, work hardening rate, wear and localized corrosion resistance. All steels contain nitrogen in traces, which improves the mechanical & corrosion properties of steel.Jan 30, 2015" Google.

"High-strength austenitic stainless steels can be produced by replacing carbon with nitrogen. Nitrogen has greater solid-solubility than carbon, is a strong austenite stabilizer, potent interstitial solid-solution strengthener, and improves pitting corrosion resistance. Although the solubility of nitrogen in liquid iron is very low, 0.045 wt.% at 1600 °C and atmospheric pressure, nitrogen levels above 1 wt.% can be obtained through alloying and specialized high-pressure melting techniques. . . . " J.W.Simmons from Overview: high-nitrogen alloying of stainless steels
 
I
#46 ·
Some great info in here, thank for the heads up on the thread svinyard

If you don't mind me chiming in I'd be keen to get folks thoughts on a carbon wheel set I'm procrastinating about.

Here in Sydney, Australia I ride a Canyon Strive. Riding is rocky. Some Enduro style racing. Tyres typically 650b 2.4 HR2 front, 2.3 Minion SS rear with a ghetto cush core in both. I'm a fit and forget rider as much as possible. Weight in about 80kg

The Spline One wheels that came on the bike have been really good (OEM spec 240 hubs, DT 471 rims). Specs say 1700g and they have taken a beating. Finally damaged the rear at a Stromlo race boosting a small rock garden and hitting a very hard square edge fast. I haven't tried to straighten it yet, it will probably be ok, front is still sweet.

I've currently got a set of Spank oozy 345 wheels on there. 30mm id. Weigh in just shy of 2000g. They have a reputation for being strong. Not sure if the extra ID makes much difference. They do feel a bit heavy

I have a set of hope 32h Pro 2 evo hubs sitting doing nothing. Will need to get an XD driver though.

I've been looking at the LB asymmetrical rim
https://www.lightbicycle.com/EN728-asymmetric-rim-profile-carbon-27.5-inch-mtb-rims.html

These seem similar
http://xmcarbonspeed.com/Productinfo.asp?f=1423

I've got a few options. Build up the carbon rims on the 32H hope (j bend) or 28H DT hubs (straight pull)

What spec rims would you recommend. Which would be most resistant to rock scars. What spec spokes? What wheel weights should I aspire too/expect?

Does the style of one outer material lead to better performance than another? For instance I'd read somewhere the weave style stands up better than the UD to rock scaring.

I'd be building them up myself. Done a few wheels now (using DT Revolution spokes I think) and they have fared very well. Park spoke tension meter definitely helps

All thoughts gratefully received.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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#48 ·
Been thinking about a possible build and using the DT Swiss spoke calculator to look at some numbers.

What I'm currently looking at is wheels using DT Swiss 240s Hubs and Carbon Speed 26mm id rims

Rim - Xiamen Carbon Speed - AS733C 650b asym rim 30mm depth 26mm ID
Hubs - 28H Straight Pull F 240s Oversize 110x20, R 240s 142x12 XD Driver
Spokes DT Swiss Competition Race Straight Pull 2.0/1.6/2.0 (Front - L 274mm & R 274mm, Rear - L 273mm & R 274mm
Nipples - DT Swiss Std Aluminium 2.0mm / 14mm
Calculated weight 736g + 805g = 1541g (not inc tape or valve)

A build using the hope pro2 hubs I have would be about 150g on the wheelset. Brass nipples will add about 50g. The 30mm ID rims from Carbon Speed are only 10g or some more each

Costs - I already have the hubs, haven't got a price on the rims yet, 56 spokes 42.00 EUR + nipples 20.72 EUR + 19.95 EUR shipping (all from bike24 total 62.72EUR or in my world 100 Aussie dollars)

I've read some good reviews on the DT Comp Race spokes but they dont seem to be easily available. I just noticed that LB are using them in their builds. No where I've looked has then down here but thats often the case. I've used Bike24 before because of this and there is some other stuff I need to get from them anyway so the shipping will be split.
 
H
#50 ·
I'm about to pull the trigger on a set of rims from XM Carbon Speed. Going to order the 36mm wide 29er Asymmetric carbon rims that I will build with a set of Hope Pro 4s and DT supercomp spokes, 2-cross. It's slightly more expensive than having Peter build a set with DT350s, but this way I get exactly what I want. These are for a new Ripley LS I'm building for my go-to bike. Cant wait!
 
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