Hello all,
Hope you are enjoying your bikes as much as I do.
Huge fan of rim bake here (no need for disc vs rim, I am fortunate enough to both and have chance to ride newer bikes with recent technology at work)
My personal road bike, a Ritchey Carbon Ti Breakaway has now been sitting on Campagnolo Bora WTO which I trully love, specially for braking power even in the wet.
The aim of this bike is also to do some BRMs, PBP in 2027 and maybe one trip a year to the mountains (right now I am in flandres area).
Given that, sometime ago I got some Mavic Open Pro UST (pair) + one with dynamo in order to have a pair of wheels for winter (Roads get muddy here) and in case I go to the mountains.
Not sure if it was the brake pads (shimano) or whatever but I didn't feel they brake as good as the campy…and..in the meantime another rim brake bike came (Ritchey Swiss Cross Canti) which can be a good for the pair of Open Pro UST.
My question, for the ones that use rim brake, would alu wheel (with the dynamo) + carbon on the rear, be ok for the mountains?
I always heard horror storries of people with rim brake bikes in the mountains but I tend to believe it was both a mix of first gen carbon wheels and not acknowledging that breaking on carbon rim brakes has to be managed differently.
But honestly I have zero experience on rim brake/mountain. If anyone has and wants to share let me know.
by AppropriateArtist408
2 Comments
Okay, A Number fucking one, gorgeous bike. I love it. Don’t leave it at the train station or I’m taking it.
I love rim brakes. My rim brake bike (shimano pads on aluminum) stops better than my disc brake bike (mechanical) that was recently upgraded. My rim brakes will throw me if I’m not careful.
What you’re describing is wickedly specific. But I think I know the reason for the problem on descending. Rim brakes heat the tire increasing pressure in the tire. You would be at higher risk of blowout and would lose handling.
It’s less about braking power and more about where the energy goes.
Alloy dissipates that heat better than carbon, so it would make sense to minimize blowout risk by using it up front where most of the braking should come from.
Last summer during a particularly hot stretch I blew out twice due to hot rims.
First was with a carbon rim with a TPU tube, coming down a really steep section. I guess I dragged my rear brake for a tad too long and I blew out a section of the tube. My guess is the heat melted the TPU.
A couple weeks later, on my gravel bike with load, alloy rims running tubeless, not a particularly steep descent but I was loaded, tried to scrub speed in a smart manner, and right at the bottom of the descent my front blew out, sealant everywhere. The tire bead and sidewall had warped due to the heat. I was able to remount with a tube but had to roll the 15 miles or so home on that bulged out tire.
Now I am nervous when descending my rim brake bikes in general, but especially so about descending in hot weather, unless I’m on my disc brake bike. So running an alloy rim will help but be careful in hot weather, down steep descents, especially if carrying load.