Carbon rims On enduro style bike, general consensus?

Why are you tensioning Every few weeks? im like 220lbs who rides hard and slams my rear into things and no issues....
Who's building your wheels lol

I've got WAO Strife's laced to Profile Elite MTB hubs for my RM Slayer. Outside of breaking one spoke, I haven't touched them since I had them built up last April and I'm pushing around 280lbs. I was skeptical on carbon wheels for a long time, and still don't think they're a must have, but if you have some extra money to play with, I definitely think they're worth it. 

They definitely stay true. If your worried about breaking them consider reserves for the lifetime warranty. If you break one they will send you a new wheel, not just a rim. 30 hd carbons with dt swiss 350 6 bolt hubs are 1600 but for the lifetime warranty it could be worth the little bit extra over some others. 

I enquired about this with a Santa Cruz dealer and they told me the sending a new wheel thing isn’t happening anymore. Just sending replacement rims and customer pays for new wheel build (like most other carbon rim warranties). 

To answer original question: im almost 200 and had the same experience with all alloy wheels. Since getting carbon they’ve been completely maintenance free except breaking a few rims across multiple bikes over like 5 years. Had some spoke breaking issues recently but I think that’s bad luck (hopefully!)

It still says on the reserve site " The lifetime warranty is for the original owner. We ship out complete wheels as a first option, with rims and a service credit provided as a second options. Crash replacements for either a rim or wheel are provided at a reduced price from retail costs." 

I messaged them directly to ask if they are still doing that.

I realized thats under the alloy wheels. Under lifetime warranty is says "We'll repair or replace at our option any Reserve rim that is damaged or destroyed by riding. The warranty will be in effect for the lifetime of the rim and is available only to the original owner." 

So we will see what they say. That was one of the main reasons i was considering reserves but if they are just sending out a rim maybe WA1 instead.

"On occasion, as a means to expedite support, we may provide a rim and a service credit instead of a complete wheel. We will only be doing this in cases where we are unable to provide a complete wheel within 30 days of claim submission" 

I found this under their frequently asked questions as well

Back in June, I banged up a rim to the point that the spokes wouldn’t stay tight, and they sent me a whole new wheel within a week.  

I was pretty anti-carbon rims for the longest time. I also liked the fact that an alloy rim would get me home, which was true. No matter how badly I torched an alloy wheel, I at least could get home. After cycling through a few rear alloy rims a year, I decided to try the WAO. I personally have been extremely impressed. Over two years, I have broken one rear rim, and this was before they updated to the triad design. Since updating to the newer design, they have been flawless. The number of times I have hit my rims on rocks with no issues is impressive. And this is at 28/24psi at 165lb with DH casing tires. I cant speak to the other brands though. 

I've been running the same ethirteen lg1 carbon rims since 2020. I've been smashing them into east coast rocks with no issues. Blown up spokes and punctured tires even through the rim bead but the rims have been fine. Even rode out a very rocky stage with a flat in an enduro race and the rim is totally fine.

Just one wheel rebuild for the rear to get a better rear hub. Of course now that I type this all out both wheels will explode.  

The only thing that has driven me away from Carbon rims ist the hookless rim Design! After blowing my tire off the rim in multiple scenarios i went back to al. I also noticed that there seems to be quite a large variable in diameter tolerances across the tire Brands, which can lead to issues with hookless rims.

Few thoughts...

1) I haven't tested that many carbon rims considering how many are on the market these days, but I would happily pay for Santa Cruz Reserves again. I've had them so long I'm actually kind of scared to ride them. 

2) If I was a top tier racer I might be more prone to alloy rims for flat protection.

3) In the same vein, I may go alloy for forgiveness, but we're really splitting hairs here. There are so many ways to play with wheel flex, most of which is poorly understood and poorly utilized I'm not sure pointing at rim material when you can alter spoke thickness, tension and flange diameter makes a lot of sense. 

TL;DR, if I were building a "I don't touch it and don't think about it" enduro bike, I'd go carbon for sure. My own bias has me buying SC Reseve 10/10 times. 

Can anyone compare impact durability between ex511 and carbon options? I used to have ibis carbon rims 6ish years ago but broke 2 on rock hits and went back to alum.  I put a one or two dents on each of my aluminum rims every year. My most recent ex511 has lasted 2 years now with some small rim dents, no big eggs.  It’s held up better than any other rims I’ve had. Would rim dents on a 511 = blown carbon? Know this is subjective but trying to understand how many blown rims with carbon I may have. 

Considering a Nobl 37 vs tried and true 511 on my next build. 

I ride a lot in the backcountry so blowing a carbon rim doesn’t sound appealing for getting out. 

I bought a set of the Light Bicycle wheels with DT 350 hubs in 2015.  Cracked one at Plattekill on something that no wheel would ever survive and rode it down the mountain without any further issues.  Got a replacement under "crash replacement" for $125.  That wheel set is still going.  In 2017 built up a new bike and did another set with Hope hubs, still going, finished a long stage at Killington on a rear flat, no issues.  Wheelset is still going strong.

In 2018 I got a Smuggler trail bike and bought another set with I9's.  I have since sold the Smuggler and kept that wheelset and also purchased another 29 set with Hope for my Sentinel.  I have both wheelsets, one with more XC tires, the other with DH tires.   The I9 I have had the rear hub replaced once and it just went again, about to re-lace the same old rim to a One Up hub to give that a try.

The I9 set is from 2018, the Hope set is from 2019, I am about 205-210, ride 4-5 days a week.  I was doing about 10-12 enduro races a year (taking this year off but still riding a lot).

I go through free hubs a lot, usual broken spokes here and there but I have no issues with the "cheap" carbon wheels and have been on them for years.  

The OEM wheels that came on the Smuggler and Sentinel I tried to run, dented and then had difficulty holding air.  On my ebike I have cracked 2 aluminum rims in the past year.  Going to eventually get a carbon rear wheel on the ebike.  

This is an interesting one to me as I am always looking to buy carbon wheels but can never justify buying them. I will happily wast money on other bike parts but when it comes to wheels I always end up with Aluminium, am I missing something?

I always thought it would be worth buying carbon wheels to save weight but when I worked it out over the aluminium wheels I own and happy with (Hope’s on DT481/511) compared to something I would buy (probably Hope’s on Reserves HD30/SL or Crank Brothers Synthesis E). The weight saving is only 100-150g for the pair. That doesn’t really make sense to me for the extra cost. 

Am I missing something is there more to the ride feel?

I know modern carbon rims are a lot more compliant than they used to be, but you still hear Pro rides saying they prefer the feel of Aluminium rims. 

I don’t really have an issue with braking/damaging Aluminium rims and I could understand why someone that does would benefit from the strength and backup from a carbon rim.  But that’s not me. 
 

I was a Carbon rim on my enduro/park bike, guy for years.  3 years ago,  I went back to running EX511's on my big bikes and most recently, bought a set of Reserve AL/HDs.  I have run reserve carbon, chinese off brand carbon, giant trx carbon and roval carbon wheels.  Currently, the carbon wheels in my stable are btlos (chinese direct) hoops and an aging set of reserve 30s.  

A few comments from that experience:

1) The biggest reason draw for me, and thing that I miss about running carbon wheels was the lack of maintenance.  I essentially seem to kill an ex511 about once a year.  I can usually get a re-true out of them after the initial build, but then I'll end up with a nasty flat spot, or tension that is all over the place.  I think this is mostly because I'm casing jumps with regularity.  I'm guessing that while pro and full send expert riders ride harder then I do, they are jumping better and not casing things.  I don't necessarily find that rock gardens and rock strikes are what kill aluminum wheels long term.  Dings yes, but killing hoops for me comes down to big flat spots, and screwed up spoke tension which seems to be from my jumping like a muppet lack of skills.  

2) I do find that generally, I like the ride feel of aluminum over carbon, and I am willing to make the trade off of a little bit less direct feeling cornering and off camber rock garden tracking, for the overall comfort.  I definitely would bias towards coil suspension paired with carbon wheels to take the sting off of hard hits.  

3) I would, and always do run an insert with carbon wheels.  On my trail bike, I run cc xc and when running carbon wheels on my enduro bike, it was cc pro.  Overall, because of this there isn't much weight savings to be had.  I think the lowest weight (pre-cc weights) carbon wheelset I would run is in the 1,750-1,800 range and most of my aluminum wheelsets end up in the 1,950-2,000 range (dt350's used on both).  

Overall, I do feel like the change back to aluminum hoops has been beneficial, but I am getting a bit sick of truing wheels and re-hooping things.  I most recently ended up basically killing a reserve AL/HD hoop with a handful of days riding in laguna and 5 days in whistler bike park by putting a flat spot in it that spoke tension is going to be all over the place.  I do really like how compliant/soft a well built set of 511s/Reserve ALs feel, but I am feeling the draw to go back to carbon for piece of mind.  

I think really, my preference is starting to head towards what the vitalmtb carbon vs aluminum test session started to suggest.  I think the ideal setup for me might be carbon rear wheel, aluminum front wheel.  

Y’all are absurd with your warranty demands. I’ve destroyed a lot of wheels in my 25+ years of riding. It’s NEVER been the wheel’s fault. Worked in shops for a long time - can count on one hand the number of times a whee was destroyed because of a rim defect. 

Was a carbon wheel holdout until this year, got some WA1s. Third ride out, got off line at warp speed and double flatted, multiple holes in both tires, needed 6 plugs and a bacon strip to patch it. Surely would have at least flat spotted alloy wheels, but not even a crack in the clearcoat. I’m sold. 

Have been running WAO Unions for 2 seasons @ 190lbs. 100% will go carbon again because I can be a lazy bastard and never touch them. Have broken one single spoke in that time, and have never even trued them. Finally checked tension this year while putting in the new spoke... still perfect. They have shaken off many hits that would have killed any aluminum rims I've been on.

Even though I can muddle through a wheel build and can do a great job at truing + fixing wheels, I'd go carbon again (built by someone else) for the labor savings and laziness. Don't care about comparing ride quality, stiffness, whatever. None of that matters to me compared to saving hours of faffing with aluminum wheels during a season. I race local enduros for fun, ego, and self-progression and don't delight in spending thousands of dollars on trying various wheels for minor gains. Just spending my own hard-earned hobby dollars and time.

I am very careful about my tire psi so I don't suffer catastrophic failure from a nasty hit and walking out. Run DH casings on the rear and sometimes a light rear insert (not CC, the weight sucks to pedal around).

I have the Raceface NextR 31's on my trail, E-bike and DH bike. In general, there is almost zero maintenance, I'm also roughly 160 at my heaviest. I've blown a few spokes and had plenty of flats, but the wheels are still true and crack free. I do like the feel of an alloy wheel but for the trade off to literally never having to touch them I'll take the carbon all day. The set on my DH rig have seen 2 whistler trips and a season of racing with DH tires and no Cush and have been flawless. Also, if I do manage to break damage a hoop Raceface has a lifetime no questions asked replacement warranty.  

Haven’t ridden a 511 much but can confirm I have multiple hits that would’ve dented a 471 every park day now with carbon they just shrug off. In my experience (Nobls) it takes a massive hit or something unlucky and sharp on the side of the rim to break them

If you must go plastic for rims, WAO unless you want this;

I have beat the crap out of multiple WAO rims on the DH and Enduro bikes. They look horrible but have yet to fail.

However, Stan's alloy Flow rims are my current favorites. Pretty cheap, pretty light, pretty strong. Pick 3.

I like aluminum front for compliance and carbon rear for durability. I can smash a rear aluminum even with cushcore.  Carbon rim with DH casing have been holding up really well.

As stated the carbon rims are much more compliant than they used to be.  Enduro carbon 28 hole have a great feel to them.

So what kind of rim is that one you broke? 

There's a lack of details from your carbon experience. What's your weight, riding style, terrain where it failed and exact situation, spoke tension, rim brand/model, did you run inserts and which ones blablabla...

I used to run alloys especially those infamous EX471/511 for a good moment, but an alloy rim never remains as true as a carbon one. Building my wheelsets, it is much easier to have a homogeneous spoke tension with carbon than with alloy. And spoke tension deviation plays a big part in durability.
Also, when you dent an alloy rim your tubeless setup may leak. I broke trail and enduro carbon rims but the DH rim I use from 2020 never failed me and I never wanted to go back to alloy for the reasons above.
The fear of breaking a rim is easily tackled by picking the right rim for your discipline and maybe adding a good insert as well.

For additional info, I'm on Carbonal MX935DH rims, ran Rimpact inserts without failure but went for Cushcore so the inserts last longer. Max spoke tension 1200N, weight at 75kg(165lbs), DH use in French/Swiss Alps.
Next season I'll be trying Zipp 3Zero Moto which is a different animal, closer to alloy in building, harder to get the tension spot on but the grip and durability rewards can be worth the try.

Competition use is something else though, priorities can be different as if you may want to finish the stage even on the rim. Depends on how often you're prone to break stuff.

Same as many above, did many years on carbon Rovals which I still own but don't fit my current bike. Also got a set of Light Bicycle wheels built up by a local wheelbuilder, cracked both of them but wouldn't rate poorly: they lived a hard life.

Currently my bike is mullet so my rear 29er carbon wheels don't fit, I'm planning to go back to 29 in carbon. So riding 27.5 rear in alloy, I had completely forgotten what a pain it is to maintain alloy wheels, the rims last 3-12 months (EX511 or equivalent), you need to true them after a couple of big rides, I have broken about a dozen spokes in the last 3 years mid ride.

I will go back to carbon wheels, but with slightly higher pressures and most likely inserts. Effectively a longer and more frustrating tyre setup due to the insert, but less maintenance in between tyre changes. I don't expect any ride quality improvements from carbon.

There is some conflation between Warranty (manufacturing defect) and Free Crash Replacement (breaking during normal riding) by both wheel brands and us here on the forums. 
Most people are referring to Crash replacment when they say a wheel has a "good warranty" and frankly any carbon wheel without a free crash replacement is 100% not worth buying these days considering how many of the current options offer it. 

So no, people are not expecting a "warranty" when they case a jump but the rim should be replaced for free because that is standard practice nowadays. 

I've held off from going carbon for rims for a while but since going carbon I don't think I'll go back purely because of the lower maintenance needs and the wheels always being true (unless they completely fail, which does happen).

DT Swiss hubs are my go to and I try to have them in all my wheel builds so I'd definitely second that choice. 

I've been running WAO triads on DT Swiss 240s and that is an amazing combo, relatively light, compliant, low maintenance. I'm over 200lbs geared up and ride some rough trails (relatively) hard and I'm not a super smooth rider so I have broken the odd rim over the years but in those scenarios I don't think a different rim or material would have held up any better and in all cases the rims still held air enough (despite full cracks) to get me out which was impressive. 

I have also put many many kms on a set of Race Face Era wheels and have been thoroughly impressed. Despite being lighter and using thinner spokes they have taken an absolute beating and held up to all the abuse I've put them through and not needed any maintenance or truing. The newer vault hubs have also been solid and I've not had to do any maintenance on those either so I can't comment on how easy it is to maintain them. Race Face has a great warranty where they will replace the whole wheel if something breaks but I've not had to make use of that yet. I don't think you'd be disappointed if you ended up going with some Eras if you can't get a hold of your preferred DT Swiss wheels.

I can't really speak more highly of my WAO Union wheels. I have run them for ~3 seasons of enduro racing and loads of riding and the rims themselves have been almost faultless. They require basically no truing or spoke tensioning and the hoops have outlasted the Onyx hubs they came on. I am confident these wheels have saved me money in the long run over going for alloy, as I tended to go through 3-4 rears per year. I also broke 3 Santa Cruz Reserves before I had the WAOs. Go for WAO wheels with a DT350 hub and you're laughing.