Ibis Carbon wheels

[zion zig zag]

http://www.ibiscycles.com/wheels/

Less than half the price of Enve's and wider without much weight penalty.

[Anospa]

I wanna hear real world use on these. Wider = better, but after a certain point I wonder how much benefit it'll be?

Plus, to be that guy, I have about 6 friends who have Mojo HDs, 5 of them have cracked their frames.

[El Chupacabra]

Were the frame cracks warranty issues, or crash damage?

[Anospa]

I believe all but one were warranty issues (the one was a side impact on a chainstay, anything would've broken I think). One was a crack in the headtube and another was the top tube, the others I am not sure on. I found it kind of odd because they aren't riding these bikes on super gnarly trails 24/7. The owner of the shop I go to felt like Ibis's carbon frames were slightly inferior to yeti's and pivot's frames.

[flatlander#2]

I would pay retail for two sets on Enve's before I rode one set of those for free.

[rideit]

^^^why?
They are just rebadged Derby's.

[Conundrum]

There's always people with more money than brains. I'd take a free set of wheels before spending $5k.

[creaky fossil]

I would pay retail for two sets on Enve's before I rode one set of those for free.

and still have money left over for 3 Rolexes, 4 Patek Philippes, a Ferrari Testarossa, and a wicked custom Tesla.

the soul of TGR

[joetron]

I saw some cutaways of Ibis, Yeti and SC a few years ago, and at that point the Yeti and Ibis were a step or two behind. They were still using multiple bladders inside the tubes which makes it difficult to ensure precise QC. Pivot and SC (and Parlee and the road side) use something approximating a firm foam mandril which then gets dissolved/melted out. Carbon thickness, density and mass are a heck of a lot more precise. There is a very small window of weight for each frame piece in QC, like a fraction of a gram because the process is so precise.
All that said, the carbon biz is evolving like microchips and I'd imagine the rims are made in a different factory than the frames, buuuut, given what Ibis tolerated in the past, I wouldn't buy these wheels for about a year. Let a few batches shake out on the mtbr early adopters.

[creaky fossil]

That melted out foam sounds totally enviro-friendly.

[kidwoo]

^^^why?

Because enve's seem to be the only cRaBon rims worth a damn?

[Conundrum]

Apparently they're worth 2500 damns.

[flatlander#2]

I don't use Enve's personally, have rolled them a couple of times, get it but they are wicked spendy. I believe a good wheel builder can build a just as good wheel for a lot less money, and that's what I roll. In my mind if you're going to use carbon anything going with a quality manufacturer with a rep of building a high level is the smart, skimping isn't.

[rideit]

Because enve's seem to be the only cRaBon rims worth a damn?

I guess i haven't been paying attention...are Derby's getting panned?

[kidwoo]

I don't know anyone personally with derbys (and hence haven't seen them break like everything else) but at the price they are, and as noticeably wider as they are, I wouldn't be the guinea pig. I know it's not a direct correlation with AL rims but the farther apart sidewalls are from one another, the tougher it gets to make a profile as strong as a narrower counterpart. And I'm not someone who just nods when broad general statements about carbon this or that get thrown around. There's a lot of variability in who's selling what.

It took me a long time to be convinced of enve's strength. And right now they're the only carbon rims I'm convinced will last.

[shirk]

If you read the Scot Nicol comments in Pinkbike he gives some info on the relation with Derby.

Ibis covered part of the costs of the initial Derby tooling, for these new rims they've created another set of tooling and the rims are being produced in a different factory than the Derby's due to capacity.

[simple]

Because enve's seem to be the only cRaBon rims worth a damn?

After breaking 3 of them (AM) in a summer i don't think i should ride carbon ever again under this logic.

I'm not sponsored by them so i can talk freely how carbon + rock impacts = failure

[kidwoo]

After breaking 3 of them (AM) in a summer i don't think i should ride carbon ever again under this logic.

I'm not sponsored by them so i can talk freely how carbon + rock impacts = failure

How were they built? These were the AM ones? Not on a dh bike I assume....

One of the first things that got my attention about those a while back was a description they had of how important the spokes were. The idea being that these (and all carbon rims to a degree) can't flex past a certain point, or they fail.....they don't just dent obviously. That's pretty much how I've built aluminum wheels forever, using primarily straight gauge spokes to keep them as rigid as possible. What was your setup?

I'm not sponsored by them either FWIW. I've just been impressed with them while pretty much all the other plastic wheels I've seen don't seem to last very long.

[simple]

Built perfect for burly riding. Personally i don't think they played well with Schwalbe SG tires.

They aren't worth the $$. I'd rather dent 100 aluminum rims than go through that shit again

[joetron]

I cracked an AM Enve (built by them with DT Aerolite spokes) last summer on my Endorphin. My hunch is it was a well placed, kinda pointy, embedded rock up at Glenwild by Park City; not a particularly rocky trail for the rest of the country, but kinda bony for around here. I didn't flat or cut a tire (crossmark 2.25 UST), but that was the only somewhat memorable hit in that timeframe. The hook/wall portion of the rim started delamming. Ran it for another month with regular application of super glue to impede growth.

I don't think I'd pay for carbon rims on a mid-wheelway or mountain-classic bike; XC-ish 29er, I probably would.

I considered some CCC last fall, but even then, I could buy enough Flow EXs or Scandium WTBs to last for years for the price one of those....and I'm sure I would crack a rear within a season.

[kidwoo]

Built perfect for burly riding.

they had a monster sticker?

Seriously, what spokes were they built with (and did you keep them tight)? I'm about to sell a kidney for a pair of these so I'm curious. The SG tires are the burlier trail tires right? I'd think that would give them more protection.

I want to know how they're failing. A single crack at an impact that put the rock in contact with the rim or a section that failed from flexing too much from a dull impact.

[simple]

Sorry man. At work and that discussion just is too egg headed for me. I broke each 3 a little differently. Carbon is always risky and i've broken any carbon part that you can on a mtn bike except a stem but those are dumb

[flatlander#2]

mid-wheelway or mountain-classic bike

Holy crap you just created a new category. Let me know when the jersey is available.

[flatlander#2]

they had a monster sticker?

Seriously, what spokes were they built with (and did you keep them tight)? I'm about to sell a kidney for a pair of these so I'm curious. The SG tires are the burlier trail tires right? I'd think that would give them more protection.

I want to know how they're failing. A single crack at an impact that put the rock in contact with the rim or a section that failed from flexing too much from a dull impact.

A kidney eh? What's your bloodtype?

I don't know man, you seem to ride the shit out of everything. But again, some people just break the shit out of no matter what. A friend I ride with is perfect example, his shit is always clapped out. We ride the same trails every day and his shit creaks and breaks all the time. Same with skis.

[frorider]

$1300 for rebadged derby rims on Taiwanese generics with unspecified POE freehub. Not a great price but helps explain why Derby felt they could increase the price of their Chinese factory direct rims this month.