1000 gram clincher
Carbon clinchers are rare. Phenomenally rare. Many a wheel maker has tried to build reliable carbon clinchers, and many have tempted us with prototype versions, but when the tire meets the road, only a handful have made it into production. And of those, fewer warrant entrusting your life to their reliability.
Prior to Lightweight's introduction of the Standard Clincher, we could name but two trusted carbon clinchers: Campagnolo's Hyperon Ultra and Campagnolo's Bora. In our experience, only Campy's carbon clinchers were strong enough and built well enough to viably mate a carbon rim surface to a clincher tire and tube configuration.
The construction of a carbon clincher is risky business. Of primary concern is the heat generated by the carbon braking surface. The thermal capacity of carbon is roughly that of aluminum; but the thermal dissipaitng property of carbon is significantly lower. Couple this with the fact that the mass of a carbon wheel is dramatically lower than that of an aluminum wheel and it follows that its thermal dissipating property is likewise dramatically lower. In short, lower mass plus lower thermal dissipating property equals excessive heat generation. Energy in the form of heat which cannot otherwise dissipate will cause the air in the tubes to expand and can cause catastrophic failure. Incredible heat build up under the braking conditions demanded of bike racing is one reason why carbon clinchers are just so darn rare, but there are other troublesome considerations, including manufacturing carbon clincher rims which are strong enough to withstand tire pressure forces and the repeated assaults of macadam and other rough road surfaces.
How Lightweight overcomes these serious considerations is a testament to their brilliance and depth of understanding with carbon composites. While many carbon wheel manufacturers will recommend special brake pads (pads which will dissipate heat build-up 200% to 300% more effectively than ordinary brake pads), Lightweight takes this a step further by specially treating their braking surfaces with a heat-dissipating compound.
As of June 1, 2008 this product has not been delivered to the USA. Lightweight Germany anticipates that this wheel will not be available until August, 2008 at the very earliest.