Slack Spokes Cause Poor Steering

Someone here commented on my posting that the latest cheap Chinese deep rim carbon fiber tubeless wheels have somewhat slack spokes and that causes the wheels to be very sensitive to side gusts of wind.

I have tested the tight spoke clincher 50 mm rims against the slack spoke 55 mm rims and the difference in steering is dramatic. The looser spokes in the wheels makes the wheels so unpredictable in side winds that I have to slow up a great deal.

In calm or constant winds the slack spoke wheels handle just the same as the clinchers with tight spokes. Moreover, you cannot feel more effect from the side gusts on the tight spoked clincher rim than you can on a normal pair of aluminum Campy wheels.

So anyone that doesn't believe being able to manually push a wheel over until it touches the brake pads on either side, with the looser spokes, doesn't effect steering ought to try it before commenting on it.

You cannot push the clincher with tight spokes from side to side and the steering is spot on. Since the set of Chinese Carbon 50 mm clinchers is only about $220 a set they are a real good deal. Also the latest blue brake pads while wearing faster than the pads for aluminum wheels wear a lot less than the older grey "basalt" pads. And they do not appear to wear the braking surfaces on the carbon rims much.

As I pointed out before, the latest super-light aluminum wheelsets wear quite rapidly and you always have the chance of a rim having a sidewall break off. Or perhaps you might say, brake off.