Hi there,

I'm building a lightweight rim brake bike, and I'm having a hard time finding good options for lightweight carbon wheels with good reviews.

I'm looking for a wheelset with a rim depth of at least 50 mm, steel spokes, and a low weight—ideally under 1,300 grams. I've seen the Superteam model, but I'm looking for more options with documented reviews.

If you have any recommendations to share—within a reasonable budget—I'd love to hear them! Thanks in advance

1) please write your own posts.

2) rim brakes are basically custom order these days, contact Zen or Serenade.

Elitewheels Edge is available as rim brake version in 40 and 50mm rim depth, should tick your boxes and can be sourced via AliExpress
XMCS has the CS-RRW-50-28 or CS-RRW-38-28 as standard option on their homepage, note these are with carbon spokes

over the years, i ordered quite a few such sets from Farsports (over email). But that was years ago because the residual value of such equipment is essentially zero now.
If you want them new, contact various sellers and ask for old stock they may be discounting, because if they make them for you, you might actually end up paying more because of how exotic such demand has become.
the smart move would probably be to get a second hand set.
I rode in the rain yesterday in the mountains, a friend who's still on rim brakes said he was braking on vibes. He started getting some bite after 2 or 3 full rotations of the wheel. I had forgotten the feeling. I do not miss it.

I don't have personal experience with their rim brake wheels, but I have had good experience with a set of lightweight MTB wheels I ordered from BTLOS last year. They seem to use Hworks hubs, which is a good thing for reliability, and offer several rim brake options for their road wheels when you get into the customization options for a build: https://btlos.com/road-bike?filter=12

Quote from: Jaybeeee on September 08, 2026, 12:55:54 PM
Hi there,

I'm building a lightweight rim brake bike, and I'm having a hard time finding good options for lightweight carbon wheels with good reviews.

I'm looking for a wheelset with a rim depth of at least 50 mm, steel spokes, and a low weight—ideally under 1,300 grams. I've seen the Superteam model, but I'm looking for more options with documented reviews.

If you have any recommendations to share—within a reasonable budget—I'd love to hear them! Thanks in advance

I have two sets of ZEN wheels and one is rim brake set. Mine is the heavier version for 130kg system max weight limit so you can get lighter depending on your weight. Mine came in at 1550g They were not built to be light but I love them. My disk rim set if much light at 1280g. Pic is below

Quote from: raisinberry777 on September 08, 2026, 04:42:51 PM
1) please write your own posts.

2) rim brakes are basically custom order these days, contact Zen or Serenade.

What do you mean, "write your own posts"?
Thanks for the recommandations, I already own a set of Serenade disc brakes wheels and wasn't aware they are offering rim brakes wheels

Quote from: bichler.bua on September 09, 2026, 12:47:13 AM
Elitewheels Edge is available as rim brake version in 40 and 50mm rim depth, should tick your boxes and can be sourced via AliExpress
XMCS has the CS-RRW-50-28 or CS-RRW-38-28 as standard option on their homepage, note these are with carbon spokes

Thanks for the recommandation! I'll definitely have a look at these