I have had a lot of enquiries regarding carbon fibre rim construction. One question that comes up very often is ’How are they made?’
Uccello carbon fibre rim construction is by ‘hand lay up’ of a special blend of T-700 and T-800 carbon fibre using both Unidirectional and 3K weave as appropriate.
The side walls are the thinnest part of the rim and are also the least stressed part. They are as thin as 0.6mm for minimum weight but the high quality lay up means they are still very stiff and easily pass the hand ‘squeeze test’ showing little or no flex.
The tyre bead seat is a combination of 3K and UD weave and is 1.5mm thick at the bead seat. The bead seat has a bead retention ridge for maximum tyre stability and safety.
Bead hooks are very solid with no voids or fibre glass fillers. The hook side walls are a minimum of 2.7mm thick and allow tyre pressures up to 120psi.
The inner edge the rim has a continuous circumferential reinforcing band 12mm wide to strengthen the critical nipple bed area. The total thickness of the carbon fibre in this area is 1.35mm.
In addition, each spoke/nipple hole is reinforced with an individual patch 16mm wide and 20mm long. Total thickness of the carbon fibre at the nipples is 2.85mm. This extra strength at the nipples allows the rims to be approved for spoke tensions up to 145Kg without the use of nipple washers.
Unlike some big name brands, the air bladders are completely removed to reveal a smooth inner rim surface. There is no ‘tenting’ of the carbon fibre plies. The rims are very uniform in dimension allowing accurate wheel builds.
