Carbon Wheels for a Tandem

Brian rides a tandem with his team mate in the Canadian National Paracycling team as he is visually impaired. His question is which carbon wheels he can use, strong and fast is what he is looking for. We have some suggestions and we discuss what might be best for his uses

Hello Samuel
I have a question regarding carbon wheels.
I am a visually impaired cyclist and race on a tandem with a sighted pilot. We are members of the Canadian National Paracycling team. We each weigh about 82 kgs. Most manufacturers do not recommend their carbon wheels for tandems but their are a lot of other tandem teams using carbon wheels. We are looking for the strongest, most aerodynamic wheelset we can find. What about tings like spoke count? Does aluminum braking service make the wheel stronger? Clincher versus tubular? etc,
Thank you
Brian Cowie.

Hi Brian,
Good for you, Brian, I don’t know how you ride a tandem, I’ve tried it and sat on the back I wanted to be in control and as you know that doesn’t work, so I’m doubly impressed to hear you are also visually impaired.

So you want carbon wheels for your tandem, well I suggest you look at what the others are using, I don’t want to suggest a specific wheel set incase you have a problem with them and blame us! Although sprint rims for tubulars are lighter and tubulars roll more easily, they are not as strong as the clincher rims with the alloy braking surface, although a sprint rim is manufactured in one piece, which should be strong, where as the carbon with alloy brake surface they have to be joined, so that could be a weak point.

More spokes will keep the wheel true and stiffer, but I think you will find that most wheel sets these days have less and less spokes and you will have difficulty in buying carbon wheels with more spokes.

Comete Disc

Take a look at the iO track front wheel from Mavic, it has a deep “V” section rim and 5 aircraft shaped wings for spokes and let’s face it, if it is strong enough for a track sprinter it should suit you and then you could fit the Mavic Comete rear disc. This would give you a very strong and rigid wheel combination. Yes very expensive, but you want the best for your racing.

Look around and see what the others are using, but if you want the best it’s going to cost! But there are two of you to pay for one pair of wheels, make sure you buy the front one, it’s cheaper!

iO Front Wheel