I recently bought a set of Zipp 303s and went out into the mountains with a few friends last week (I have an Ironman coming up). Everything was fine on the climbs, but on the downhills it was a nightmare. The braking didn't seem to be very responsive, and if I braked too hard the back wheel would fishtail. Living in a very flat area I don't get out to the moutains much but I don't remember having any particular problems with my previous (aluminium) wheels last Summer.
Question: is there a big difference between going downhill and braking with carbon wheels vs aluminium wheels? Is it just that I need new brake pads? any other suggestions?
I recently bought a set of Zipp 303s and went out into the mountains with a few friends last week (I have an Ironman coming up). Everything was fine on the climbs, but on the downhills it was a nightmare. The braking didn't seem to be very responsive, and if I braked too hard the back wheel would fishtail. Living in a very flat area I don't get out to the moutains much but I don't remember having any particular problems with my previous (aluminium) wheels last Summer.
Question: is there a big difference between going downhill and braking with carbon wheels vs aluminium wheels? Is it just that I need new brake pads? any other suggestions?
-Stuart.
Try yellow Swissstop pads. As for the rear fishtailing, that means there's too much rear brake action going on. Either don't apply the rear brake so hard or use the barrel adjuster to open the rear caliper up a bit, moving it away from the rim.
Don't mean to insult your intelligence, but are you sure you're using carbon-rim specific brake pads? Seems like something you might forget in getting a sexy new set of wheels, and since the compound is different it might not brake as well. I've also heard that carbon rims just don't brake as well as alu ones, regardless of the pads you use.
