# How to distinguish carbon weave 12K from 18K



## katrinayoeleo (Feb 5, 2015)

Hi everyone, I`m Katrina,work for Yoeleo. I hope to share some useful info here with you.
Tell from my experience, many cyclists have no idea what different weave means or looks like when they are looking for a carbon wheelset. With carbon material being more and more popular, people starting to know what is 3K and what is UD due to they are the most common weave we see from the market. 
Now I`d like to tell you about 12K and 18K carbon weave which are not that common compared with 3K and UD. And there are actually 2 kinds of 12K, the common one as below shows:
*Common 12K: *









*Another type of 12K * looks very similar to the newest 18K in the market. Here is the comparison picture for them:







​As you can see, they are with different size square weave appearance. So which is 12K ? Which is 18K? *In fact, the one with smaller square is another type of 12K as i mentioned, the 18K rim is with larger square weave.*
Now let`s measure them with a caliper:







​For square shaped 12K weave, the length of each square is around 8mm. But for 18K weave, it is around 20mm for the length which is much larger as you can see below:





​
So now I think you can distinguish these similar carbon weave 12K and 18K.


----------



## BelgianHammer (Apr 10, 2012)

Is 18K weave stronger than 12k weave?? Is it lighter?? I'm no expert by a long shot, but I am having trouble understanding what a square's size has to do with the integrity of the carbon weave (forgive me if this is a stupid question or remark).


----------



## Jasmine-Yoeleo (Mar 25, 2015)

Actually when we refer to 3K,12K,18K,UD. It just the top layer of the carbon fiber,the cosmetic looking, and the inner construction is all UD. Technologically speaking, there is no big differ in weight of different weave.


----------

