[kahnartist]

Gang:
My first post here on the tandem area.
Just last week, we upgraded our 'ancient' Santana Rio mountain frame for a Specialized Deja Two aluminum frame (also mountain). So much lighter and quicker! Note: we don't ride the bikes off-road. Street riding only!
Got the old specs from Specialized on the tandem, and we see the owner removed the original wheel set and replaced with???
The stickers on the current rim say 's-works' spaced out...and they are Specialized X21 rims with Parallel hubs?.
I don't see high flanges on the wheel set...which leads me to believe they were swapped out with a 'standard' pair of mountain bike wheels.
Our combined weight as a team is 300+ and I'm a bit 'nervous' about riding these rims for fear of rim failure.
Any advice here...and we'd like to avoid spending $500 + for new wheels.
I also don't see any tandem wheelsets for sale here on the forum. Could we start a 'sub area' for tandem parts specifically?

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[galen_52657]

I don't think you would have much trouble with a 32 or 36 hole 26" wheel.

[stapfam]

Someone will probably correct me but If I remember rightly- The Parrallel hubs were Shimano STX hubs. Not a high grade hub but they were strong. If you are only street riding- then providing the rims are not a lightweight Race rim- then they should be OK Only thing I would do though is get them checked out for tension and true at a good wheelbuilder. Your LBS can probably do the job if they build wheels.

[TandemGeek]

The stickers on the current rim say 's-works' spaced out...and they are Specialized X21 rims with Parallel hubs?

I'm not familiar with the wheelset but what you're describing sounds indeed like an OEM MTB wheelset. The hubs are most likely "Parallax" which is Shimano's marketing lingo for all of their hubs that use an "oversized" (read, Mountain bike or tandem) hub shell. The Parallax design was used for all grades of hubs, e.g., Deore, LX, XT, and XTR. The design is, for the most part, cosmetic.

My take here is, so long as:

a. the rear hub is NOT slipping under pedal loads -- this would feel like a 'clunk' from the drive train when starting from a dead stop, standing and pedalling, or climbing,
b. the wheels DON'T make strange noises,
c. the wheels have NOT gone out of true,
e. the hubs or rims DO NOT show other signs of fatigue damage, such as stress marks or cracks around the rim's spoke holes or at the hub flange..

... they're probably OK.

Mind you, this is no guarantee and Stapfam's suggestion to have them checked for proper and equal tension as well as trueness is a pretty good idea. However, in general, wheels do a pretty good job of "telling you" that they are being severly stressed or have been damaged with audible and visual clues. In addition to the clues already mentioned it's worthwhile to note that, in general, wheels that creak and pop beyond the first ride on a new bike (or immediately following trueing or a rebuild) are not a good thing.

As good wheels that don't make any noise begin to fatigue from heavy use or overloading, noises will begin to accompany that fatigue and, yes, you may even pop a spoke. One broken spoke -- at least one that doesn't wrap itself around the derailleur -- usually won't leave you stranded. In fact, they even sell these nifty little carbon replacement spokes that come in handy. Worst case, it may require that you undo a rear brake cable to keep the rim from rubbing, but it should allow you to make it back home, to shop or at least to a place where you can arrange transport.

Anyway, let good sense be your guide and be attentive to your wheels should there be any indications that they are struggling under your weight. If there were to be any problems I would suspect the rear wheel would be the one that would give you trouble and replacing it with an affordable Shimano HF08 hub and a basic box section rim from Velocity, Sun, or Mavic wouldn't be obscenely expensive... about half of the amount you mentioned in your post.

[kahnartist]

Geek and all:
Thanks for the GREAT feedback..and I feel I can rest easier with the info given.

What is very interesting here...is we still have the old tandem (which we are trying to sell on Craigslist)...and speaking of 'rear wheel stress'....have popped our 2nd spoke in under 2 months. So, the rear wheel goes in yet again for repair, and now I have more insight on the tandem wheel issue.

Maybe the rim/wheel on the Santana is old...or worse, I'm getting heavier (sigh).

[TandemGeek]

...have popped our 2nd spoke in under 2 months. So, the
rear wheel goes in yet again for repair, and now I have more insight on the
tandem wheel issue. Maybe the rim/wheel on the Santana is old...or worse,
I'm getting heavier.

It has less to do with your weight and more to do with wheels where the
spokes were either a bit out of equal tension from the git-go (you'd be
amazed), or just ended up with unequal tension over time for any one of a
variety of reasons.

Once you have a spoke that's not carrying an equal load with all of the
other spokes it will begin to flex and fatigue at the elbow and it will
eventually break. Chances are, if the condition existed for any length of
time there are always several other spokes that were right behind it in
terms of accelerated fatigue and the "jolt" that occurs across the entire
spoke network of a wheel that occurs when one spoke breaks is usually a
death sentence for those other spokes.

So, my rule of thumb is.... One broken spoke is OK on a conventional wheel;
just replace it, true up and retension the wheel. However, if a second one
goes and for darn sure when a third one pops, it's time to replace all of
the spokes and rebuild the wheel. Otherwise, you can rest assured that you
will eventually find yourself on a never-ending cycle of chasing bad spokes
around your wheel as they continue the cycle of breaking and stressing the
rest of the spoke network. I haven't had any of my solo road bike's
low-spoke count wheels break a spoke to know how it affects the other
spokes.... although my "gut" tells me that if you break one the rest would
seem to be suspect.

Your best defense against broken spokes is starting off with a really
well-built set of wheels that pretty much stay in true + good old periodic
maintenance: that is, making a point to check your wheels for trueness &
spoke tension every couple hundred miles and having them trued & retensioned
as soon after you detect an out of true condition. Checking is easy. For
trueness, you just give each wheel a spin and watch how it tracks through
the brake blocks or -- if you have a rear disc -- between the stays. If it
wobbles or bobbles, it needs attention. For tension, with the wheel raised
give it a spin and let your finger nail bounce off the spokes on each side
of the wheel: if the 'sound' made by the spokes is about the same, they're
probably just fine. However, if you hear an unusally lower, higher, or
waivering pitch coming from the wheel, they probably need attention.

[cgallagh]

We broke a spoke on our rear wheel of our new tandem after less than 500 miles. Took it into LBS for warranty repair. Broke another after about 300 miles (wag here). Took the wheel into LBS and I told them I thought the wheel should be replaced under warranty. They agreed and it was and no problems with close to 1400 miles.