Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - A strong wheelset for the big fella...

I am currently a little disappointed by the flex and distortion of the stock wheels on my fuji track. I am looking for a wheel set for serious durability and strength. I am 6'1 240lb fireman... I know not the typical track bike body frame... but I live in Arlington, Va and it is functional and a good time in my area. I was thinking maybe a set of velocity deep V's but I am not sure of their true durability.... I did a search as well. I know this is alot to ask... and I know I should lose some lbs (damn firehouse cooking) but I appreciate all your opinions.
thanks

You should just take your stock wheels to your LBS and have them properly tensioned. Proper spoke tension contributes greatly to the stiffness of the wheel. If that doesn't work, Perhaps build up something on 40 hole tandem rims? Although that might be a bit overkill, it would definitely get the job done. I don't know of any 40h fixed hubs though.

Thanks for the input... I appreciate it.

walrus has a good point about the tension of the stock wheel. i ride deep-v 3-cross laced with 32-spokes. that should suit your needs just fine as well.

Thank you guys... I took my stock wheels in today and they are going to true them so we will see what happens... I wouldn't mind some more durable wheels than the fuji stock set. Will a new set make a real difference?
pat

Will a new set make a real difference?
pat

not unless the stock set breaks. durabilty, finish quality and hub quality - these are really the differentiating factors.

Yea right now its working for me... I have my freewheel on one side and my fixed gear(yet to use... we will see) so if it gets trued by the shot I will stay with it.... if I eventually end up in the need of a new wheel set any suggestions?

Get something handbuilt by a good wheel builder.

Who would you suggest... sorry I am new to this game.... Would IRO Wheels be a good set?

Thank you guys... I took my stock wheels in today and they are going to true them so we will see what happens... I wouldn't mind some more durable wheels than the fuji stock set. Will a new set make a real difference?
pat

Make sure they tension them, not just true them. Truing won't help you at all.

I've ALWAYS had problems with wheels falling to pieces. Not literally but just really out of true and wobbly, etc... A lot of my bikes used to get wiggly spokes, to where they could move an inch right or left. Like, really horrible stuff.

That was back when I was a total noobie (not suggesting I am still not a noobie, hah). I'd have to take the bike in every few weeks to get the wheel trued. These were **** wheels that came with bikes I bought from bike shops.

I bought a used singlespeed track bike a few months ago (my current fixie) and the wheels have held up GREAT! Custom built wheels, surly hubs laced on Salsa wheels. Really really really really tight spokes (a spoke card barely fits, just barely) and they have never ever gone out of true. They spin straight as the day I got them, and I ride to and from work about 10 miles round trip every single day, 7 days a week, plus all kinds of other riding in between (including a metric century a few weeks ago). They really take a pretty good beating. The bike is a fixie now and I ride all over the damn place really beating on it. The roads here in Hawaii are total **** too.

I think that the problem is just wheels from the factory aren't built to the best spec... but thats just me talking. I just know that these are certainly the best wheels I have ever had the pleasure of riding on, and the only other thing ive ever been on was wheels on a bike right from my LBS.

I would assume it would be fairly easy to robustificate your current wheels by taking them into a shop and having them looked at. Tensioned and trued like mihlbach should be good :D

P.S. I am 5'10'' and a little over 230lbs, so that should give you an idea of what kind of abuse I give my wheels :)

tony at IRO built my aerohead/forumla set. they stayed true even after the spokes lost a bit of tension, like a year and half after getting them. a friend tensioned it back and its rolling right again. the front has NEVER been touched and its still tight and true. good builder=good wheel.

I have Deep V's (36 hole) 4x cross to Level hubs front and rear. BOMB PROOF! And this is coming from a guy 6'5" around 300...I have had this wheel set about 2 months and I average about 50 miles aday. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

The wheels on a stock Fuji track are crap. I weigh a little less than you and my commute had me going over a half dozen sets of railroad tracks. Almost every day I had to retrue the wheels.

I finally built my own set of wheels with Harris hubs, Mavic Open Sport rims and DT spokes. They've been perfect ever since.

This was my first time building bicycle wheels, although I have built motorcycle wheels before, they were relatively simple following the instructions on Sheldon Brown's website. You can probably buy wheels cheaper, but I like doing things myself. But the bottom line is that handbuilt decent wheels are simply going to be stronger than the cheapo crap they put on inexpensive bikes these days.

Az

You should just take your stock wheels to your LBS and have them properly tensioned.

That's probably the best piece of advice in the thread. Build quality is more important that part quality. Top quality components are no guarantee of performance if the wheel builder sucks.

I ran an inexpensive R2200 / CXP21 setup for single speed. Aside from so occasional tweaking the set was rock solid for over 4000 miles (240#, commuting on country roads).

tony at IRO built my aerohead/forumla set. they stayed true even after the spokes lost a bit of tension, like a year and half after getting them. a friend tensioned it back and its rolling right again. the front has NEVER been touched and its still tight and true. good builder=good wheel.

IRO wheels are built by Velocity, not by Tony.

IRO wheels are built by Velocity, not by Tony.

that's not true. they are hand built using his cold fusion rims and premium hubs these days. he built a wheelset for my girlfriend and they are excellent quality. I had extensive emails back and forth about his wheels before purchasing a set.

one question for this thread: can machine built or poorly built wheels match the same quality if they are tensioned and trued by a skilled wheel builder? Lets say you went cheap on some wheels but wanted them to be quality wheels. if you were to take them into a shop that has a nationwide reputation for building strong wheels and had the cheap wheels tensioned/trued, would they be of the same strength if they were hand built in the first place (all material being equal)? I would assume so...

and for the original poster, get some wheels that are built by someone skilled and use 36h hubs with doubled-butted spokes...and you should be fine.

oh, okay, thanks.

tony at IRO built my aerohead/forumla set. they stayed true even after the spokes lost a bit of tension, like a year and half after getting them. a friend tensioned it back and its rolling right again. the front has NEVER been touched and its still tight and true. good builder=good wheel.

Get these handbuilt by a professional and you'll never have issues with them. The best bang for you buck.

The durability of the Deep V's are an overkill for anyone. They just come in pretty colors.

Arr0spokz!!!