homebody146

simple question....would these wheels (front and rear) support me at 320 lbs?

Phil Wood hubs
Sapim Race spokes
Velocity Deep V rims
brass nipples
36 spokes, four cross all around

they're on a Klein road bike

mwchandler21

Only one way to find out. LBS talked me into a 20 spoke front wheel not to long ago against my hesitation. So far so good. I think if the wheels are good quality they'll be okay.

canopus 

short answer, yes.

10 Wheels

Yes if they had tires on them.

RI_Swamp_Yankee

Those wheels would support a small church or a large house, should architecture take up bicycling.

williaty

This is, quite possibly, the best answer in the history of mankind.

Since the consensus seems to be that 36 spokes is tank like even in the face of an uber-clyde like the OP or me, what's a reasonable spoke count for a totally reliable rear wheel? 32? 28? 6.02x10^23?

Sixty Fiver

If they were built right... yes.

ClemY

When I weighed 345 I preferred more spokes. I finally went to 48 spoke Phil Wood hubs, but I tend to believe in overkill.

Now that my weight is down to 260 I worry much less about it and ride 40 spoke wheels. 36, particularly with the Deep V rims, sould probably work fine, too.

irclean

I started riding at about 320 lbs and I am now at 296. All of my bikes have 36 spokes per wheel and they are all factory builds. The only broken spoke I've encountered to date is the one I used a spoke wrench on after it had been seized while commuting over the winter.

CraigB

I've never ridden anything less than, or more than, 36 spokes. At my heaviest I was just over 300. The only problem I ever had was back in the late '80s with a pair of relatively inexpensive stock tubular rims with a tendency to break spokes when I'd hammer up a hill, even though my weight was down to 212 at the time. Those were ditched pronto for a set of then-high performance clinchers that a good friend built for me. I don't recall the exact specs, but they were Mavics with 36 spokes, X3 or X4, I don't remember which. I never had a problem with them of any kind.

I guess my point is that it depends on the wheel, and the care taken in its build. I would think any decent after-market or custom wheelset with 36 spokes and a X4 pattern would stand up fine. It's OEM wheelsets that I don't trust, but even then only those that come on mid-price (or cheaper) bikes. Also, pay attention to how you ride. Try to ride "light" if you can - avoid being dead weight on the saddle when you see a road hazard coming up. Shift your weight onto the pedals so you at least get a little better distribution of the load between the two wheels.