RVH

I cracked a rim yesterday and I knew it was coming as the wheel just wasn't sized to hold my 240 lbs. In addition, I hit a pothole at 30mph! So, I want to get a wheel that is sturdy, but as lightweight was possible. I know people have recommended some wheelbuilders and some off-the-shelf wheels for big guys, but I can't find them.

What recommendations do you have?

Bob

PS, Perhaps we could make such a thread a sticky?

mcrow

I'm not sure how many rims would hold up to hitting a pothole at 30mph but a good 36 spoke wheel from a good manufacturer is your best bet. I like Alex myself. Weinmann seems to make decent rims too, I weigh 220 and the stock 36 spoke weinmann rim on my MTB holds up to a pretty good pounding. Granted, MTB rims are wider than road bike rims so they can take more to begin with.

RVH

Good point, MCROW...

The old wheelset is a Bontrager Race Lite, 18 spokes. Bike is a 7-yr old Trek Madone 5.9.

I've been thinking about this. Should I just get a whole new rear wheel or should I just replace the rim and use a heavier gauge spoke?

mcrow

Not sure about bontrager but I know Weinmann and Alex both may 32 & 36 hole rims in 700C. These are probably going to be the most durable rims you can get but not sure that they'll hold up to a 30mph pothole with a cylde on top. Might be worth the money though if you think you could have issues in the future. I would think that most 18 spoke 700c rims would have issues holding up to clydes except on nice smooth paths, so if you hit bumpy patches on a regular basis it might be worth the upgrade.

Just seems like they don't have clydes in mind when the put stock rims on a road bike.

Black wallnut 

Are you saying you got 7 years out of an 18 spoke rim and you are a Clyde? How many miles a year do you ride? It may be that you are not hard on wheels which is a good thing. If that is the case you might get lucky with an of the shelf wheelset.

RVH

I ride about 1500 miles a year and the only problems I've had with this wheel is that I break one or two spokes a year. That's it. I ride on generally good roads, and I knew where this pothole was but I was daydreaming and forgot about it. I am generally not too hard on wheels.

Should I rebuild the wheel or get a new wheel?

Bob

indyfabz

You have a cracked rim. Should you rebuild a cracked rim? I think the answer to that is obvious.

paisan

I personally would go with a new wheel because those early bontrager wheels that were made immediately after Trek discontinued using the Rolf wheels were prone to hub flange failure. If you want a sturdy wheel for a reasonable price look at velocity deep v, velocity fusion, kinlin 270, kinlin 300, or either of the mavic cxp rims paired with a set of shimano 105 or ultegra hubs. Of course you could always go higher zoot on the rims and hubs and even sturdier on the rims(H plus son, velocity dyad, chukker for example) but at 240lbs any of the rims I posted paired to shimano hubs will give you thousands of miles of hassle free riding for a great price.

adrien

+1. I'd also consider HED belgiums, and DT RR585s. Ultegra hubs are great. Depending on budget, you could go with something fancier.

What matters most is who builds it, and that they are done properly (brass nipples, correct dish and tension) and that they are re-tensioned and the dish checked after a reasonable interval (500-1000 miles). I had a set of deep-v's with ultegra hubs (28 front and 36 rear) built up by Spinlite 5 years ago. Trued only after a crash. I killed the rims after 17,000 miles, and rebuilt a new set with my original hubs.

Because I ride so much and I wanted bling (and sound) I went with more for my main wheel set on the roadie -- DT RR585s with blue CK r45 hubs. The quality is an order of magnitude better. But it's not exactly a budget build.

bigfred 

The builder who's name comes up most frequently is Peter White Cycles. He's a grumpy old curmudgeon. But, one who builds excellent wheels that carry a life time warrantee, if he endorses your choice of components. Another builder that comes up frequently is Bikeforum's own Psimet. His wheels seem to have a good reputation, although, it sounds like communications with him can be a bit spotty at times.

With regard to rim/wheel choices. I can't say that I would rebuild your existing hub, unless it was to a premium rim (Zipp, Enve, etc.). In which case I would probably also choose a new hub to go with the fairly expensive new rim.

If you're building or having built for you, there are plenty of choices. Those already listed, plus DT Swiss 585's, HED Belgium C2, Velocity Synergy, to name a few.

At 250 I'm currently riding 585's and Velocity Deep V's. If I had availability at the time of my last wheel build I would have gone with the HED Belgiums. I would have liked to have tried the slightly wider rim in combination with some 28mm tires.

I'll refrain from commenting on factory builds, but, there are plenty of clydes on here who have had success with various facotry builds.

corwin1968

Another option is Rich Lesnik of Hands On Wheels/Rivendell Bicycle Works. My experience with him was fantastic, I told him my weight and riding style and he recommended a build and quoted me a price. Less than two weeks later I had my new wheel! He also has a lifetime warranty.

I think both Rich Lesnick and Peter White are all about durability and probably won't build "weigh weenie" wheels. The rear wheel I got from Rich, with cassette installed, weighed 3 ounces more than the factory wheel, with cassette so it's not super lightweight but should be durable.

Black wallnut 

Since you've had broken spoke issues it may be worth going to a higher spoke count wheelset. There's plenty of great advice IMHO above.

Mr. Beanz

Hmm, kind of obvious the OP already knew that from his previous post. "Rebuild the wheel" doesn't always mean using the same rim.

FTR, 2 broken spokes in 1500 miles is a terrible track record. I'd ditch that wheel completely.