drdhsimon

My dad is going to give me his 2000 Lemond Zurich...just a beautiful 853 bike with Ultegra 9 speed. Really nice. Only thing is, it has Rolf Vector Comp wheels 18 spokes up front and 20 in the back.

I'm 6'1 1/2" and 205, but am losing weight (the wife put us on South Beach). Are these wheels gonna be strong enough for me? I ride mostly on the weekends, 25-60 miles, and the pace depends on who shows up....sometimes a steady 18-20 pace, sometimes harder. No real sprints, but the usual Austin hills.

Thoughts?

Thanks!!!

waterrockets 

That's not a training wheelset, and certainly not a clydesdale training wheelset. I'd check out the tension evenness, and really watch out for the bumps. Hitting a lot of Jester or Far West kind of hill repeats will be pretty rough on the rear too because it will carry so much more of your weight (90% or more).

If you have no other use for those wheels (like racing), you might as well ride them. They won't die suddenly, so you'll have some warning to get some more durable wheels. They could last you a long long time in training -- you just never know.

Don't worry about pedalling hard on them -- the torque has no effect on durability -- just watch the bumps.

DrPete 

I had a pair of Vector Comps when I was about 220# and had a good 5000 miles on them before I traded up. It's the only wheelset I never had to true. Ever.

blue_nose

I do not know much about the specific wheels, but I would personally avoid such low spoke count wheels at your weight.

msheron

Yeah......that weight thing is not exact. Sort of like height vs. what your weight should be.

That's bullcrap............and out dated. Your BFI is the best way to determine weight issues. I digressed, sorry.

That spoke count for your weight should be fine. I was 225 when I started with similar count and no issues.

I ride an 18/24 Spinergy Xaero Lite's now and they are wonderful so far.

3MTA3

my asst. coach in college had them & he was around 200-215 & rode them with no issues.

DrPete 

As an aside, be careful with South Beach. It has its strong points, but Phase 1's big weight loss comes primarily from kicking your body into starvation mode by depleting all of your muscle glycogen. Just make sure you fuel appropriately for your harder rides and it shouldn't be an issue. I've read/heard several things that are very anti-South Beach for athletes.

DieselDan

I believe Rolf's weight limit is 105 pounds.

cyclintom

DUDE! And you're only 5'1"?

msheron

Who weighs that?

aballas

short skinny women...(ie my g/f)...i'm not far off at 6'1" 142....

DrPete 

huh? I'm 6'2.

DrPete 

I've met several tandem teams that ride with Rolf Vigor Tandems (20/24) and Shimano Sweet 16's (16/16). It ain't just about spoke count.

dekalbSTEEL

It's a great diet to start in the winter, if you're in a cold weather state and you can't ride outside.
I lost 30 pounds on SB 3 years ago. Started in late October and just rode on the trainer indoors.
Once you get into phase 2 and 3, it's really all about making smart choices. You don't have to follow the book word for word.

Aren't the Rolf's paired-spoke? My Shimano 540's are 16 spoke, paired, and I've ridden them at 205 with no worries.

drdhsimon

They are paired

slvoid

I wouldn't worry, it's not the number of spokes it's how much tension is on them, look at the rolf vigor's with the 14 spoke wheels.

Rolf uses cx-ray's laced up to some insane tension like 400lbs, per spoke. That's right, each tiny 0.9x2mm spoke can hold something like 800lbs max. If you're say, 200 lbs and the front wheel holds 80 while the rear wheel holds 120lbs, the rear spokes are now at 280lbs tension at 6 o'clock and 520lbs 12 o'clock. Great, you hit a pot hole, with say 400lbs of force, you've now unweighed the 6 o'clock spokes completely and subjected the rear to a momentary load of 800lbs. It's the unweighing at allows the nipples to tweak loose and eventually go out of true. If it's unweighed even more, the rim itself will now bend.

Now, look at a conventional wheel with more spokes, cheap spokes, laced up at 100lbs of tension. Well, if you've got 120lbs on the rear wheel, say it's double the amount of spokes and assume the distribution is double, so you've got 60 lbs on the rear wheel. Every time it hits 6 o'clock now, it goes down to 40lbs of tension. Hit a bump at 200lbs of force and it goes into negative 100lbs of tension where as the rolf tensioned to 400lbs will still have 200lbs of tension holding the wheel together.

It's a bit simplistic but that's the gist of it. The reason why there's a weight limit isn't the number of spokes, it's the rolf rim itself, which at 34mm is an extremely tall but thin extrusion. Plus as the extrusion comes out of the die, it's not flat, the outside dimensions remain constant but the inside core moves around (unless they're actively scanning the noodle coming out and balancing the core). So what you have is variable wall thickness and it's where the thin sections are or where the spoke holes are that the wheel will start to crack or buckle.

DrPete 

Very true. I lost about 25 lbs when I did it, and I was primarily working in the hospital or going on easy rides. I think I stayed a bit too low-carb, though, because I had a few pretty good bonks when I started training/racing. I hit the carbs, gained back 7-8lbs (none of which was body fat), and got much stronger on the bike.

slvoid

So what was that, like 7-8lb of cholesterol?

waterrockets 

Since I've started training harder in the last year, I've dropped 3 inches off my waist, but I haven't lost a pound. I was hoping I'd get back close to my old racing weight (165 at 6'4"), but that's way out of reach. I'm sitting at 185. If I go nuts, I can get down below 180, but I'm pretty miserable and only lasts a couple weeks.

DrPete 

Water. When I started eating more carbs again my weight went up and body fat went down. Water is stored with glycogen in muscle... On the flip side, it's also why you drop a lot of weight at the beginning when you do the no-carb thing.

blandin

These are the wheels that came on my KHS Flite 800, and I agree with DrPete. From my experience, they are not at all delicate.

cyclintom

A mere slip of a lad.

legstwelve

I believe the Rolf Vectors were made by Trek and the newer Rolf Vigors are made by Rolf Prima when they bought their company back. That being said I'd imagine the Rolf Vectors would be inferior wheels but by the sounds of it good enough. If you are getting the bike complete with wheels you should ride it as is and see how much the wheels flex. Chances are they'll be OK and you'll save some money.

Griz

I have a 2001 Zurich with Rolf Vector Comps. I am 5' 11" at 240 lbs (and dropping). I have 1500 miles on the bike and it had 1000 miles on it when I bought it. Wheels are still true and the roads around Bakersfield aren't the smoothest. I agree with Dr. Pete, you'll be fine with them. They are strong wheels.

DrPete 

I forgot to add that a guy came on our club ride with a pair of vector comps, and broke a spoke in his front wheel. It was still true, and he didn't even notice until the spoke was whacking against the fork. He rode home uneventfully.