Long Tom

Hi folks. I'm plotting my moves with Svengali-like precision and guile here... haha...

I'm thinking I'll transfer the wheels that come with the Roubaix I'm going to buy over to my Sequoia, and buy upgraded wheels for the Roubaix. Upgrade two bikes in the process.

My riding style is 50-60 miles, lots of hills, not real concerned with speed per se (ie, not racing), and would like to have my bike ride comfortably. I'll be running 25mm tires. I am 6-4" 215 lbs, so a big human bean. I won't lie to y'all, Fred might have been a distant relative of mine. Pavement is decent in my AO.

I'd like to keep it around $500 for the wheels & hubs. The Roubaix Comp comes with Fulcrum S5 wheels for what that's worth.

Suggestions?

bengreen79

Weight-wise, you'll be fine on anything besides an ultralight climbing wheel. I have a friend who bounces between 225-250 who's put thousands of miles on Fulcrum Racing 5's, which I believe are "rated" for 200 lbs.

Drew Eckhardt 

32 hole Shimano cup-and-cone hubs laced cross-3 to your favorite somewhat deeper than box section commodity rim (Velocity Fusion would probably be my current choice) with DT Competition 2.0/1.8mm spokes and brass nipples.

Do the deed yourself or have a reputable one-man shop (Peter White, pcad) take care of you.

The Shimano hubs have coined spoke holes which lots of boutique hubs don't. The cup and cone bearings will last pretty much indefinitely.

With 32 spokes you can break one or put a slight bend in the rim unloading it and still make the wheel true enough to finish your ride (unless you're riding brake levers with a release button that opens them farther in which case you can open the release and keep riding).

Such a rim will be strong and when you bend it too far or wear out the brake tracks it'll be $50 for a replacement.

jimblairo

I had the lbs build me a set of Velocity A23's, 32 spoke, on DT hubs and they are super comfortable with 25 tires. 500$ should easily cover the cost.

Long Tom

Thanks guys. Keep it coming. The world of rims/wheels is very baffling for the noob.

softreset

I bought these off eBay for $275 with free shipping. I was 288 when I started riding them (down to 263) and I've logged about 700 miles on them with no complaints. At ~ 2300 grams (5 pounds) they're quite heavy but the 1.3 pound weight difference between them and the Bontrager race wheel set that came with my Domane is pretty irrelevant at my weight and physical ability.

I've done two metric centuries on them and one of the rides might as well have been on cobblestone the roads were so terrible. Still true.

99Klein 

https://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/st...6872_-1_catNav

Love mine but they are heavy.

NoTrail

I'm 6'4" and about 245, also riding a Roubaix, and have a set of DT Swiss 240 hubs with DT Swiss 1.2 (now called the 585) rims that are amazing. They are built with double butted DT Swiss Competition spokes ... 24 straight laced in front, 28 triple-cross in rear. Almost four years in and absolutely no problems at all. I'd highly recommend them.

cyclezen

ditto
nothing like the 23mm rim width both for comfort and stability...
for what you can spend you can get a custom set using A23's with good spokes and hubs, check out the custom builders here on BF and any in your woods.

If you're in SoCal (or don;t mind havin them shipped...) John Jones is da Wizard...
https://jonesprecisionwheels.com/jpw/

JJ has built wheels for quite a few pros (road, mtb & other) and has worked with Garmin in a recent T of C.
he listens well, knows much, offer great work at an incredible price, and puts out rock-solid hoops.

unqualified shill for JJ? you bet!

https://2cycle2gether.com/2012/02/san...ng-john-jones/

Cactuskid

I have had my 2011 Roubaix over 2 years now, I am 220 (and losing) bike came with Fulcrum 4 wheels, LOVE THEM....not heavy and Never a loose spoke, still true wheels after at least 6K miles..oh and I stand on it going up hills

squatchy

I am also a Roubaix riding clyde, 255 lbs. I can't say enough about my Hed Belgium C2 clinchers with DT Swiss 240's. I had wheelbuilders build mine. I think if you used DT 350's you could come in just a little more than your budget. In any case a 23 wide rim with 28/32 hole front/back you will never look back. I think mine weigh about 1600. Our weight makes the weight of a wheelset irrevelent. What really makes these shine is the stability/comfort

JohnJ80

I just bought a set of the HED Belgium C2's, tubular with the DT Swiss 240 hubs (incredible hubs for the price) from Excel Sports in Colorado and the cost was $614. That's the best price I've found. They could make the wheels in about 3 days after ordering. Mine were laced 28 in the front, 32 in the back.

J.

jc650

I bought the Vuelta Corsa HD's from Nashbar as well and they are solid. I rode those at 300lbs with no problems. Now I'm in the 240's and I don't think twice about them.

adrien

You'll get more thorough advice on the clyde forum. But I'll share mine, FWIW.

First off, I am exactly the same size as you. Exactly.

28 front and 32 rear are sufficient if built properly, with (as mentioned above), a good rim, hand tensioning by someone who has some skill. Different wheels will feel different, though.

There is a trend towards wider rims now, like the HED belgiums mentioned above. There is something to it, as wider rims allow for more volume of air and more cush in the ride. I have a set (H plus son archetypes) and they feel very nice. My wheels, past and present, as follows:

Velocity deep V, Ultegra, 28 3x front and 36 3x rear: solid, wore them out. The alloy is a bit soft, workmanship meh. Wheels bombproof, and rode like bombs. Very little feel, heavy
DT Swiss RR585, CK r45 hubs, 32, 3X front and rear: solid, much better workmanship than the deep Vs. Springy, but heavy. CK hubvs are incredible in feel, performance and sound.
Ambrosio FCS 28, 3x front and rear on R45s: best wheels so far, though the spokes are likely part of the feel (Sapim CX-rays). Lighter than Deep V or DT Swiss, very precisely machined, best braking surface I've seen. Gorgeous, and rare in the USA
H plus Son Archetypes, 36, 3x on high-flange dura ace track hubs: pretty, lovely, soft feel yet very responsive.

Bottom line -- many will do you well. Find a good (or very good) builder, and tell him or her how you want them to feel.

chaadster

At 225-230lbs usually, I've been riding old Mavic Ksyrium SLs for years reliably and happily; this past season on a pair of Ksyrium Equipe S wheels ($500 including very nice Mavic Yksion Comp tires and tubes) flawlessly. Velocity built 32 hole Aerohead/Aeroheat OCs are found in two sets in the garage, on two different bikes, where they've been for a few years.

The only truly crappy wheelset I've had was one that I built myself years ago, though I did have a pair of Bontrager Select wheels of '01/'02 vintage that were very dull (and which the Velocitys replaced).

I've never had to worry about wheel failures *knock on wood* aside from a few broken spoke episodes on a cheap 36 spoke set on a Diamond Back road bike I had in the early '90s, when ironically, I weighed less, nor have I had any performance issues to date, like flexibility, again, *knock on wood*.

I do ride with diaphanous elegance, however, so YMMV, of course.

JohnJ80

Got these about a week ago and have put some miles on them. Very impressive set of wheels - much stiffer than the Mavic's I was running before. Noticeable improvement and I just like the way they roll. Highly recommended and they just feel bombproof. Looks like the wheel builders at Excel Sports did a great job.

J.

lsberrios1 

I have a Roubaix SL4 Expert and I went from DT axis 4.0s to Shimano Ultegra RS80 wheels (6800 version). I think they are pretty good. Got a little teeny bit out of true but I abuse them hard. They are also very light at 1542g. I got them for less than $500 bucks from the UK. The bike you are buying is Ultegra 6800 and I believe the Ultegra 6800 wheels will fit it well...

Custom Built wheels are still baffling to me so I just went with a popular offering. Comparable to the RS80s are the Ksyrium elites. The RS80 has the bling of carbon too but on a layer.

antimonysarah

I'm also riding Velocity A23s, hand-laced to 105 hubs. Well, and sometimes the same thing in the front laced to a SONdelux dynohub. Love the wide rims. Went with 32/36 which is overkill at my weight (similar to yours) but I wanted peace of mind more than I wanted to save the weight of 4 spokes, and it gets ridden on some impressively horrific pavement (and occasionally a little dirt).

seely

I might be biased, but I'd also recommend the A23 as a good choice. I just built my first personal pair and am in love with them.

Our wheelbuilding division, The Wheel Department, offers the "Comp" build wheelset for $549.99, and we can customize the build for you to be a 32 f&r. We use brass nipples and DT double butted spokes. We also aim for a max tension variance of 1/10th of a millimeter of deflection from spoke to spoke, giving the strongest wheel possible.

Here's an overview of the standard wheelset, feel free to follow the link at the bottom to email us with any questions: https://store.velocityusa.com/p/a23-c...els_road?pp=12

BoSoxYacht

I'm building a set of HED Belgium c2, White Industries, DT Comp spokes and brass nipples(32/28 3x), for a 245lb former NFL linebacker. He's a heavy and strong rider, so I hope these will be strong enough.

Any thoughts? Money isn't a big issue, but he doesn't want to waste it either.

JohnJ80

They'll be fine. That's a tough wheel.

J.

jaxgtr

PSIMet quoted me a Clyde proof wheel about 3 wks ago a little about your price. HED C2, White Ind Hubs, 24/28. I had to delay purchase as I had to replace my a\c in my house...so, might want to contact him.

clydeosaur

Listen to these guys. I'm your size. I've tried Ksyriums and other low spoke wheels. I can tear them apart. Find a reputable wheel builder with a good / simplistic hub (I've been using shimano) and get a set of 28 / 32 spoke wheels built for day in/day out reliability. I've had awesome success on Mavic CXP 33's on Ultegra hubs for 5 - 600 dollars bult with double -butted spokes.

Hendo252 

I'm far from an expert, but I'm about your size and when I confronted the wheel question, I concluded that 32h was good enough but since the weight penalty is small I went with 36h.

i just figured that if I wanted tough I might as well go TOUGH.

That was in ~1995 and they have been bulletproof ever since.

These have Ultegra 600 hubs which are still super smooth.

i wish I had gone with wider rims (I used Mavic Open-4 CD) but I was young and dumb at the time.

That bike is a Trek 620 pseudo-touring bike with lots of room for wide tires and rims.

the Roubaix has a lot less room between the chain stays... Any idea how wide a wheel/tire it can handle? I thought 25mm was about the limit, and that doesn't seem to leave much room for wobble...

-TOm in SoCal

unionmade

Agree you should contact Rob at www.psimet.com. I love my WI hubs.