Where do you get your wheels?
03-29-11, 12:59 PM
#76
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After watching a 200+lb buddy repeatedly huck a mountain bike off 4-6ft drops with 32-spoke wheels, I have to wonder if bicycle tourists really need outrageously strong wheels. Granted, my friend: knows what he's doing, rides a full-suspension bike, and uses fat tires. Still, riding down paved roads with a couple of panniers and hitting the occasional pothole seems like a cake walk compared to what this guy puts his wheels through...
03-29-11, 01:02 PM
#77
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03-29-11, 04:25 PM
#78
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"I'd guess the tourist's wheel has the higher shock."
Sudden impacts and fatigue are two different failure modes. The thing that distinguishes tourists is heavier weight and longer distances than typical in the rest of cycling. There is an old saying that most sailboat mast fall down in harbour, which presumably is because that is where they spend most of their time. But it is also the case that a spar that could survive a massive knock down at sea (with a safety factor of 4 or more), can fall down after millions of cycles in which the boat merely shifts back and forth from rippling wave action at the dock. Millions of cycles of 10% loads are very effective at breaking down structures.
Also, that is millions of cycles for fatigue resistant materials like steel rope, wooden spars, or carbon. Not something with a poor fatigue performance like aluminum.
Sudden impacts and fatigue are two different failure modes. The thing that distinguishes tourists is heavier weight and longer distances than typical in the rest of cycling. There is an old saying that most sailboat mast fall down in harbour, which presumably is because that is where they spend most of their time. But it is also the case that a spar that could survive a massive knock down at sea (with a safety factor of 4 or more), can fall down after millions of cycles in which the boat merely shifts back and forth from rippling wave action at the dock. Millions of cycles of 10% loads are very effective at breaking down structures.
Also, that is millions of cycles for fatigue resistant materials like steel rope, wooden spars, or carbon. Not something with a poor fatigue performance like aluminum.
03-29-11, 07:07 PM
#79
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After watching a 200+lb buddy repeatedly huck a mountain bike off 4-6ft drops with 32-spoke wheels, I have to wonder if bicycle tourists really need outrageously strong wheels. Granted, my friend: knows what he's doing, rides a full-suspension bike, and uses fat tires. Still, riding down paved roads with a couple of panniers and hitting the occasional pothole seems like a cake walk compared to what this guy puts his wheels through...
Heavy duty touring wheels are over-designed in part for "insurance" purposes.
03-29-11, 08:11 PM
#80
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Well, I just bombed my new Harris Cyclery built wheels through a construction zone, front still true, rear out of true in two spots 90 deg. apart. Can't really blame the wheel builder I feel, pot holes and iffy traction. Otherwise the 'new' bike has passed all tests so far.
Brad
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dkyser
Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg)
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