Originally Posted by
Drew Eckhardt
Freewheels are a bad idea for heavier riders due to where they put the drive side axle bearing.
Once you get to a freehub with decent metalurgy you should be fine - road hubs share the same axle sizes (traditionally 9mm front and 10mm rear in steel although ~15mm over-sized aluminum axles are becoming common) and freehubs as their tandem counterparts which work for 350+ pound tandem teams and their luggage.
Note the Trek the OP is having trouble with uses a freehub and cassette.
While 400g box section rims get bent with riders weighing much over 150 pounds, rims made deeper for aerodynamic reasons are also fine for heavier riders (like the Velocity Deep V).
Have to disagree with you there. Box rims carried over 300 pounds of me and luggage across the U.S., and are still running fine. They're also stock on a lot of mountain bikes.
I still maintain the LBS doesn't know what they're doing. This bike would work well for this rider if it had been built up properly.