I'm a pretty big guy (but trying to fix that with alot of riding). I weigh in at about 280 to 290. I had a rear wheel built for me. It's a Mavic T519, 36 spokes, 4 cross pattern, ultegra hub. The spokes are 14 gauge straight lace. I've been riding it with specialized armadillo turbos. It has not been working very well. I usually have loose spokes and an untrue wheel every 50 to 300 miles. And I've broken my fair share of spokes. I've had them rebuild the wheel once also with spoke prep. At this point, I'm kinda just limping along on the wheel to see if the latest adjustment (they had me switch to a softer, bigger tire, saying that the stiff, nonflexible armadillo was the cause of the loose and/or broken spokes) does the job. If it keeps up like it has been, then I have several recommendations to another wheel builder. I will probably ask him for his opinion first. I'm guessing he'll suggest something with 40 spokes.

I'm actually debating on just going to do that now. I'd like to get a set of wheels that are more cyclo-cross so I can go on hard packed dirt trails, gravel, and/or hard packed snow. The trail I have in mind is quite bumpy but not too bad. So, I'm sure I'll need totally bombproof wheels.

It's either do that, or give up riding until I get down in the 250-260 range. That seems to be the range where the wheel I have works well for people. The mechanic at the LBS I go to is about that weight and he has wheels very similar to mine, and he's never had a problem with them. So I think it's mostly just my weight that is the problem.

My mountain bike wheels do fine, even on that rough bumpy trail.

Good luck.

PBW