Originally Posted by
HillRider
Theoretically you are correct but in real-world use, the difference is trivial. I certainly haven't heard of a huge increase in rear wheel failures since 11-speed came out.
We get this same argument every time the cog count goes up. 8-speed wheels were gong to fail way sooner than 7-speed, etc. Didn't happen and won't happen.
You are correct that 10-speed wheels are now close-out bargains so for that alone it might be worth their purchase.
But, but, but ... The bike industry has been making rear wheels less strong, less reliable but doing it with such small changes that no one notices. Kinda like moving your neighbors fence posts 2" every year. No one except those of us who ride zero dish rear wheels. Do that, then go back to the new wheels. There is a BIG difference. (Go for a ride on a high bottom bracketed track bike some time. High BB so you can put some load on the wheel on a corner without scraping a pedal. Good modern rear wheels are a great example of overcoming really poor design decisions. But go ride that well designed hub! I get long spoke life out of 2.0-1.5 spokes on both sides of my fix gear wheels, ridden on the road. Two to three rims and perhaps 2 broken spokes. And the wheel stays quite rideable with a broken spoke. Never a ride-ender. But the best part is those lightly spoked wheels feel SOLID.
Ben