Am I tough on wheels?
Was looking at the rear wheel on my road bike last night (2007 Specialized Tricross Comp) and noticed some cracks around two of the spoke nipples.
Bought this bike used with almost no miles on it in 2009 and have put about 16k miles on it since then. This is the third rear wheel.
With the original Pave Roval wheel the high flange machined hubs crack. Then I picked up a wheel from the LBS with Mavic rim, 36 spokes, 105 hub and ended up getting cracks in the rim in about 3 to 4k miles. And my current wheel is a Handspun sport series Velocity A23 rim with 36 spokes and 105 hub - probably also around 3 or 4k miles and as I said now getting some cracks.
I'm 225 lbs, and I'd say there is nothing remarkable about my riding style or patterns EXCEPT I live at the top of a relatively good size hill so no matter where I go I'm heading down one of two hills on any ride where I hit between 40 and 50 mph. Not the smoothest of roads - bumps, some small potholes, cracks, manhole covers…I pretty much avoid anything big because I know the road well, but I wonder if the repeated stress of descending these hills is causing me to go through rear wheel faster than normal.
Let's say I average 30 miles a ride - probably about right - so I'm descending 100 times in 3k miles.
I'm looking for a new wheelset now - would like something that I won't be cracking in 3 or 4k miles - so any recommendations would be welcome.