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Old 04-26-19 | 03:00 PM
  #17  
63rickert
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Joined: Dec 2013
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What are you doing with these wheels? Why is extreme strength required? If you have any doubt about the strength of a 32 hole wheel with a 465 gram rim the most likely reasons for lack of faith in that wheel are 1) you have been working with poorly built wheels, which is most wheels, or 2) you are carrying very heavy loads. If carrying lots and lots of weight you do need special wheels.

Strongest wheel I ever built was a Campagnolo K2 rim, 28 hole. K2 was a lot like the slightly better known Campy Atlanta rim, but in 26"(559) and 24mm wide. 500 some grams. I looked at how massively strong that rim was and connected it to an old Dura Ace 28 hole hub that was lying around. With only 14 spokes. Nice light Union 0.80/0.60 spokes. Basically 2.0mm/1.5mm. Beat that rim up for about a decade on MTB trails. When I was done with it gave it to a stunt rider. He promptly got himself airborne and did a few tricks he was sure would fold that wheel. His normal rims were 20" steel that weighed 6 or 8 pounds before being built. Just could not believe how strong the Campy wheels were. He tried hard and kept trying. Folded a good few forks and some frames before he succeeded in breaking that wheel.

Rim strength matters. Spoke strength matters. Build quality (even tension and sufficient tension) matters a whole lot. Wheels mostly work even when badly built and made with poor quality materials. If bad wheels didn't mostly work this whole bike thing would never get off the ground. Perfection is not required. Use good pieces and get a good build and you are just not likely to have problems. Unless, again, you are carrying extra heavy loads.
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