Clydesdale Wheelset Build
Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you,
I'm a manager / mechanic / parts purchaser / wheel builder / etc. at my local bicycle shop....some of you know how that goes. I have a long time customer who would like our shop to custom lace a wheelset for his Bianchi Intenso road bicycle. He weight 250lbs and is currently riding on 20 spoke wheels with 25c tires (as wide as the frame will support). The wheels have multiple cracks in the rim around the nipples on the rear wheel and rusted out bladed (Mavic style) spokes on the front wheel.
My original plan was to build him some traditional 3-cross 32 spoke wheels with a greater focus on a particular high quality rim hoop (given his weight) and less focus on the quality of the hub. However, because of the pandemic, a lot of my suppliers are out of stock on matching items (front hub and rear hub). Albeit very expensive, I found a set of White Industries 28H matching front and rear hubs that we star the wheel build is. My concern is that a 28 spoke wheel wouldn't be enough support for his weight. His riding style is relatively mellow to moderate, he rides far and likes to get out for a good workout but isn't doing any sort of racing, mainly flat ground. I've built plenty of wheels in the past but never for someone of his stature. After some research, the general consensus seemed to be it's less about the spoke count or particular rim and more about the quality of the build that will make it last under this customers weight, or any given weight for that matter.
I'm considering DT Swiss, Velocity, HED, or H Plus Sons for the hoops and White Industries or DT Swiss for the hubs. The bike is equipped with rim brakes so it would be a machined track wheel. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much for reading!