I ride with 16 on both my small wheeled bikes and have had no problems. Rims and hubs were both 32h and you do encounter certain issues when spoking if halving the spokes because of the way the holes on the hub are offset by half the distance between the holes. But they're good and solid and seem plenty strong enough for me, even if I'm only a diminutive fella. (5'5"; +/- 145 lbs)