Originally Posted by
SSBully
I guess it still has everything to do with the fact that it's not a 36h wheel, and nothing to do with a crap wheel, huh?
Sorry that happened to you again, man. I'm a little bitter right now about the whole subject. All of the people coming in here and saying that it has to do with spoke count, and spoke count only. I'll bet if you built a wheel with the same "high quality"(extreme sarcasm) components as the original wheel was built with and this time, you built a 36h wheel, this wouldn't be happening.
Amazing how rumrunn's 24 spoke wheel held up to a 50 milre run!!!!! I know that physics dictates that a clyde on a 24h wheel is just not in the law of possibility!
Oh well, I guess his experience(along with many other clydes') is just more hearsay and anecdotes?
There are several factors, it's not just spoke count. Spoke tension is one of them, riding style is another, that many people do not account for. Some riders plant their butt hard on the saddle and no matter how rough the surface, even going through Buick swallowing potholes, their butt stays hard on the saddle. They need a heavy duty wheel, because the wheel is crushed between the rough surface and riders weight. Other riders, lift their butt off the saddle on rough surfaces and use their legs as shock absorbers, so the wheel is allowed to move with the surface.
What gets me with this whole thing is many of those who worship at the alter of 36 spokes, have this inane belief that at 199.999lbs a 16 spoke wheel is perfectly fine, but at 200.000lbs you need an absolute minimum of 36 spokes or the wheel will collapse at the first turn.
Another thing often discounted is bicycle type, mountain bikes, cross bikes and touring bikes often have 36 spoke wheels even when the rider weight is considerably less then 200lbs. There are two reasons for this, first is that a 36 hole wheel can take some abuse, second if you do break a spoke, your not disabled.