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.

There could be several factors involved-
Skinny tires pumped hard as a rock.
Super high spoke tension.

I'd suggest DB spokes and a tire that can absorb some impact instead of passing it on to the wheel.

Riding Gatorskin 28s and I usually have them around 100 - 110 lbs.

You could go up a tire size to 32 and inflate to 90 psi.

These are pricey, but not as expensive as new wheels.

https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/70...28-cerf-green/

you should NOT be having any types of problems with the 32 spoke Mavic wheels. i'm 230ish, and i used 32-spoke Mavic Open Pro's with Dura-Ace hubs and Wheelsmith Spokes that i got from Performance Bike for over 5,000 miles on my old Specialized, and those things were worth their weight in gold at the time. they rolled great, never really had to be trued, and they were the best wheelset i've ever used to this day. Bontrager wheels used to be notorious for developing small cracks around the spoke holes, but that was several years ago, but i've never ever heard of that happening to a Mavic 32-spoke wheel...

you can try Shimano Ultegra 6800 wheels, they do not have a rider weight limit, they're tubeless ready and pretty much bulletproof. you can find them at pretty much any European mail order shop for around $300 give or take for the wheelset...

Well, something is destroying your wheels.

I agree that 225lb is not Automatic Wheel Destruction zone; lots of guys, including myself, ride in that weight zone, on all kinds of wheels, including on lightweight, stock, and low spoke count. Therefore, let's rule out wheel design as a factor.

Similarly, 28c tires are quite fat, and again, experience and observation shows plenty of folks riding the aforementioned wheels with 25c and 23c tires, so let's also rule out tire size.

With regards to pressure, 100-110psi is also common and not particularly high, so not a factor, either.

Considering speed, certainly rotations are stress cycles, and velocity amplifies forces, so that's a likely causal factor, especially since I don't think 40-50mph are common speeds, so it's hard for me to asess the impact. It doesn't seem like it would be a definite factor though, as duration at those speeds would be important to consider, but again, I don't know. 40-50mph every ride may be, literally, the break point, but I've just not heard of guys in the mountains or with big hills destroying wheels at advanced rates, but perhaps they take it for granted and don't complain...

The last big factor is technique, which we know certainly makes a difference. Most of us know guys who do the same rides we do, but who manage to break stuff all the time. Luck is always at play, but I think there are techniques, such as weight shifting, hopping, smooth pedaling, timing, and knowing how to "flow ride" which aren't getting employed in those cases. Just yesterday, I was noticing that one of my clubmates, though he has probably 20lbs on me, is never up front on the descents; why? Is he he trying to slow and driving the wheel into road irregularities? And since he's not OTB, when is he regaining time? Hammering up the hills? That's not flowing; I build momentum when it's easy, and let it carry me down the road or up the next hill until it catches up and feathers into a fairly quick leg speed, so I don't have to jam on the pedals to get back to driving.

Does that kind of stuff reduce spikes of destructive force into the wheels, drivetrain, and other bits? I dunno for sure, but I think so. Something lets me get +4k miles (so far) out of 1372gm, 18f/24r spoke wheelset shod with 23c tires at 220lbs.

Thanks for all the input. I really don't know what to attribute the wheel problems to.

Chaadster, as far as riding technique, I do wonder if the technique of weight off the back combined with the speed and hitting small bumps (unavoidable patches that span the lane, cracks that span the lane, etc), is part of the problem.

I always descend with my weight way back - is that putting even more pressure on my rear wheel than if I stayed more over my saddle? I have not had an issue with the front wheel and it's got 16k miles on it - original for the bike.

As for hopping - I do it if I need to, but not at 40 mph.

I may try 95 lbs in the tires and see how that goes. Just ordered a new wheel set yesterday.

I have used both the Open Pro from Mavic and the A23 from Velocity until brake tracks wore through and neither ended up with any cracking around the spoke bed. I also weigh almost the same as you and spend a lot of time climbing, even spending a lot of time on dirt roads and mountain bike trails.

I would say the wheels were likely built with too much spoke tension. Outside of spoke tension using a straight gauge spoke can put a little more stress on a rim so if you are not yet, it could be good to use double butted spokes on your next build.

If you have a good wheel builder near you I would ask them to double check spoke tensions and if they are 120kgf or lower and consistent I would contact Velocity and see if they would warranty the rim. I have talked with them a lot and spoke bed failures have been extremely rare on the A23. If the build was good there is a good chance they will stand behind it, they are one of the easiest companies I have dealt with in the bike industry.

How do you ride back up that hill? Do you give the bike attitude, meaning do you tend to pull on the bars to cause the bike to lay over a bit as you crank on the pedals? This is a wheel killing technique. Wheels can cop a lot of abuse in the vertical plane, but they are very susceptible to side loading. This massively increases the load on the spokes and can lead to the failures you write of.

Having said that, I have had negative experiences with 2 of your rims. I had a number of spoke holes crack on an A23 rear. I'm a fair bit heavier than you riding those wheels from around 130kg down to about 115kg. The A23 rims were from the early years of that rim. I had a guy from Velocity on here suggest that it may have been the quality of the rim and that now they have shifted manufacturing and the QC is a lot better. Maybe you had similar issues? After breaking that rim I went for an OP rim to replace it. When I got it I was told that the more recent Mavic rims aren't as good as the older ones. The rear was very hard to true and I ended up breaking a spoke on them. The mech I took it to for truing had a good reputation but crazily ended up putting loctite on the nipples! BIG no no and so those rims are on the shelf for me to use as a project for relacing and most likely I'll just ditch the rims for something with a higher profile.

Building wheels for larger riders requires higher spoke tensions. This means that you're a lot closer to rim failure than a lighter person. If you ride hard with hitting potholes, laying the bike over when cranking the pedals etc, then you'll send the wheels to an earlier grave. Double butted spokes give more flex which will certainly help in this situation if you aren't already using them. I'd also be looking at a different rim option that is either higher profile or with a thicker spoke bed or even both.

Nope - I spin when I climb, good form, no wrestling with the bike. That's good info though so thanks.

Other than bombing downhill more than the average person, I don't think I do anything that would stress my wheels in an unusual way.

Would these wheels be good for a 300lb rider ?

Nobody ?

Can't vouch for them myself but I'm riding RS81 C50s at 115kg. Not a problem with them at all. You've always got the warranty recourse if the wheels don't hold up, but check the warranty info fully and stick to recommendations. With a lower profile rim like they have, I'd expect them to flex when out of the saddle. There's better ways to build a wheel, but not for that cheap!

Shimano wheels have a great reputation as being bombproof, even for heavier riders. However, even given that I would have extreme reservations about having a 300lb rider on such low spoke wheels.