wheels for cyldes - my experiences
 

I've been on these forums for a while and rather selfishly used them for free advice on bikes, clyde strength equipment and so on. Anyway I thought I would weigh in (pun intended) on my experiences for the benefit of clydes down the road to pick up in searches.

In my experice the limiting factor for Clyde weigh roadbike riders is always wheels. I've tried the following :

Mavic Open Pro - Ultegra 6600 hubs. The old dependable. Totally bomb proof and the untegra hubs are very smooth rolling. Not exactly aero, heavy, and old school looks. You can do a lot worse than these at $200-$250 a set.

Ritchey WCS Protocols. These came with a new bike, and are supposed to be top notch, they are certainly pretty light, and the aero section and bladed spokes look the part. However the rear wheel would blow out spokes, often at the oddest times (not peak effort or big bumps) every time the spoke was OK but the nipple would be fractured. Anyway, at one point this happened and the spoke got chewed up in the chain so I had to get replacements fitted and a full true up, wish i hadnt bothered, soon after something broke in the rear bearings, started making noise and very stiff rough feeling. These are sealed, non serviceable bearings so that was it for these wheels. Warranty support was essentialy none.

Mavic Aksium - These were a stop gap after the WCSs went bad, but for $180 they are GREAT. Strong, amazingly smooth bearings and pretty cool looking. I havent had any spoke break issues and they are staying true. If the clyde default open pro 32 spoke wheel is just too dull to bear, these are definitely an option.

Based on my experiences I think I'll be sticking with Mavic in the future too.

Aksium's rock
 

Yes.
I totally agree.

I replaced my beloved Deep-V / Dura-Ace rear wheel this summer with an Aksium. It has help up superbly. Almost 1000 miles since replacing, no spoke wrench in sight baby! Not only am I 268lbs, I like to crush hard on hills here in NE Ohio.

Any heavy/strong riders trolling for info (research) you shouldn't be disappointed by these wheels.

Any other input?

Thanks
Ride hard or go home,
Frank

Good to know about the Aksiums. So are those 24h 2x front and rear, or are they a 24r/20f combo set?
I've been thinking about going lighter weight on my next build, and it appears that wheel technology has finally caught up to the larger riders, giving us more options than 32h or 36h 3x touring wheels.

What's the difference between the Aksium and Ksyrium Equipe (the lowest priced of the line) wheels? For the $100 price increase, is there anything different than just a slight drop in weight?

I used to live in Twinsburg, and I'd go ride the hill coming up from Akron-Peninnsula Rd going to the Rt. 8 exchange. It's been a while since I've been back there... Rt 303 maybe? 3 mile or so uphill is what I remember. Ever ride that one? The other two fave's I had back there were the hill on Rt. 91 heading up toward T-burg, and the hill on Ledge Rd. in Macedonia.

I would like to add that I have had no issues with Campy wheels...I owned a set of Erurs wheels that I weighed 300 LB's and rode a (should have never sold them) and now own a set of SCIROCCO's. I believe they work well on looking the part as well as performance...

Very clyde wheels in my opinion....

Bevan - about how much do you weigh?