phillyrider

I bought a basic merin hybrid to commute, but hated that the bike was so slow - so I picked up a few vintage road bikes. The problem is - with my U-lock, cables, laptop, night light and other assorted crap, by bag is really heavy.

Over the summer - I've managed to break my rear axel, and have bent my rear rim on my one older road bike. I tried thin tires on the hybrid, but because I ride through the land of broken glass - flat tires were a problem.

I use a rear rack and just strap my bag on top. At the suggustion of the local bike shop, I replaced the bent rim with a more expensive/double ply rims on my road bike, and also replaced the rear wheel quick release with standard bolts/axel - this helped.

I have a feeling that I'm stuck with a slow hybrid and thick tires because of my bag weight. I do about 60 miles/week, and really want the speed of a road bike.

Any ideas? Are there extra strong rear rims available for road bikes that can better handle weight?
Thanks - I appreciate any suggestions...

Jurgen

"Bag weight" sounds like a bad euphemism... get thee to the Clyde forum!

Extra strong rims? Two words: Deep V's.

c_m_shooter

How about trying to balance the load with a front rack.

mandovoodoo

I use a rack trunk for bike supplies & misc, low-rider front backs with panniers for most stuff, a handbar bag for things useful while rolling (e.g., knife, phone, snacks), and a messenger bag for my laptop. The rear wheel death effect is pretty common. I bent a couple of axles carrying weight! Low rider in the front is hardly noticeable.

DataJunkie

Not to be disparaging but 60 miles a week could be done on anything from a beat up mountain bike to a cruiser.
Cheap hybrids come with cheap wheels. My old Marin came with the worst POS alex wheelset.
I am guessing that your vintage road bikes came with older and possibly not that durable wheels.
One could either purchase a beefier wheel set (open pros) or lighten up the bag.

Torrilin

Think about whether you really need to carry the laptop every day. Laptops are heavy, kind of delicate and not much fun to lug. Would a flash drive work to give you access to the files you need?

I keep my lights on the bike all the time. I wouldn't drive a car with no lights, and I don't like riding a bike with no lights. They're very handy in rain and fog. That means my lights are nicely balanced and I don't feel the weight.

The other assorted junk that tends to go in my bag are the u-lock (can't skip that), possibly lunch (can't skip that), and in good weather a jacket. If I were working a job that required me to dress professionally, I'd probably do suit rotation 1 day out of the week, keep a pair of dress shoes at the office, and not deal with carrying clothes on my commute the rest of the time. If I needed toiletries at work, I'd just keep a second set there. Most jobs offer storage space for employees, and I'd take advantage of it.

I find that panniers work better than stuff strapped to the top of the rack. It lets me balance the load if I'm carrying any kind of real weight, and that makes the trip easier. I've got a cargo net for dire emergencies where the panniers are full, but life is better when I'm not having emergencies.

Wilbur Bud

What is "really heavy"? 15 pounds? It can't be the cargo load, it must be weaker than you expect components. Depending on your personal weight, another 15-20 pounds from your cargo would just make you very similar to a somewhat heavier rider with no cargo. As mentioned earlier, a stronger wheel, hub, and axle is the place to start and it reads like you did that already. Shifting the weight to front or amidships may help as well. A couple Arkel T-28 panniers on a front rack will move it forward and make room for most laptops (I just barely squeeze mine in), but I'd check your current weight distribution with you and your bike and cargo on a scale, before moving too far one way or another.

tarwheel 

First, think like a backpacker -- that is, go over every item you carry on your bike, and then toss out what you don't really need. I hiked the Long Trail in Vermont one summer when I was in college. We started out carrying way too much gear, so much in fact that my backpack frame cracked. I took that as a sign. In our first stop to restock our supplies in a town, we went through all of our gear and got rid of everything that wasn't absolutely necessary -- like a fishing rod, extra clothes, etc. Filled up a whole box of gear to ship back home, and cut at least 20 lbs from our packs.

Second, if it's in your budget, start researching road bikes. Sounds like you'd want a touring or sport touring frame with eyelets for racks and fenders. Personally, I ride an old steel, lugged road bike, but it only weighs about 25-26 pounds including my seat bag, computer, and other gear. A good set of wheels (eg, Open Pros with Ultegra or 105 hubs) should be strong but relatively light. My bike doesn't have eyelets for racks and fenders. However, if I was in the market for a commuter bike right now, I would probably buy a Salsa Casseroll or Soma Smoothie ES. Both are reasonably light but very functional.

GCRyder

There is something we're missing here. I'm a pretty stout fellow, and I often carry a backpack that weighs 40 pounds or more, and I've never broken a wheel or axle in more than three decades of commuting by bike. Those 32 and 36 spoke wheels from older road bikes tend to be nearly bomb-proof. So if they're not working for you, it sounds like more mileage is your only solution. The weight that's doing the damage must not be in the bag.

acroy

well as others have saids, I'd suggest reducing your load if possible.

Then, invest in a nice set of wheels for your road bike. Cane Creek are my personal faves: not super light, but very very strong, and so stiff acceleration feels explosive. And made right here on good old U.S. of A.

tate65

I am over 200# and have carried often carried my laptop with spare battery and DVD drive, all my cloths for a week, Lunch and my rear tool rack on my 42 mile commute, with no issue. So unless it's just weak or poorly built wheels I can't help ya. I use the stock wheels on my Scattante R-330, which uses Formula Economic CXR-6 wheel set. I've got close to 3K on them and they still roll true.

phillyrider

Thanks for the feedback...Weight is really in the bag, not me - I am average (5-10 & weight around 170 lbs). I will wait until after x-mas to see if I need to check into the clyde forum. Some other info may help...

It's not distance - I want to use a light road bike because of hills. It's 40 minutes back, up some big hills everyday. It's only 6 miles - but my neighbor (who runs 5ks) also does it - but in around 30-35 minutes.

As far as load, It's the laptop, locks, & light with charger. Change of clothes for the gym just add bulk, not any real weight. I have not weighed my bag - but it's probably closer to 40 pounds. At work, (big company) policy is that flash drives are not allowed for security/confidentiality reasons in case they get lost. I have to follow policy.

I think the rear wheel set is the solution. My Marin can handle the load - I just don't like the bike. I want to use a road bike. I broke the rear axle in half on my Marin, which was made for commuting with load. Because I street park, I am not going to ride anything with street value. I have a 70's italian bike boom 10 speed and a 90's nashbar tour bike. They're lighter, thin bikes with cheaper components, and it feels like I'm always overloading the back. Pack probably weighs more the the bike. These road bikes were not really made with this in mind, so I've trashed the rear rim on my nashbar (world's finest bike according to the sticker) - mandovoodo's/data junkie's comments are right.

I'll look at the front pannier as well. If anyone has a link with open pro's or an extra strong wheel that won't easily get knocked out of true or possibly bend - that would be helpful.

Thanks all for the feedback...

kyselad

It sounds like you might be expecting a bit much. The speed of a road bike is partly a function of the bike, but throwing another 40 lbs on there will pretty much kill that feeling on any bike. If it's 230 vs 240 lbs of you+bike+supplies, I don't think you'll feel like you're tearing up those hills either way. Plus, since it's 60 mi/wk, don't stress that extra little bit of efficiency -- you more than lose the time advantage in flats, repairs, and general frustration if you're on the wrong rig.

I'd second the votes for putting some of the load up front and getting a stronger wheelset. Heavy-duty, butted spokes should help. A good wheel build is a must -- nice wheel components are worthless when the wheel isn't carefully tensioned.

phillyrider

Are pre-built wheels generally ok to save a few bucks, or do you recommend having a shop do the build up? This maybe a novice question - I've seen both options, and wonder about the value of the extra $'s in doing a shop build.

Thanks...

kyselad

Pre-built is almost always done by a machine; if not, you can be sure they'll advertise accordingly. Machine build quality varies, but I think it's safe to say you'll never find a machine build to match a proper hand-build. That doesn't mean you need to buy a wheel completely assembled by hand. Shops will gladly true and tension an existing wheel build if you pay them to do so, and if you're unsure of the build quality, I'd consider this a worthy investment. It's also not rocket science, so you can do it yourself if you're patient and have the time. Sheldon's site provides all the details, including lacing up the hub. It's often cheaper to buy a pre-built wheel and just re-tension rather than doing the whole build, but where's the fun in that?

ItsJustMe

I have a cheap hybrid, a Giant Cypress. The rear wheel it came with was trash. I started breaking spokes at around 1000 miles and was breaking one at least every 200 miles until I finally gave up and built a new rear. I just bought a cheap Mavic double-wall rim (MA-3) for about $22 on sale, and a handful of spokes, built a truing stand from some 2x4s, sat down and built a new wheel in about 3 hours one evening. It's got 10,000 miles on it now and no problems other than for some reason it snapped a little out of true about 500 miles ago, I just retrued it and it's fine again.

I used Sheldon's site to build two wheels now. They were fun and easy to do and I wouldn't even consider paying someone to build wheels for me now.

fender1

Suns CR18 Rim 36 hole laced 3 cross should work for you. I have one w/ and internal hub on my winter commuter and it has held up to Philly commuting w/ no problem. I carry about the same amount of weight. I also will try to unweight the rear wheel if there is a large hole etc. that I cannot avoid by standing on the bike and leaning forward. Also make sure your tires are inflated to the proper pressure. I run mine at 95psi w/ a 32mm tire.

cerewa

It's safe to assume that a wheel is machine-built unless they tell you otherwise. Machine-built wheels can be fine for people who don't put them under much stress. Otherwise you want a machine-built wheel that is trued and tensioned by hand, or a hand-built wheel-- if the parts are the same then it doesn't matter which.

It's also safe to assume that stock wheels from an inexpensive bike (and this includes a bike that was inexpensive 20 years ago) aren't that strong. They often hold up fine if kept with nice even spoke tension and properly inflated tires, but they don't work too well if the rider+cargo weight is over 250 pounds or if they are bashed into curbs/potholes under the rider's full weight.

Torrilin

That (170+40) should be well within the capacity of most any stock bike. Key word there is should. Sometimes a component is just plain bad, and it fails under use that should be well within normal load for it. Sometimes a bike is badly designed and can't handle a reasonable load, tho that's pretty rare if you go for a touring/commuting focused bike. I wouldn't estimate laptop+lights+charger+lock at 40 lbs tho, unless it's an incredibly heavy laptop or you're hauling around lead batteries. The no flash drives part is sad and not fixable. If they don't allow SSH in (and I know most places don't) you're probably stuck with the laptop when you must bring work home.

As far as faster goes, that's mostly engine, not bike. I might pick up a bit of speed if I swapped from my knobby tired mountain bike to a narrow tire road bike, but I've picked up a lot more speed from just riding a lot. The farther I ride and the faster I try to go, the better I do. Stressing over being slower than someone else is not worth it to me, since there will always be someone younger, faster, in better shape, without asthma, and without my physical disabilities.

surfjimc

Seems like a good solid hub like an Ultegra or a Phil with a stout Mavic rim could be built into a solid rear wheel for a beater bike. Older 6/7/8 speed stuff is always cheap on ebay if you have to match older road gear. I rode and raced for years on the Shimano/Mavic set up. Weight was always in the 180 - 190 range. Under 200 pounds total is well within the range of most wheels.
Now I commute 55 miles rt on a cf road bike carrying 20lbs in my messenger bag. I started out at 285lbs and am now at 275 and dropping. Not a single issue with bike or wheels (Mavic Kysrium SL). Luckily, I never have to lock my bike outside and would ride a cheap old steel road bike if I did.