Help with Wheel Selection
 

I'm a very tall, big rider with a Cannondale Quick hybrid, jumbo frame, custom fitted to my height. I ride at least 50 miles a week year round. (I'm in Florida.) The bike has Xero c3 wheels, size 700. That wheel has a reduced number of spokes and I break them frequently. I need a sturdier wheel and was looking for any advice from others who may have changed wheels on their Quick. I ride at 80 psi, and I love my bike's dynamics, so don't want to change the ride quality. Thanks.

What is your budget?

Disc or not, so we do not need to look it up?

No disc brake. I'd like to keep the expense $300 or less. Thanks.

At under $300, I am unsure that you will find something significantly stronger than what came on the bike. Maybe a local shop could rebuild what you have with heavier gauge spokes. This would help some and even tension in the build might also help. If you go up to $500-600 you might be able to get a local shop to build you a new set that would be both stronger and perform a little better. Good luck.

if your rear dropouts are 135mm, universalcycles has some 700c built wheels with 36-hole shimano xt hubs and mavic a719 rims. 15% holiday discount and free shipping would be $350 approx. Tire wdth range would be 700x28-47mm. Believe they are silver hubs (non disc of any type) and black rims

I've got a set that I run winter or gravel grinding tires on depending on the season. Should easily exceed your durability needs.

I've seen those wheels on a Quick, with only 20 spokes they look really cool when they are spinning. Spinning fast, they look almost
transparent. But unless you're a lightweight rider, they aren't strong enough.

Anyway you live in Florida, probably close to a Performance Bike store. They have at least a half dozen wheel-sets in your
price range that will probably represent a big improvement over what you currently have.

Good Luck

Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Not sure I can afford that much but I will consider this.

ASSUMING YOU BREAK SPOKES ON THE REAR WHEEL, start with that 36 spoke rear wheel, then replace the other as you can afford it.

I' be willing to bet, that a call to Universal Cycles, would net you a set of 36 spoke wheels within your price range. Just tell them what you want to accomplish, with all the details you can provide....... They got lots of stuff

I think that this is a really good idea, be it Universal Cycles or another source. I think, that in the end, to see a significant difference the wheelset will cost you a total of at least $600. This way, you can break up the expense and probably solve the problem immediately. If you do not care about matching wheels, maybe you just replace the one...

Universalcycles with 15% holiday discount and free shipping you can get a rear and front wheelset with 36 hole Mavic A719 rims and Deore XT hubs to your house for under $330. Black rims and silver hubs.

This is a heavy duty touring wheelset and can run tires 700x28-47mm wide.

Add some rims strips and you can get them out the door for about $330. This might be $30 more than you want to spend, but they are honking strong and easily serviced.

Here's a pic of my 1998 Specialized Crossroads Pro with the Deore XT hubs and Mavic A719 rims.http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=492848

I ride a Jumbo Cannondale Quick - SL1 model. I do not ride in winter - so bike has had perhaps 16 months usage (and now covered some 5,500km). I over 6foot, but not particularly heavy - perhaps all-up weight of bike, me + items on bike while riding total some 225lbs. I have used 32mm (and lately 35mm) tires - inflated so there is a little 'give' in the tire (well below 100).

Front wheel has performed flawlessly - rear wheel suffered three broken spokes, after which time I lost all confidence in the wheel (especially as I was preparing for my first century). Based on work I did on one spoke repair when LBS was closed, I think part of problem was that the spoke tension had never been properly done.

So the 3rd broken spoke was some 6 months outside the warranty period (but because of winter hibernation it was only about 12 months and 3,00km usage). After some discussion with LBS (and LBS/Cannondale) I was offered a free Shimano rear wheel (RS11) - albeit in the end I opted for a discounted upgrade to a Shimano RS31 rear wheel (despite reduced spoke count, this has performed flawlessly so far).

I have just ridden my bike back from it final free service (where I paid for a new chain and rear cable) - bike still puts a smile on my face when I ride it. Hope you soon get your bike back to such a wonderful state.

Based on my limited experience:
(a) Consider requesting help from LBS/Cannondale (depending on how long ago you purchased bike, and specifics of your usage);
(b) whichever rear wheel you get (and intuitively more spokes should result in a more durable wheel), make sure the spokes are properly tensioned before using the wheel.

You guys are all an amazing wealth of knowledge. Now I've got a plan to solving my problem, and, with the post and advice from FamilyMan, I guess I'm not alone in breaking spokes. Since I am a big guy, I'm going to look into the 36 spoke wheels first. I didn't know there was anything higher than 32. Thank you all !!!

P.S., I did try to work the issue through Cannondale, but they were not very helpful and directed me back to my local dealer, who tried to be helpful, but just confused me.

You can get 40 and 48 hole rims built, but you shouldn't need to go that extreme.

700c Touring & Tandem Rims

Note at that link you can read about various rims that will fit your needs