Wheel Set for Heavy Guy
 

Need some opinions, Ive been digging around on here but there is plenty I dont know.

First off... I'm 5'11" ~220 lbs, ride a Giant TCR 2 aluminum bike. Cracked the rear rim got a warranty replacement, and now the rear just feels squirrelly. Ive popped a spoke on the replacement already, and I dont have a lot of confidence in it when taking corners.

Current wheel set weight is ~2048 g, on the heavy side of things. It is a Giant PR2 in the front and a Giant SR2 on the rear.

Been looking at kits at BHS, and found the Boyd Rouleur today as well. Looking to keep it under ~$600 and find a nice set of wheels that will last a while.

With those parameters in mind, I am thinking a 24/28 setup.

In particular at BHS I am looking at the BHS C31 rim, which is wide compared to most others and a deeper cross section.

What else is out there that I should take a look at?

The Pacenti kits at BHS and the B-drop kits are options to consider.

Based on your experience, I'd suggest stop messing around with low spoke counts and go with 32 on the back. No fuss, no muss.
The best wheels for training are the ones you don't have to think or worry about.

Attempts to even the spoke tension on the rear wheel seem important for bigger guys. My builder laced 2x on one side and 3x on the other. Off center rear drilling is an option on those C31's. Or the 8:24 or 9:18 lacing on Pacenti or others.

I am about 215-220 and had a set of Velocity Dyads built for me by GVHbikes.com 32 for both wheels. My bike is solid now, it was really squirrley before. Yes they are heavy, but the heaviest thing on the bike is me.

There's a lot to be said for high spoke count wheels and a sturdy rim for this application.

The tension difference between 2X and 3X is minimal.

Spinergy Stealth with PBO spokes. I am 225 lbs and these are bomb proof. A little more than your budget, but I think ~$800 now via the eBay distributor. I have 2 sets, one with at least 15K miles and 1 with 8K miles and never had them even trued.

I trust that you know far more than me re: wheelbuilding, rp. Is that lacing better than matched IF one doesn't have the 2:1 or OCR?

Of course not. We wouldn't have believed you if you had said you had.

On the drive side you should always use the cross number that gives the most tangent spoke configuration relative the the hub flange. For 16 spokes on a side that is 3X. For 12 spokes that is 2X. If you want to on the non-drive side just use radial spokes.

Looks like a great rim. I'd go 32H.

OK, I just noticed you have more posts than me, so I guess we must defer to your opinion of whether my wheels have needed truing or not. You are right, I lied. My wheels are trued weekly if not twice a week and i have no receipts to prove it. Why else would I have 2 sets?

I only have time to post so much, because like every single other member of BF, I don't have to spend any time truing wheels.

(I'm playing with you man.)

I just hope the OP can see past your comments for a truly well built wheel set option to consider.

I believe you. They kinda look like a Zipp 303 wheelset. If you ride smooth roads and do a lot of solo miles, a well built wheel shouldn't need truing. My 303 wheelset can be a little flexible under a good load, like accelerating up a hill. I am not sure if I would use them as an everyday training wheel, mainly because I ride in the rain and I feel like the brake tracks on those wheels are not very thick.

Fear not. Seeing my comments, not past them, will be a big help to him.

OP, my advice would be to go with inexpensive parts from BHS. Considering your weight, 24/28 spokes would be good or 24/27 with the 27 being of the 9:18 variety for evening out the rear spoke tension. If you want to go even higher, there is nothing wrong with that, but it will likely not be needed.

The wider and a little deeper C31 rims are an excellent choice as are the Pacentis. I would get the C31 rear in the offset version. If you use radial spokes on the non-drive side and point them all heads-out in combination with the offset, you will get a very respectable ratio of NDS/DS spoke tension.

Use any of the BHS hubs you like, the wider ones in the front are very good.

If you use Laser or CX-Ray spokes, you will be able to bring the wheel in well under 1,500 g. Don't be afraid of those light spokes. They are as strong and durable as straight 14 gauge spokes at each end where most breakage occurs. Because they stretch more under normal build tension than the heavier spokes, wheels built with them can be cyclically compressed more (bumps, normal wheel rotation) without going slack and being subject to rapid fatigue. The only drawback of light spokes is they make a slightly less stiff wheel. I would try them and see how they work for you. For not too much money penalty you could always rebuild with heavier spokes if you thought you needed to, but I doubt that would happen.

Good luck.

OP, there is a lot right with doing a 28/32 combo with one of the Kinlin or Pacenti rims, 2x front, 3x both sides rear, a high quality US made hub with ti cassette body, and Laser spokes. These can be had, hand built, for under your budget, from several places. These setups will be 20 to 25% lighter than your current wheels, but far more importantly will allow you to ride the bike the way it was meant to be done and you would like to do. They will also be incomparably more durable than what you've experienced.

I'm going to recommend Some Shimano Ultegra 6800's. Yes the spoke count is low but I can attest to their durability. I have been on a set of Ultegra's for a year and a half without the slightest issue. No noise, no truing, nothing. I weigh 225 now and weighed much more when I first got these wheels. They weigh 1640g, ultegra hubs, and have a solid spoke bed for tubeless compatibility which as an end result makes the rim stronger and enables the use of less spokes. Another reason to consider them is the tubeless option, especially for a heavier guy like you because with tubeless you can run lower pressures that will not only give you a more comfortable ride, the reduced inflation of the tire will transmit less force to the wheel and lessen the impact from road imperfections and result in greater reliability. I ride them with a set of Schwalbe One's Tubeless in 700x23 inflated to 90psi front and 95psi rear. Obviously I'm a fan of road tubeless and I know the majority here is not so keep in mind that these wheels can also be used with std clincher tires and tubes which I did for about 6 months at my heaviest weight, still no issues. Oh, and they can be found as low as $400 a set.

Seems like there's been a rash of Giant OEM wheel problems lately (based on threads here); I wonder what's going on, if anything.

Anyway, I think that a lot of wheel reliability is to do with how people ride, because how else to explain the disparate experiences? Plenty of heavy folks in the 220lb range ride low spoke count wheels from both OEM and aftermarket companies like Mavic and Shimano all the time, without trouble; plenty of heavy folks have trouble with traditionally spoked wheels all the time.

While build quality and spec is certainly part of it, "low spoke count" per se, is not. The right hub, the right spokes, the right rim, and the right build-out can do the job just fine.

But, a plodding, careless rider who slams into and pounds their way through rough stuff can 86 just about any wheel, I think. Those wheels built to prioritize lightness or high performance will be especially susceptible to that kind of abuse, but so will a poorly made traditionally spoked wheel. Good wheels of any type will be better suited to resisting the abuse.

I'm not denying that the strongest wheels have more spokes, only pointing out that reasonably strong wheels have a variety of configurations, and that saying "32h is the answer" is no more accurate than saying "low spoke count sucks"; neither get to the truth of the matter.

More to the point of the OP, my experience suggests that Mavic Ksyriums should be a good choice. I've got rather old (~8yr) Ksyrium Elite and 2yr old Equipe Ss, both of which have served my 220-235lbs just fine. In addition to being just, er… massive, I'm a pretty powerful rider, and can put a fair amount of watts into the drivetrain (spikes north of 1k watts), so my wheels see some significant forces. Yet, the 20 spoke Ksyriums have been great, and I even do crits on the Equipes without issue; last year, a trailing rider put their wheel into the spokes on my rear wheel as bunched up coming into a turn (I guess she didn't want to give up the place!), the sound of which I thought might be the death knell for the wheel, but they survived just fine.

The best part of Ksyriums is that they can often be found as OEM take-offs, at about half retail price, making for a great buy in my opinion.

Don't be a weight weenie if you're hard on wheels.

I'm about 20 pounds over my ideal weight. The upshot of that is that it's foolish to spend big bucks trying to save 200 grams on a wheel set that won't support my weight.

What worked for me was a velocity dyad rear rim, and a 32 spoke build.
Yes it is slightly heavy. But the rear wheel is not the weight that is really limiting my speed at this time.
Probably not necessary to replace the front wheel.

Go to one of the online wheel builders and get a bombproof rim with more spokes, and let go of trying to ride the lightest possible wheel set.

That last line right there reveals the prejudices and shortcomings of your opinions; no one, not the OP or anyone, was even talking about, let alone holding on to, an idea to "ride the lightest possible wheelset." That's what you wanted hear, because it's the only position that fits into your simple, binary conception of wheels. Too bad.

Get a life. It's an expression.

Next time you say "sunrise," I hope someone corrects you. "The expression 'sunrise' reveals your scientifically illiterate, geocentric model of the solar system. Too bad."

It is possible to express ignorance, just as it is to express a rich, nuanced understanding of something. So yeah, I realize it was an expression, but I was just unimpressed by it.