Should I be worried?
 

I recently bought a new set of November wheels, and they are still en route sadly.. But I am flipping through and I noticed they are 20/24 spoke wheels. Should I be worried about that since I weigh ~180 pounds?

I only ever ride on pavement that is pretty smooth, and sometimes I do hit the roads that are a bit more rough, but I slow down for that. I don't want to break spokes on my brand new wheels!

What model of wheel? If it has a strong rim, you should be fine.

Depends entirely on the other parts and how well built it is. I'm 170 and have been riding the last 3 years on 16/20 spoke wheels. they've never even needed to be trued.

I've been on some Fulcrum 5's for about 8000k and I go from just below that to, well, lets just say more.

For the question of which ones I purchased, I got these:

http://www.novemberbicycles.com/rfsc-58s

Which I heard were fantastic, and right up in the quality range of Zipps. I'm guessing it won't be a problem then :)

Put some K's on those and give us a review.

I'll definitely be tossing up a review, I don't know specifically what you mean when you say K's (sorry I am pretty new at this :) ) however I will be throwing on my GP4000s I currently use. Should be pretty fun I hope!

Rule #24 / Speeds and distances shall be referred to and measured in kilometers.

This includes while discussing cycling in the workplace with your non-cycling coworkers, serving to further mystify our sport in the web of their Neanderthalic cognitive capabilities. As the confused expression spreads across their unibrowed faces, casually mention your shaved legs. All of cycling’s monuments are measured in the metric system and as such the English system is forbidden.

Oh now why did a fatty like you go and get those? You should give them to me so they don't get damaged.

j/k you should be fine... and I weigh 180 myself right now :(

Bah I should have known this.... My first plan with the wheels is to do some intervals and thoroughly enjoy the new fangled Whoosh sound!

That seems like a great deal if they're good wheels. Thanks for the heads up!

So if you were referring to kilometers, why did you say to put some "kelvins" on them? ;)

You are many kilos away from worry. Many.

Shouldn't be too long before you get them either.

I'm curious what the suggested rider weight limit on the 58s and 38s should be? I see it listed for your tubulars but not these two, unless I've just overlooked it somewhere.

Boy do we not like weight limits. A 185 pound time trial guy is far more appropriate to a low spoke count wheel than a 170 crit sprinter. Is it more important to your purposes to have every last gram taken out of the wheel, and are you prepared for less durability and less stiffness as a tradeoff? A 200 pound guy who races the bejeesus out of a set of 38s for four seasons could come out of that and say 'boy did I get my money's worth out of those' or he could be disappointed that his wheels might be getting a little tired. A question purely of perception.

Our carbon rim manufacturer puts a high weight limit on the rims, but there's far more to it than that. A big reason why we lace rhe SOB build 2x is to take strain off of the front hub. Radial lacing stresses hubs more than crossed lacing and when you've got bigger guys using those wheels, it can become a consideration. As a 160-165 pounder with zero fast twitch fibers, I could probably gain 30 pounds and never stress a set of 38s with regular build. I'm using my 50 tubulars with regular lacing that I've raced road on all season for cx this fall and I have zero concern about it. Again I could probably roll that config with 30 or more pounds on me, no problem. On the other hand, Mike can sprint like a bastage. He has a big dinner and he's thinking about stiffer wheels.

So yeah you can use a set of 38s regular build if you're 230. They won't fold. You might hate them, and I wouldn't recommend them to you, but you could do it. The flip side of that coin is that my wife who is decidedly not 230 pounds could use a set of 58s SOB laced. They'd threaten to cut her in half they'd be so brutal a ride but she could do it.

For more quantitative guidance, if you're 185 or thereabouts and you're into 38s, you're in the crossover zone. Ask yourself how many grams you want to trade for stiffness and durability. 58s are pretty stiff anyhow, you have to be a pretty big boy to need SOB on that. In either case, I'd say if you're 220 or 230, carbon clinchers aren't a great idea. I know some people don't want to hear that but it's my name and Mike's name on the line and we think guys that big are at risk on carbon clinchers from a bunch of different perspectives.

The 50mm tubulars are a bit more weight tolerant than the 38 clinchers. Use my above weight guideline for 38s for CX and about 10 or so pounds more than that for road.

Your own knowledge of how you ride and how 'no compromise' you are about every last gram will inform you from there.

Yeah, I was wrong. Please note the date and time. :) I should have typed "Put some kms on them..."

So, OP would you have gotten kms any faster? Would you have thought it was a carbon prep?