tallteacher

I am curious for those of us gravitationally enhanced....when you upgrade, do you buy off the shelf wheels or do you custom order everything from hub to spokes to rims? I am in no place to even think about it yet since I dont have a bike but for my size i know its a something to consider soon.....

I have seen many that like the deep V velocity rims and found a site that lets you customize them startign at the hub of choice...its fairly overwhelming and can seriously adjust the price of the wheel set...

also....what is a "normal" range to look at spending for someone that aint gonna race and is more concerned about riding over bad roads and just piling up miles?

skilsaw

Cross that bridge when you get to it.
If you buy a decent new bike, the stock wheels should last you a few years.

Depending on how big you are, I have found "touring bikes" come speced out to carry above average weight.

Buying a cheap used bike is OK, but putting custom wheels on it creates a mis-match in your equipment. I keep all my after market replacement parts about the same quality as the stock parts.

tallteacher

ok that makes sense... I am sure I am over analyzing the wheel thing...happens when i have free time at work..... when I look at 28/24 spoke setups they dont inspire confidence....

mkadam68

It will depend almost entirely on the builder. I have some 28/24 tubular carbon rims built by my local guy that are rock solid. I have also gotten some 32-hole Mavic Open Pro/Ultegra wheels bought off-the-shelf from Performance that have been trouble from the get-go until I had my local guy rebuild them.

That said, I haven't bought every off-the-shelf wheel out there so I can't vouch for them. If you have the money, you might want to get any off-the-shelf wheelsets from a LBS (as opposed to online) where they can check them out before you ride them.

bigfred 

I've taken to building my own. My hubs are nothing fancy. I have a mix of various shimano hubs from Tiagra up to Ultegra in 32 and 36 hole. My current rims are DT Swiss 585's and Velocity Deep V's. But, there are others that are just as good. 3X lacing with straight 14gauge, double butted 14/15gauge and one rear with straight 14 on the drive side and 14/15 on the non drive side.

But, don't fret about wheels until you've got a bike and it's exsisting wheels are giving you issues.

Mr. Beanz

What I do when I buy anew bike. I don't expect the wheels to last long at my 230-260 weight. I put anywhere from 400-7000 miles each year over the last 16 years. So of course what last me 4 months on a big year would last a year for someone who does 2000 miles per year.

I buy a cheap hum online (ribblebikesdotcom) 105 hub for $50...buy a Deep V online for $60'ish.

Take it to a good shop and ask them to build it, $30 spokes and $60 for the build....final product, good wheel for about $200 that wil give you 20,000+ miles. That's a ilfetime for some riders.


------------------

Building my own, I pick up stuff when I see a good deal eventhough I am not in need. I founda DA hub for $100 and a Deep V for $25 on a clearance rack. $20 for spokes and built it myself.

Dura Ace Deep V for $150

Gina rides the DA wheel on her roadie.


newtire by gulpxtreme, on Flickr


Rear Deep V on my roadie, Ultegra hub $50, Deep V $60, spokes $20....self built wheel $130.

nfmisso

I build my own. 36H or 40H for the rear; 36H front. Wheelsmith spokes: SS14 or DH13 depending. Hubs are relatively low end, except a set of Suzue.

So far my wheels have gone thousands of miles with no issues. I build high tension wheels to support my weight, properly stress relieved, then re-trued after 100 miles - then no more servicing until the brake pads where through the rims. Currently my rim of choice is the Sun CR18.

CliftonGK1

I'm with nfmisso; I build my own. When IRO still had them stocked, I bought a heap of their Cold Fusion rims (Velocity Fusion, unbadged) and their high flange hubs. What's nice about those is because they're the same front and rear for the hub measurements, I can buy 1 spoke length for everything.

I beat these things like they owe me money, and I haven't managed to destroy a pair yet. I'm on race season #2 on my CX wheels (and I train on them, too).

TrojanHorse

I have a set of flimsy Easton EA90 SL wheels (24/28) and like Clifton, I beat them like they owe me money. I think i have about 4,000 miles on them and I've never touched a spoke. (ranging from 215 - 240 in weight).

If I were BUYING new wheels today, I'd probably just order some Boyd Vitesse with the higher spoke count. If I were MAKING new wheels, I'd probably go 32 spokes and a nice stiff AL rim like the Deep V or DT RR585 and a 105 or Ultegra hub.

I think you can go cross eyed thinking about wheels these days, it's crazy.

*They're really not flimsy, but if you look at the specs, they appear that they should be flimsy, that was a tongue in cheek comment.

RIMoe

I'm buying a Rocky Mountain solo cx in January, my lbs is letting me trade in the stock rims for a set of custom built tandem rims. I'm currently at 365, down from 400. Averaging 75-100 miles per week, and replacing spokes nearly bi-weekly. That is on my second rim, a rhino lyte 32h.

bwilliams

i just busted my first spoke,i am thinking of updating to better wheels now,i got about 400 miles on these mainly on the MUP,they are stock wheels on a Trek 8.3 ds and i am real close to 300lbs...

Whoever said you'll go crossed eyed was not lying..wow so many options

Seattle Forrest

Forget the idea of magic numbers. You want a well-built wheel with strong rims. I've been on wheels with 18 spokes (total, between them) that were bomb proof, and I've seen wrecked wheels with 36 spokes per wheel.

PhotoJoe 

Just bought PhotoJoanne a Cannondale Quick 3 over the weekend. The shop assured me that the wheels would hold her current (and dropping) 280. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't study the wheels too much. The design has the spokes side by side in the rim. I didn't think much of it, but looking at it closer, I'm afraid that with the reduced amount of material around the spokes, we'll see cracking pretty quickly. Also, on our very first ride, the brakes started grinding. Only lasted a few stops and went away. This morning, it was back, with a vengeance. Got home and checked it out and there are grooves in her brand new rims. I didn't have time to tear it apart and look at the pad surface, so we're going back to the LBS tonight to look at it with them. We may be buying new wheels sooner than we thought. / Yah, I'm mixed about it. Maybe we buy the Boyds and she gets my RD60's. Hmmmmm..... Nah, that would be wrong!

TrojanHorse

I was just thinking to myself the other day that you need some deep carbon tubulars for that fancy titanium bike of yours.

If you had an old beater like mine, you could get away with al rims, but fancy ti? no suck luck.

CACycling

Just replaced the stock wheelset (Alex ALX-320 20 spoke front/24 spoke rear) with Velocity A23 rims on Ultegra hubs with 32 spokes front and rear. Only been out on a couple of rides with them but so far they feel great and I figure the Ultegra hubs should outlast several rims if maintained properly. And the $259 price tag was reasonable IMHO.

PhotoJoe 

Where did you get them? This sounds perfect for Mrs. PhotoJoe

tallteacher

Perusing prowheelbuilder in down time, is it wrong to like the colored deep V rims? Not sure...are colored rims or tired frowned upon by purists and elitists? I am neither...so I like em

PhotoJoe 

In my observations, I usually only see the fixies/hipsters rolling on colored wheels...however, WHO CARES!!! If you like them, do it! Make your bike the way you want it. If people don't like it, they don't have to ride it!

ahultin

I went with colored Deep V's and now regret it. Mine are electric red powder coat and they do not seem to stand up well. I have several spots where the finish has flaked off and looks like Sh**. Bummer because when new I thought they looked great. for reference mine are a hair over a yr old.

bigfred 

With regard to coloured components: I tend to favour keeping the colours limited to highlights. It seems very difficult to find frames, wheels, bar tape, etc all of the same hue that will compliment each other. The end result always looks a bit contrived and odd. Instead I favour sticking to neutral colours for major components (Black, White, Silver) and adding colour only as an accent (bar tape, nipples, cable ends, etc.) The lesser amount of colour and the items general distance from each other seems to provide a much better effect. That being said, my current road bike is basically devoid of colour beyond white and silver. However, Mrs. Fred's Colnago is primarily white and black with accents, accompaniend by red bar tape and red spoke nipples on otherwise black wheels. The overall package seems very pleasing to me.

With regards to wheels: they get dirtier than just about any other part of a bike, other than the back of the seat tube. And, as a clyde, if you're building up a set to last a long time, there is every possibility that you may want to move them to a different frame in the future. Stick to black or silver themes. ATMO

tallteacher

Well thats good to know...Ill stick with plain ol rims without fancy colors...I guess I COULD put on the colored spoke nipples LOL..

NOW..if someone would buy my motorcycle...

tallteacher

Hub question...is there any functional difference with those wide flanged hubs or is it aesthetic?

bigfred 

Not sure if you're asking about "wide" flanges or "tall" flanges. But, in both cases, they offer a theoretical advantage by providing a greater bracing angle to the spokes. However, in practical application I believe most have found that the actually angular change is pretty miniscule and the actual required spoke tension doesn't change much, if at all. I suspect that flange width from hub center line is more of a concern than flange height.

There are some hubs that are known to have particularly narrow flange widths from from centerline and subsequently not build up as strong a rear wheel. I'm not versed in all of them, but, I believe American Classic is amongst them. Can't tell you the rest.

Bearing design is another consideration. The classic shimano hubs that so many use, rely on open cup and cone bearings. These are almost infintely adjustable, but, rely on some periodic maintenance. White Industries and Chris King hubs utilize sealed cartrige bearings which don't require regular maintance but must be replaced once worn.

Of concern to me, but, it seems not many others, is freehub design and material. In the distant past I had a number of issues with both freewheels and freehubs. I've both stripped the ratchets and pawls and had them subsequently lock up tight or completely fail to engage. Whilst I've suffered this with both steel and alloy components the alloy ones where by far the less reliable. Subsequently, I ensure I ride with steel freehubs of generally reliable reputation. Granted, I've not ridden many modern alloy or ti freehubs. But, in the one instance that I leased a new specialized trail bike for a demo, it's light weight alloy freehub locked up on me and left me doing a little over 8kms of technical trails in fixed gear mode while attempting to not tear the deraileur off the thing. (I wasn't happy or impressed!)

TrojanHorse

So what's the issue with the al alloy freehubs? I know you can damage them by notching them with your cogs but are you saying the underlying mechanicals are also weaker (i.e. the ratchets, pawls etc) How would you know what those are made of if you're shopping for hubs?

ahultin

Just figured i throw a quick update. Posting in this thread regarding colored velocity's sparked me to check on warranty status. To my shock and suprise, velocity warrantied my deep v's! They gave me the choice of sending my wheels to them and they would rebuild or they would just send me the new set to handle myself. I chose the later as a spare set of hoops sounded appealing