Wardrive

Hello,

Hoping some here may be able to point me in the right direction. A good friend of mine is looking for some REALLY strong wheels for his Long Haul Trucker.

Here is the deal....he is a BIG guy at 280+ lbs. and he rides a lot, about 250+ miles a week. He cannot seem to find a set of wheels that can stand up to his size and miles, they all seem to fail.

Do any of you have any recommendations for a strong 700c wheelset that can carry a load and stand up under some serious miles?

Thanks in advance.

David

MNBikeguy

Special order 40 spoke wheelsets.
Peter White makes them as well as others.

Wardrive

I went to his site, seems to be a custom builder?

Is there a wheelset that could be recommended that is more readily available from QBP or J&B?

bigfred 

He's the same size as me and I've racked up thousands of miles on simple Ultegra/Mavic OpenPro's laced 36, 3x with 14 ga straight spokes.

If he's interested in going stronger than that: the following would all offer even more durability, assuming a good build, stress relief and tensioning,

Mavic A719's
Velocity Deep V's
Sun Cr18's or Rhynolites
D.T. 1.1dbl or 1.2 if 32 spokes are still fine

Any of these laced 3x or 4x cross with quality 14ga. straight or dbl butted spokes and brass nipples by knowledgable wheelsmith (they're not all equal) should be capable of providing thousands of trouble free miles to your friend. If he really wanted to, or was considering loaded touring, he could up the spoke count on the A719's or Deep V's to 40 and really should be good to go. Regardless, the quality of his wheels and subsequent experiences will be dependent upon the skill and attention of his wheel builder.

kayakdiver

This is what I'd recommend as well. Have your friend give him a call. Listen to what he has
to say..... I have a Peter White built rear wheel and it is worth every penny.

kyakdiver

bigfred 

Any readily available wheels are going to be machine built with minimal stress relieving and therefore, require a bit of hand care before and/or shortly after their initial break-in. Some of the rims I've listed above should be available as stock builds, specially Open Pro's, A719's and Deep V's. Just make sure they get a proper(tension meter/gauge) tensioning very early in their life and probably a second or third time over the first several hundred miles. After that, they should be good to go with only periodic checks. However, the way a clyde rides has as much to do with wheel life as the components and build. It's important that your friend learn to "ride light" on his wheels, flowing over road obstructions and generally using his legs to absorb shock instead of allowing the wheels to take the full impact. Also, 25mm or 28mm tires go a long way to helping with clyde wheel durability.

Cyclesafe

Nuclear bomb-proof (but very heavy) wheels:

Kris Holm 700c (or Sun Rhyno Lite) 36 hole rims

https://www.krisholm.com/khu/rims

Wheelsmith 13 gauge butted spokes w/brass nipples

https://www.wheelsmith.com/spokes_dh13.html

Phil Wood hubs (or White Industries, DT Swiss 340's)

Wardrive

Awesome, thanks for the leads! I will send him these links and have him do some research. I know he has been running Continental 37 tires with Tuffy liners.

BigBlueToe

+1 for Peter White. I like his guarantee.

xyzzy834

I've posted these picture before, but I'll show them again. I was about the same size (a little heavier) as your friend when I took up bike touring. I needed to haul myself, my racks, and gear in a reliable way. Peter White built me some awesome tandem strength wheels. They are as true today as they were five years ago when they were new. I've never broken a spoke.

I'm considerably lighter today than I was five years ago. I still appreciate the safety margin these wheels afford me. I'm sure there are other wheel builders can build quality wheels, but I've been extremely pleased with the way mine have stood up.

They are (now discontinued) Mavic A520 double wall rims, Phil Wood hubs, and 48 double-butted stainless spokes for each wheel.

stevage

Wow, talk about overkill