Strong winter wheels - opinions please

[Usget]

I've had Shimano RS11 wheels on my commuter since March and I'm fed up with pinging spokes. I popped one on the rear wheel, had it replaced and the wheel re-trued, only for another one to go on the Box Hill sportive two weeks later. And now one has gone on the front wheel, leading to a wobbly and brakeless last few miles to work this morning.

I'm not *that* powerfully built (I'm about 88kg nowadays, and carry a 5kg-ish bag to work) but I think I'm coming to the conclusion that 16/20 is too few spokes for the combination of London's rough roads and my fat arse epic power.

On the aforementioned Box Hill sportive, they very kindly lent me a Reynolds wheel, and it seemed jolly nice - smooth and fast-rolling. So I was looking at these, as they have 24/28 spokes, and they'd be £160 with the discount Wiggle are currently giving (if I add a fiver's worth of gels or something)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/reynolds-stratus-sport-all...

Any opinions, or alternative suggestions for durable wheels around the £150 mark?

Alternatively does anyone have an R501 front wheel they want to sell me?

[gazza285]

I have an old 500 front wheel here that you can have.

I've got Fulcrum 5s on my cyclocross bike, and I'm 78kg. I've bust two spokes, but that was as a consequence of getting the chain down the back of the cassette, other than that I haven't even had to true them up.

[Kell]

This may be totally wide of the mark here, but I recently bought some Mavic Cross rides for my commuter.

After going through about 20 spokes on my front wheel and maybe 15 or so on my back one, I figured I needed some new wheels.

The reason I went for the Mavics is that they have bladed spokes that can't twist, don't go out of true and haven't (so far) snapped.

No word of a lie, the amount of spokes I went through on my old wheels was a joke. They were cheap and nasty (and clearly badly built).

The new ones are hardly racing wheels, but they are strong. I'm 100kg and they've not even gone slightly out of true.

I apologise in advance if this is not the answer you were looking for.

[Batfink]

Usget said:

I've had Shimano RS11 wheels on my commuter since March and I'm fed up with pinging spokes. I popped one on the rear wheel, had it replaced and the wheel re-trued, only for another one to go on the Box Hill sportive two weeks later. And now one has gone on the front wheel, leading to a wobbly and brakeless last few miles to work this morning.

I'm not *that* powerfully built (I'm about 88kg nowadays, and carry a 5kg-ish bag to work) but I think I'm coming to the conclusion that 16/20 is too few spokes for the combination of London's rough roads and my fat arse epic power.

On the aforementioned Box Hill sportive, they very kindly lent me a Reynolds wheel, and it seemed jolly nice - smooth and fast-rolling. So I was looking at these, as they have 24/28 spokes, and they'd be £160 with the discount Wiggle are currently giving (if I add a fiver's worth of gels or something)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/reynolds-stratus-sport-all...

Any opinions, or alternative suggestions for durable wheels around the £150 mark?

Alternatively does anyone have an R501 front wheel they want to sell me?

I have the RS11 wheelset and am probably 20kg lighter than you. I get a lot of flex on the front wheel as I cycle. They simply dont have enough spokes!

[TheInternet]

Batfink said:

They simply dont have enough spokes!

Or possibly weak rims?

[Batfink]

possibly, but they only have 16 spokes on the front wheel so combined with a shallow rim its not very strong..

[anonymous-user]

Fulcrum 5 or 7's are cheap and strong.

Archetype hand builts are stronger and more expensive.

[Celtic Dragon]

I use Fulcrum 7's as they are cheap as chips (£120 from Merlin when I got them). They support my 88kg ass, over pot holed roads around Beds / Cambs.

[ChrisMCoupe]

My Winter wheels are Mavic Aksiums and I've never broken a spoke or had too much flex issues carrying around up to 90Kg's at my most powerful heaviest.

[Bobley]

ChrisMCoupe said:

My Winter wheels are Mavic Aksiums and I've never broken a spoke or had too much flex issues carrying around up to 90Kg's at my most powerful heaviest.

Me too. Aksiums seam to be tough as owt.

[Usget]

gazza285 said:

I have an old 500 front wheel here that you can have.

Thanks for the offer mate - if you were darn sarf I might take you up on it, but posting is probably going to be more hassle for both of us.

I realised that the Wiggle £40 off sale only applies to clothing - doh! So that makes the Reynolds wheels £200 at full price, and I was hoping not to spend that much having just bought wheels for my nice bike...

Aksiums and 7s are a good shout.

[JEA1K]

Usget said:

Thanks for the offer mate - if you were darn sarf I might take you up on it, but posting is probably going to be more hassle for both of us.

I realised that the Wiggle £40 off sale only applies to clothing - doh! So that makes the Reynolds wheels £200 at full price, and I was hoping not to spend that much having just bought wheels for my nice bike...

Aksiums and 7s are a good shout.

You'll probably get some used Aksiums at a good price as are supplied OEM on a few bikes.

[julianm]

I`d give Spa Cycles in Harrogate a ring - they built great wheels & could do you a pair that would last several winters. If the roads are rubbish & they are under load then something tough like these would probably do, but if you phone & discuss it they`ll be most helpful. Might even have a deal on something ready built.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s... - £176 - Tiagra hubs & lots of rim possibilities, if you got Sputniks you could go looking for potholes just for fun!

[Barchettaman]

I would also strongly recommend a hand built wheel, at least for the back.

I have one on the rear of my commuter/tourer and it´s bomproof, probably the best cycling thing I´ve ever bought, and wasn´t expensive either.

[duff]

No problems so far with my Racing 7s and I'm heavier than you.

[Usget]

Thanks for the opinions chaps. Hadn't really considered hand-builds. I rang my LBS Performance Cycles and they have a set of Tiagra hubs laced to some Mavic 32h rims, which with my club discount come out at £125. I call that a win. They'll doubtless be heavier than the Queen Mary, but I defy myself to snap a spoke!

[anonymous-user]

I have an old pair of F7s which have proven bombproof to date, if youre interested drop me an email, price will be cheap....

[Get Karter]

Usget said:

Thanks for the opinions chaps. Hadn't really considered hand-builds. I rang my LBS Performance Cycles and they have a set of Tiagra hubs laced to some Mavic 32h rims, which with my club discount come out at £125. I call that a win. They'll doubtless be heavier than the Queen Mary, but I defy myself to snap a spoke!

I have a set of those (Tiagra hubs with Mavic Open Sport rims and double butted stainless steel spokes) on my 2nd bike and they are great.
They aren't as light as race wheels but they are not bad considering their strength.
Good choice.

[timnoyce]

I've been riding Shimano 105 hubs laced to Rigida Flyer rims with double butted stainless spokes and brass nipples since June. They are ace. Quite light, rims are cheap as chips so can replace them when they wear out. Think they cost sub £100 for the bits and they weighed in sub 2kg.

I hit some road debris the other day in the dark and heard a massive clatter so I stopped to have a look as it sounded like I must at least have lost half of the spokes in the front wheel. Couldn't see anything so carried on riding. Only when I cleaned the bike at the weekend did I see that one of the spokes has a dog leg in it a couple of inches from the rim. The wheel still spins ok between the brake blocks so will bide my time before replacing it with a new spoke over christmas.

If you want some tough wheels, don't fanny about with low spoke count wheels. 32 spoke, 3 cross with reliable hubs is what you need. Forget the BS and buy something which works!

[Barchettaman]

X2

Quality advice right there!

If you want to go faster, just slap on Conti GP4000s with latex tyres. Job jobbed.