Wheels for a big chap

[RDBx]

Cracked the rim on my rear road wheel just a mile from home this evening. It's a bontrager race jobbie, less than a year old and has approximately 2k miles on it from fast commuting and longer weekend rides.

I thought a replacement would be as simple as 5 mins on google, wiggle or crc, apparently not if your 110kg and likely to get heavier.

From what I've learned this evening it sounds like a reasonable spec shimano wheel is an option as they don't have weight limits. Alternatively something like a 32h mavic op on hope from the likes of Strava wheels.

Does it sound like I'm on the right track, any other components or companies worth looking at?

[bigdom]

Probably best to have some made, I have a set built by Harry Rowland, work well, have taken my weight and panniers with no complaints. Built around Mavic 36h rear, 32 front. Not the lightest, but neither am I.

[snowdude2910]

I had 36h mavic open pro's before at 110kg give or take with no issues until it was vandalised can buy a rear online for <£100 but can't remember where I found it if I can find it I'll update with link. Worth noting though I have a focus now with 36h standard wheels and that's been fine too so anything 36h might do the trick.

[RDBx]

Thanks, I'll give a couple of builders a call later. I want retain the reasonably light wheel feel as well, the bike is Madone 4.5 so after something that would suit or improve the bike further. Guess my budget has just increased.

[Barchettaman]

36h hand-built wheel.

Job jobbed.

Do not worry about the weight of the thing, that is so utterly insignificant as to be utterly insignificant.

I have a cheap hand built 36h wheel on my commuter, it has maybe 10k km on it, still perfectly true.

[Kermit power]

Did you hit a pothole or something? I weigh more than you do - currently around 117kg - but have yet to manage to damage a wheel in around 10k miles or riding. The worst I've managed, in fact has been a single, solitary broken spoke!

Needless to say, all the wheels on all my bikes will now collapse instantly the next time I sit on them, but those I have at the moment are the following....

Road bike - Fulcrum Racing 7 - Manufacturer recommended weigh limit of 109kg - still beautifully true after 2,172+ miles.

CX (we weather & load carrying commuter) - Ritchey Pro OCR Disc - Ritchey have no weight limits on their wheels - mild distortion after 1,753+ miles, but not enough to worry about, especially as they're discs, so no worry about pad rub. I usually have at least an additional 10kgs of panniers and contents on this bike too.

MTB - Pacenti TL28s - They only have weight limits on the 28 hole rims, and mine are 32. Absolutely lovely, although I've only had them on for about 20 miles!

I get the feeling that the recommended weight limits are just there to cover the manufacturers' arses.

[louiebaby]

Bought my current wheels about 4 years ago when I weighed 125 ish kgs.

Ultegra hubs, 36 hole mavic open pro rims, and double hard bd spokes.

They've been trued once after a particularly heavy pot hole incident.

Now I'm down to 95 kgs, I'm considering replacing them with the same, but 32 holes.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

As above handbuilts are the way to go. TBH you'll be fine on 32 holes from a decent builder. Get good hubs and you can re-rim them when they wear out. I've had my Dura Ace - originally on Open 4CD now on Open Pro - for well over 20 years and they have done 10s thousands of miles and commuted into and out of London for years. They're more or less unbreakable.

[RDBx]

Nothing specific that I can recall but avoiding every pothole is near impossible round here. Had a good chat with strava and came up with a spec and price I was happy with, but they're on a 5 week lead.

I decided to get a stopgap repacement and get some handmade wheels for the end of the summer. I spoke to the original supplying bike shop about obtaining a replacement, they let Trek know, I took some pictures of the cracks and I then recived an email telling me a new set of wheels will be coming on Tuesday under warrenty. I'm impressed.

This gives me a few more months to refine my choices / bank funds and can now certainly stretch to using cx rays. The draw of king hubs is strong too.