Wheel Recommendations? Big Rider

[nosmur]

Problem:
I'm 6' 2" and 235 lbs. I ride over 4,000/yr. Most of the guys I ride with race. Our rides are aggressive and fast. Currently, I have Mavic Open Pros. I'm tired of having to so frequently true the rear wheel (4-6x/yr). And this morning, I busted a spoke.

I'm looking for stronger wheels. And if possible, I'd like lighter and cooler-looking wheels. Any recommendations? A few guys have suggested the Mavic Ksyrium, but note that it is not as "comfortable" on long rides as traditional spoked wheels. Your thoughts?

Thanks for the help.

[dave thompson]

Based on what you've said about your wheels, I would wonder about the 'build quality' of them.

While maybe not the coolest looking wheel out there, an Open Pro (or any other good rim) 32 or 36 hole laced 3X should last until you've worn down the braking surface on the rims to unacceptable levels.

[Bradford]

I'm your size and I ride CXP 33s, DA hubs, 36 spokes. I had them built by Peter White, but I'm sure any really good builder would be fine. Do you homework and find someone who knows how to build a wheel. (This is a frequent topic for threads on this site).

I always broke spokes on lesser wheels, but not on these.

[jerk]

the big thing is to try and find a wheelset that is going to be strong and fast....sometimes on handbuilt wheels the spoke tension is very uneven to account for the dish.....you can obviously go with more spokes or try to find a hub which builds a more evenly tensioned rear wheel....basically you have the drive side spokes really tight and doing all the work while your non-drive side spokes are all loosey-goosey....the wheel inherantly wants to throw itself out of true....now a great wheel builder can take just about any parts and build a competent wheelset....that being said the jerk would suggest you look at some of the prebuilts. often times these wheels take into account rear dish and one is able to come out with a wheel that is not only stiffer and stronger than some handbuilts but lighter and more aero as well.....current jerk favorites include the mavic cosmic carbone....really stiff, really fast reasonably light and quite durable.....the bontrager race x lite is also a really nice wheelset which seems to hold up under alot of bigger more powerful riders.....if you want handbuilt wheels, the most important factor is the builder.....pick someone you trust who will stand behind his work and has alot of experience.....some of the new offset rims are pretty slick....
jerk

[Climb01742]

i'm not big by any means, but the jerk clued me in to the bontragers and 1) the ride very well, and 2) they appear to be very strong, and 3) they look cool. mavic Ks are about as close to bomb-proof as wheels can come, i think. on the right type of frame -- ti, carbon or ti+carbon -- the frame mellows their ride out nicely...whereas they are, IMO, too harsh for steel or alu frames. i suppose it's possible, but i'd be very surprised if you could have trouble with a pair of Ks when it comes to durability.

[the walrus]

I am also in the large department. My experience so far=

I am not really a spoke breaker but,

Open pros, 32 or 36 hole 3x are good all around but the rear does not hold a true as well as I would like with 9-10 spd spacing, though this does have a lot to do with the build.

Cxp 33 are heavy, but ride well enough. No truing necessary but also they have no current "hotness" factor.

For fancy I wouldn't look much further than the Cosmic Carbons or a pair of zipp 404s built to cross spec (extra sidewall material) or clydsdale spec for the large at heart. (Lots of large folk at Zipp, and they ride their product.)

I wouldn't listen to anyone who doesn't weigh over 200 on the issue of stiffness. your wheels are going to feel a lot different than the same wheel under a 150 lb rider. To me Ksyriums seem a bit flexy and soft.

Also the durability of any of these wheels is in part determined by your riding style and end use. I know a guy that can ride a flat on a mountain bike like I ride a tire inflated to 55lbs.

[chrisroph]

K's are great for big dudes.

[93legendti]

i'm not big by any means, but the jerk clued me in to the bontragers and 1) the ride very well, and 2) they appear to be very strong, and 3) they look cool. mavic Ks are about as close to bomb-proof as wheels can come, i think. on the right type of frame -- ti, carbon or ti+carbon -- the frame mellows their ride out nicely...whereas they are, IMO, too harsh for steel or alu frames. i suppose it's possible, but i'd be very surprised if you could have trouble with a pair of Ks when it comes to durability.


I agree about the K's. I have all 3 incarnations of the K's. I use them on our very lousy Michigan roads and the 1rst 2 sets (1 set for me and 1 set for my wife) have been in my Performance and Tri-all-3 Sports travel cases and survived trips to Napa/Sonoma, Tuscany and Majorca. They have never needed truing.

Despite the rims being heavier than other options out there, they climb very well. I know others find them too stiff. But I'm 5'6', 150 lbs and they are not even close to being too stiff for me.

I hear people actually use the K's on tandems. That says a lot about their strength. The LBS loves Mavic Cosmic Carbones for bigger riders. (I have a 165lb friend who has them and he says they are almost too stiff.) I know Tour riders love them on the flatter stages. The other option is Dave Thomas @ Speed Dream Wheels.

[yeehawfactor]

i'm 6-2 and, currently 205 down from 220. i ride bontrager aeros for the reasons climb04172 mentiond-strong, stiff, ride well, look cool. the aeros are obviously the deep dish wheel-i personally found that the extra strength giained from the rim shape very nice. i really think the aeros look pretty cool-my black and red ones are allright, but the new silver ones are super slick. the only time they were trued is when someone riding next to dr. doofus failed to point out a brick in the road. point being it was human error that led to them being trued. i've ridden ksyriums, and i found that the were fine when riding in a straight line. however they felt a bit squishy maneuvering.

what i always tell guys our size that come in to buy wheels is the we cannot get away with riding most superlight wheels all the time. our weight puts more stress on equipment period, the wheels typically show this the most. you can find something light and cool, but you're going to be visiting your local wheel master a lot.

[dirtdigger88]

I ride with a guy who is 5' 10 and about 265 (I saw him on a scale)- he rides OP's laced to dura ace- To say he is a strong rider is the understatement of the year- Ask Louis- you can kill him on a climb though ;) Anyway- he doesn't break spokes

Jason

[pale scotsman]

So, on them thar bontagers can you peel of those hideous, to me, stickers and they look normal? By normal I mean no seam hidden by the stickers, etc.

Thanks!

[yeehawfactor]

So, on them thar bontagers can you peel of those hideous, to me, stickers and they look normal? By normal I mean no seam hidden by the stickers, etc.

Thanks!
yes, should be fine. i just checked the bonty website, and for some reason there is no '05 product.

[vaxn8r]

I hear people actually use the K's on tandems. That says a lot about their strength.
I may have reported this some time ago. The problem being that they do not last much more than a season if abused as a tandem wheel. They were not built to handle those kind of stresses. The fact that they can, for a time, is a testamant to their build quality.

[Peter]

Forget light; I don't give a crap if the wheels disappeared from the bike, at your weight you wouldn't feel the difference. Your rims aren't the problem; the build quality AND the tires are.

And you aren't going to find magic with the fancy-schmancy boutique wheels. And you want cool looking, too? Well, when you break that spoke on your cool wheels and your buddies ride away, you aren't going to be feeling all smug because your wheels look cool. You're gonna be pissed and depressed all at the same time.

Get yourself an offset rim like a Ritchey OCR. Balanced left to right tension is a good start. If your frame is steel and it's spreadable, spread it to 135mm and use an ATB rear hub, further balancing the tension. Find a good local wheel builder to do the deed of building the wheel regardless of what hub you use.

And to me, the most important tip, which I'm surprised no one else here has mentioned yet, is get yourself some wider tires. Tires will do more to protect your wheel's life span than almost any other spec. If you can't fit 25mm tires on your bike MINIMUM, then find a bike that can because you're a big guy and big riders need more wheel protection. Again, at your weight, any extra weight from added tires is MEANINGLESS compared to your overall weight.

[93legendti]

I may have reported this some time ago. The problem being that they do not last much more than a season if abused as a tandem wheel. They were not built to handle those kind of stresses. The fact that they can, for a time, is a testamant to their build quality.


My wife and I are well under 300 lbs. combined, but I have been too nervous to try it. Heck, I can't believe my friends run 700 x 23c tires on their tandem!

[Bradford]

Right on Peter, you are on target about tires, leave the skinny tires for the small guys. I've ridden on 700 x 25 GPs for a couple of years and wouldn't ride on anything else. They feel great and protect the wheel. I ride 700 x 37s on loaded tours for the same reason.

And Senior Jerk, Climb, et. all., I was looking at some Bontrager X lites last week, mostly becuase of what I've read on the forum, and they look great. (Especially because they are not black). I'm going to take them for a test ride when the snow goes away to see how they feel. Thanks for pointing out things like this to those of us who don't get to try out as many new things.

[scottie]

Hey All,
Just throught i would throw in my 2c. I have been and done the Mavic K thing and though my SLs are holding up well, my 2003 Elites once they broke their first spoke were finished, they were brilliant up to that point, tough as nails, but once that first spoke broke it was all over. The rim pretzeled itself and was unrepairable and required a new rim, which being mavic wasn't cheap.
My advice is a set of cxp 33s with a decent hub, I have a 6.5 year old set of cxp30s and they are still true and haven't been trued in years, literally bombproof. BTW i'm only about 185lbs but they call me the butcher at the LBS as I can break nearly anything.
Thanks for your time!
Scott.

[Needs Help]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and under the Similar Threads list click on:

"Big wheels...or wheels for the BIG"

and read BigMac's post.

[William]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and under the Similar Threads list click on:

"Big wheels...or wheels for the BIG"

and read BigMac's post.

Ditto. I was going to suggest this as well. Lot's of good suggestions there (and here), but Big Mac does an excellent job of laying it out.

William (The wheel killer)

[Too Tall]

My Hero today is PeterW. - rant on my bru-thaaa....rant on.

Since I stopped building my own wheels and started paying someone who does this for a living I have not broken spokes or gained weight and my pimples cleared up.

Honestly, get in cahoots with one of the wheelbuilder mavens frequently mentioned here and "GET r' DONE". For you I'd pick a Velocity Deep V in 32 spoke with any Hugi hub.