Of wheels and such…

[AngryScientist]

what about the HED wheel offerings? they have the emporia and eroica rims out there which look pretty nice for disc rims? not sure of the weight limits on these, but might be worth looking into, HED has consistently put out a quality product.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

(235lbs. + a bike) - savings from 2 Zipp 303S wheels = meaningless weight savings and improvement.

You gain nothing except a lighter wallet.

he gains potentially broken spokes, a crap hub, AND a lighter wallet.

IME if you're over 210-215#, even 'stallion' built wheels are underbuilt. I'd suggest at least a 32h rear wheel, with a 36h being less likely to have issues.

...but it's the OP's wallet, do whatcha want

M

[robertbb]

Originally Posted by Gummee

he gains potentially broken spokes, a crap hub, AND a lighter wallet.

Woohooooo trifecta!!

[marciero]

Originally Posted by geordanh

Hookless is the future...

The industry may be lurching toward hookless (at least for maybe for carbon), but meanwhile they have yet to fully sort out hooked tubeless as far as standards go. And with hookless you add on top of that a completely different rim/tire interface.

How many tires are designed specifically for hookless? It sounds like you are limited to what has to be called "hookless compatible"- tubeless tires designed to work with a hooked rim but that have been found to "play well" with hookless.

In this post Jan Heine claims that Rene Herse worked with Enve and Zipp "to ensure compatibility" of their tires, but all they did was test that their existing tires were safe-didnt blow off these rims.

[fa63]

I have been 220-225 lbs for the last several years, and have probably ridden around 20,000 miles on wheels ranging from HED Emporia (24 spokes), HED Jet 6 (24 spokes), Reynolds AR41 (24 spokes), Campy Zonda (21 spokes), and carbon mountain bike wheels (28 spokes) and have not had a single issue (and I am not exactly easy on equipment). There is more to a wheel's strength than spoke count.

I do agree Zipp hubs are crap :-)

Originally Posted by Gummee

he gains potentially broken spokes, a crap hub, AND a lighter wallet.

IME if you're over 210-215#, even 'stallion' built wheels are underbuilt. I'd suggest at least a 32h rear wheel, with a 36h being less likely to have issues.

...but it's the OP's wallet, do whatcha want

M

[BrazAd]

Originally Posted by fa63

I have been 220-225 lbs for the last several years, and have probably ridden around 20,000 miles on wheels ranging from HED Emporia (24 spokes), HED Jet 6 (24 spokes), Reynolds AR41 (24 spokes), Campy Zonda (21 spokes), and carbon mountain bike wheels (28 spokes) and have not had a single issue (and I am not exactly easy on equipment). There is more to a wheel's strength than spoke count.

I do agree Zipp hubs are crap :-)

I started riding at 265 lbs four years ago. Was down to 225 last year before gaining 10 back. I’ve ridden over 26,000 miles since then.

Carbon - 18,818 miles, no broken spokes (Reynolds, 24 spokes)

Aluminum - 8,000 miles, 3 broken spokes (Mavic, Stan’s and Fulcrum)

So, yeah. I’m gonna upgrade to carbon for responsiveness, durability and ride smoothness. Preferably with 23-25mm inner rim width. Gonna go with hooks after reading the info here - appreciate the input so far!

Gary


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[zap]

HED has a good reputation and I understand their carbon rims are made in the USA.

The Roval Terra CL's......close to 1400 grams with DT Swiss 350 hubs.....hard to beat.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by BrazAd

I started riding at 265 lbs four years ago. Was down to 225 last year before gaining 10 back. I’ve ridden over 26,000 miles since then.

Carbon - 18,818 miles, no broken spokes (Reynolds, 24 spokes)

Aluminum - 8,000 miles, 3 broken spokes (Mavic, Stan’s and Fulcrum)

So, yeah. I’m gonna upgrade to carbon for responsiveness, durability and ride smoothness. Preferably with 23-25mm inner rim width. Gonna go with hooks after reading the info here - appreciate the input so far!

Gary


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I’m 6’3” and down from 225lbs 18 months ago to 188lbs, which is what I raced at on the road and track in my younger days. The weight of wheels for someone my size is a secondary consideration at most. I long ago learned that you have to make it to the finish line to be in contention. I’m much more concerned about durability and build quality.

There are a lot of good gravel wheels out there. The HED wheels are nice, but not inexpensive. I’m really impressed with the Spinergy GXX wheels. I got a set for my wife’s gravel bike, and for the cost, they are an incredible value. I really like the Hadley Racing-designed hubs they are built on.

I ride on the FloCycling G700 wheels on my gravel bike.

https://mountain-road.com/blog/flo-g700-review
https://www.ridinggravel.com/compone...at-the-finish/

They are heavier because they are “aero” and high profile. Aero wasn’t a factor for me, but I wanted a wide internal rim width. They go really good in the flats and and downhills, and I don’t have any issue climbing with them at all. Once they are spinning, they make it easy to maintain speed. They are incredibly comfortable. FLO says that the wheel design allows them to act like a leaf suspension. They also have proven bombproof for me.

I’d tell you to ride the wheels you have to start and see what you think.

[Dired]

There is set of bontrager 37s in the classifieds for a really reasonable price. They carry a lifetime warranty from trek if that's ever a concern. I've been really happy with my bontrager aeolus and zero issues at >210.

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by BrazAd

I started riding at 265 lbs four years ago. Was down to 225 last year before gaining 10 back. I’ve ridden over 26,000 miles since then.

Carbon - 18,818 miles, no broken spokes (Reynolds, 24 spokes)

Aluminum - 8,000 miles, 3 broken spokes (Mavic, Stan’s and Fulcrum)

So, yeah. I’m gonna upgrade to carbon for responsiveness, durability and ride smoothness. Preferably with 23-25mm inner rim width. Gonna go with hooks after reading the info here - appreciate the input so far!

Gary


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Are you attributing broken spokes to the rim material? I don’t have a dog in the hunt on what you ride but not sure the rim material and spoke breaking are related but I’d love to hear others weigh in on this point.


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[BrazAd]

Originally Posted by madsciencenow

Are you attributing broken spokes to the rim material? I don’t have a dog in the hunt on what you ride but not sure the rim material and spoke breaking are related but I’d love to hear others weigh in on this point.

I blame my weight more than anything for broken spokes, but find it's interesting that they all happened with aluminum rims - 3 in 8,000 miles vs. NONE in over 18,000 miles on carbon. That's a huge difference in the ratio!

I'd love to hear others' thoughts as well on this.

Gary

[madsciencenow]

Originally Posted by BrazAd

I blame my weight more than anything for broken spokes, but find it's interesting that they all happened with aluminum rims - 3 in 8,000 miles vs. NONE in over 18,000 miles on carbon. That's a huge difference in the ratio!

I'd love to hear others' thoughts as well on this.

Gary

I was thinking about this more and wonder if it’s a function of the rim being able to flex/deform which results in the spokes breaking whereas with carbon it doesn’t flex. No idea if this is plausible or not. I do know with CF that when it fails it’s pretty catastrophic. Was riding with a buddy across some particularly rough rail road tracks and his tire loudly popped. Took of the wheel to put in a new tube and the CF rim was broke in multiple locations.


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[9tubes]

Carbon rims flex also. One key is that the carbon rims are is a taller triangle which leads to less flex vertically.

The factors in spoke breakage are the number of spokes, the type of spoke (butted vs straight gauge), and whether it has a J-bend at the end or straight pull. DT reported a few years ago that the vast majority of spoke breakage is at the J-bend (I seem to recall 75%). If the rim flexes under a heavy rider it will work the J-bend against the hole in the hub and then crack the spoke.

By the evidence a heavier rider should choose more spokes, thicker spokes, and a straight-pull setup. If quality carbon rims are in the budget, that too.

[robertbb]

Originally Posted by 9tubes

Carbon rims flex also. One key is that the carbon rims are is a taller triangle which leads to less flex vertically.

The factors in spoke breakage are the number of spokes, the type of spoke (butted vs straight gauge), and whether it has a J-bend at the end or straight pull. DT reported a few years ago that the vast majority of spoke breakage is at the J-bend (I seem to recall 75%). If the rim flexes under a heavy rider it will work the J-bend against the hole in the hub and then crack the spoke.

By the evidence a heavier rider should choose more spokes, thicker spokes, and a straight-pull setup. If quality carbon rims are in the budget, that too.

I'm no expert myself, but have read and seen much from wheelbuilders (i.e. folks who do this for a living or are very invested hobbyists) that J-Bend are no less reliable than straight pull (and may even be more so). The contention was that straight pull are easier to build with a machine which is of benefit primarily to factory wheels...

[lavi]

If it were me (and I'm 6'2", 215), I'd get HED Belg +, 32x32 (no worries then), with DT350 hubs and ride off happily into the sunset.

Oh wait, I did do that. Both in 700c and 650b configurations. Both of these wheelsets will outlive me and whatever I can throw at them.