36 holes - why not?

[Clean39T]

I've tended to just sell off any 36 hole wheels that land in my garage. But the latest pair is so nice that I'm thinking of keeping them and letting some others go instead.

And of course instead of just trusting my experience, I'm curious if there are any real drawbacks to running 36 hole wheels in terms of ride quality.

I always figured they'd be overly stiff. But giving that I'll be running them with 32-36c tires, at 45psi or less, does that at all matter?

4 spokes worth of weight is insignificant here.

And aerodynamics behind fat tires doesn't seem worth sweating either.

Where are others landing on this these days?

[ultraman6970]

If you are going to ride 15 mph - 25 mph... I would not care too much.

Some guys are too into aero and super light stuff, and honestly to go 25 to 40 km/h you can do that with a 12 kg bike w/o any problem if you are trained obviously :P

[m_sasso]

Cleaning them is no fun at all, 8 spokes more expensive and limited modern rim availability with 36 holes, besides this little to write or worry about.

[bicycletricycle]

Perhaps a little slower but with fat tires I don’t think you can really feel it. I like them for the long term durability

[Ralph]

All wheels had 36 spokes when I started riding. Also used some 280 g tubular rims then for light wheels. Some bikes used 40 spoke rears.

I would still use 36 spoke rears for just riding wheels if I weighed over 200. If not racing. Why not? (if I could find hubs and rims)

[martl]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

I always figured they'd be overly stiff. But giving that I'll be running them with 32-36c tires, at 45psi or less, does that at all matter?

It doesn't, and they aren't.

[Gummee]

One of the benefits is that if you break a spoke, there are more of them left to support the load. While I never did it, I heard stories from teammates that raced 35h wheels when they broke a spoke and didn't have time to fix their wheel before the next race.

My personal $.02 is that low spoke count wheels don't belong on gravel. ...but YMMV as with everything

M

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

I've tended to just sell off any 36 hole wheels that land in my garage. But the latest pair is so nice that I'm thinking of keeping them and letting some others go instead.

And of course instead of just trusting my experience, I'm curious if there are any real drawbacks to running 36 hole wheels in terms of ride quality.

I always figured they'd be overly stiff. But giving that I'll be running them with 32-36c tires, at 45psi or less, does that at all matter?

4 spokes worth of weight is insignificant here.

And aerodynamics behind fat tires doesn't seem worth sweating either.

Where are others landing on this these days?

The only difference is if the spoke breaks on a 32h set and wouldn't on a 36h set.

NO difference in ride quality...about 30 grams heavier(an average banana weighs 3 times that)..Lots of marketing and BS about low(er) spoke count wheels and 'bomb proof', 'overbuilt', 'boat anchor' type crappola.

The way to make a light wheelset is to use a light hubset, light rimset and adequate number of spokes. 'Wheel designers' remove 12-18 spokes(about 3 or 4 OUNCES, about 100 or so grams) BUT then add 200 grams to the rim to make it reliable..BUT sure looks cool at the coffee shop and the ooos-ahhhs when the 'other guy' lifts the bike, 'damn, sure is light with those wheels!!'..

Yikes..The immortal Jobst Brandt(RIP sir), thought the 'ideal' wheelset was a light rimset and 40h rear and 28h front..

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by m_sasso

Cleaning them is no fun at all, 8 spokes more expensive and limited modern rim availability with 36 holes, besides this little to write or worry about.

Pretty funny...about 8Bucks on that $500++ wheelset..YES, availability is adios(Velocity, a few others)..BUT from above, marketing, pablum...

[Pastashop]

Just look at this nonsense design with too many, too densely spaced spokes:



Stupid engineers, didn't know any better... If they reduced the number of those vertical-running, skinny tension members, they totally could have made the whole bridge lighter and more durable!

[ghammer]

Go for it, especially if you are heavy or muscled. I have a pair of 32h 3x on my winter bike and it has served me very well. One aspect to notice is those wheels can be a bit *too* stiff. I forgot about it actually. When I put lighter(ish) wheels on the same bike, the ride quality improved dramatically. That is with keeping everything the same: tire width, pressure, and both wheels have 23mm wide rims. Even with 28mm tires the difference is quite stark. But I say go for it, they're indestructible and won't hold you back.

[palincss]

A few years ago, I was leading a 60 mile ride from Thurmont MD to the Gettysburg Battlefield. That same morning, a fast group in our bike club was doing a ride in Nanjemoy MD.

About 2 hours into my ride, one of the riders broke a spoke. He was on his touring bike which has V section rims and 36 spokes. We were about 45 minutes out of Fairfield PA, about 4 miles from the Sachs covered bridge at the time, at a spot in the middle of nowhere. The Sachs bridge was the closest place where you could actually sit down if you had to hang out and wait, and it would have been an hour's walk to get there.

And it would have been a good long wait, too: 40 miles to finish the ride and get back to Thurmont -- in view of all the sightseeing we were going to do in the Battlefield, at least 4 hours -- and then the best part of another hour to drive from Thurmont back for the rescue.

Since his wheel had V section rims with 36 spokes, it didn't get out of shape at all. We taped the broken spoke to an adjacent spoke and he went on to do the entire ride.

Meanwhile, back at Nanjemoy, at almost the same time, one of the riders in the other group also broke a spoke. Pretty much all of Nanjemoy is the middle of nowhere, including the spot where he was when his spoke broke. No stores, nowhere to get water. One good thing, everywhere you look there's a good tree to get behind for a bio-break.

His wheel was one of those low spoke count aero wheels with around two dozen spokes, and it immediately went out of shape so badly it jammed in the chainstays.

He spent the better part of the day sitting by the side of the road in the middle of the woods waiting for the ride to get back to the starting point, so that someone could come back with a pickup truck and rescue him.

[ryker]

If you're building new wheels (perhaps around 36h hubs on hand), you can use lighter spokes to ensure wheels are supple to your liking.

[bikinchris]

My philosophy is very old school: unless your wheels are race day only, it should be a strong enough wheel that it doesn't need lots of attention. You shouldn't have to true wheels or worry that if you break a spoke, your ride is over.

[OperaLover]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

The only difference is if the spoke breaks on a 32h set and wouldn't on a 36h set.

NO difference in ride quality...about 30 grams heavier(an average banana weighs 3 times that)..Lots of marketing and BS about low(er) spoke count wheels and 'bomb proof', 'overbuilt', 'boat anchor' type crappola.

The way to make a light wheelset is to use a light hubset, light rimset and adequate number of spokes. 'Wheel designers' remove 12-18 spokes(about 3 or 4 OUNCES, about 100 or so grams) BUT then add 200 grams to the rim to make it reliable..BUT sure looks cool at the coffee shop and the ooos-ahhhs when the 'other guy' lifts the bike, 'damn, sure is light with those wheels!!'..

Yikes..The immortal Jobst Brandt(RIP sir), thought the 'ideal' wheelset was a light rimset and 40h rear and 28h front..

What he said! Seriously! I built up s pair of 36H tubies and they are a joy to ride! However, I also like steel bikes and tubies so what does that say about me?!?!