Third broken rear wheel in 12 months

roadmanmad

This is definately a record for me.

In January on Trainer - 700c rear wheel - multiple cracks on rim

In July Bontrager x Lite on Road Bike - similar rim crack - wheel lasted another 300 miles

I am after putting these (fatigue style) cracks down to my weight (100kg)

in December on Commuter - 700c on Commuter - Rear derailleur ploughed into wheel and the wheel jammed into frame. At the bike shop it was only discovered that the impact snapped the Rim straight accross. I had to ride it a few miles when it did break. I do not understand how it did not pinch the tube in all that distance.

I hope the front wheels do not start going.

_______________________________________________
A serious hill is one you go down slower than up.

Ryaner

How many miles were you getting out of the wheels? I'm also 100kg+ and am using my bike on the commute to work with rack on the back adding another 10-20kg depending on the day.

roadmanmad

The racer had done 5k done over 4 years when the failure occured.

The trainer about 7k over 7 years - 4th wheel set on a 1982 531 frame - my first racer purchase. I am amazed how this frame keeps performing.

The commuter I did about 500miles in 2008. The bike and wheel were purchased for 70 euro in december 2007. The wheels and bike were ancient and I have no Idea what they had done prior.

All the commuters I usually own are never great and they do get a lot of abuse. I am a very fussy rider. I keep to all the better surfaced road. I learned many years ago that my priority on the road

Safety - mind my wheels

Chips Lovell

roadmanmad wrote: »

I am after putting these (fatigue style) cracks down to my weight (100kg)

I'm 100kg and I've never damaged a wheel in this fashion, and I ride the hell out of my wheels. I'd consider investing in bette wheels.

CheGuedara

Roadmanmad, what type of wheels are they?

If they're something with a low spoke count (24-32) you might just have been using wheels to delicate for your weight.

You may have to consider going for something hand build as a replacement. Look at wheels with 36 spokes. Also consider a touring rim, which are just a bit wider and run wider tyres, 700x26 or more. If you can you could also spec higher number of spoke crosses. A 4 cross, 36 spoke wheel built on a touring rim *should* be essentially indestructable

roadmanmad

I wish it were that as simple.

I have 7 bikes

3 x road
3 x mountain
1 x mini special

In wheels alone replacement value to current value, it about 500-800 euro not including the special as I have no available wheels (7 inch diameter). An upgrade has to deliver a benefit. In reality they are not going to make me any faster. so they need to deliver a cost performance.

For me a good back wheel is 100 -150 euro. Over the 5k life wheel like that is 0.02- 0.03c/mile. The commuter 531 wheel back wheel when replaced in 2007 delivered 0.007c per mile.

An upgrade may save 0,25kg on wheel weight which is the equivalent of 1kg of my body weight. Just remember, crap happens out there and any wheel can be damaged on any day.

I have replaced like with like all year, hopefully I will be updating the forum in a few years on the next set.

roadmanmad

CheGuedara wrote: »

If they're something with a low spoke count (24-32) you might just have been using wheels to delicate for your weight.

You may have to consider going for something hand build as a replacement. Look at wheels with 36 spokes. Also consider a touring rim, which are just a bit wider and run wider tyres, 700x26 or more. If you can you could also spec higher number of spoke crosses. A 4 cross, 36 spoke wheel built on a touring rim *should* be essentially indestructable

They are bontrager race lite (16 spokes front and 24 back) as far as I remember. The trainer is 24 spokes.

The idea of having all 3 bikes on 700c is that the set-up's are identical and this benefits my road cycling mileage. I am not unhappy with the perfomance of the wheels. It was just the occurence of 3 back wheel failures that I found unusual.

CheGuedara

roadmanmad wrote: »

They are bontrager race lite (16 spokes front and 24 back) as far as I remember. The trainer is 24 spokes.

The idea of having all 3 bikes on 700c is that the set-up's are identical and this benefits my road cycling mileage. I am not unhappy with the perfomance of the wheels. It was just the occurence of 3 back wheel failures that I found unusual.

Oh definitely keep to 700c. I wouldnt suggest changing that at all - by touring rims I meant wider rims. It does sound as though you're definitely riding wheels too light for your frame. An example of companies that realise that bigger cyclists require stronger wheel build would be Zipp - they make Clydesdale versions of their wheels; same rims (essentially) but more spokes. I suspect this is the direction you should go to minimise the number of future wheel failures.

Mr. Skeffington

The braking surface of the rim should be checked every few months, there is usually a little indent in the rim which is used as a wear indicator. If you do not keep you wheels clean and brake pads clean or if you let your brake pads wear right down this can damage the side walls. I reccomend taking the calipers off the bike every few months and getting a knife to scrape the dirt out of the channels in the brake blocks, if the pads are worn beyond the wear limit indicator, change them straight away. This I would check before each spin.

Although you have not ridden many miles on your wheels they are quite old. Also if you keep your bike outdoors all of the time this could decrese the life expectancy. If your rear mech is not adjusted correctly and goes into the spokes even a good quality wheel will be destroyed.

The more you spend on your wheels does not neccessaraly get you a longer lasting or better quality wheel, most of the time its just a weight saving. If I was 100kg's and using these wheels for commuting I would go for a set of Mavic rims with re-inforced eyelets, like the Mavic Open Pro's, I would not reccomend anything with less than 28 spokes and I would get the wheels built in a 3 cross configuration with good quality DT Swiss spoke and threadlock nipples. You might want to go for a good quality coating on the rim like the Mavic CD process.

Anyway best of luck with it.

blorg

Mr Skeffington's point about rim wear from braking is a good one but unlikely to be the cause of your issue as your failures are on the back wheel while you generally brake mostly with the front.

Back wheel failures are probably more to do with the weight I would imagine although as you don't seem to be using wheels with a rider weight limit maybe you have just been very unlucky. 100kg is on the heavy side but not crazily so.