Wheels!

nialo

Hey, got a trek 1.2 08' and im looking to replace the wheels to something a bit more road usable. for all the effort i put into avoiding potholes and dikes in the road my wheels are still getting buckelled. so can anyone recommend wheels or a better way of maintaining what i have?

Raam

What wheels do you currently have?

What is your budget? (before KenMc starts recommending Zipps again)

ba

avoiding potholes is about all the maintenance we're prepared to do. can't recommend a wheelset without knowing what your budget is....? + riding intent, whether racing, touring, club runs etc.

DirkVoodoo

Do you use your bike for commuting? It might be worth having a tough, cheap pair of wheels for the rough work and buying a nicer pair for your spins. I have a bog standard Alex 500 rim on my commuter, 32 spokes both front and back. They are not the greatest rims but I have cycled over all sorts of crap terrain and they are stil remarkably true. I have a set of Aksiums on my road bike and while they aren't subject to the same abuse, they are tough enough to weather the odd pothole or uneven surface.

nialo

Its from commuting mainly and a little bit of fitness work at the weekends.

this is the spec of the bike: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/archive/12
havent changed anything from when i got it yet.

Budget! i can spend a bit but i dont know what is a decent price for good wheels.

Route im taking is tallaght to city center. usually throught terenure/rathmines. some sections are grand but some are shockingly bad. rathmines run to town in particular.

tunney

nialo wrote: »

Its from commuting mainly and a little bit of fitness work at the weekends.

this is the spec of the bike: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/archive/12
havent changed anything from when i got it yet.

Budget! i can spend a bit but i dont know what is a decent price for good wheels.

Route im taking is tallaght to city center. usually throught terenure/rathmines. some sections are grand but some are shockingly bad. rathmines run to town in particular.

I know that route - its not that bad to be honest.

Two questions :

What weight are you?
and
Have you had a proper wheelbuilder rebuild the wheels?

nialo

im 6'5" height about 104kg.

and no apart from dropping it into a repair shop and getting it looked havent done anything special.

tunney

nialo wrote: »

im 6'5" height about 104kg.

and no apart from dropping it into a repair shop and getting it looked havent done anything special.

The term for people of your men of greater than 91kg is clydesdale in cycling terms. Athena for women.

Basicaly there are specific cycling components that are built to withstand the added stresses and strains of a heavier rider. Odds are whatever the wheels you get are unless they are rated for a clydesdale rider you'll mess them up pretty quickly.

ba

for commuting just throw on a pair of Mavic Aksiums.

nialo

LOL so im a draft horse! my weight would vary between 100 and 107. doesnt go above that.

ok taking that into consideration. what wheels would you recommend? i think what i have are just standard enough wheels.

Raam

Maybe it's partly down to your riding style. When I'm approaching an uneven patch of road which has lots of unavoidable bumps, cracks and holes, I will "go light" until I pass it.

short circuit

I would have thought that the standard wheels which came with the bike on alex rims do have 32 spokes per wheel ... and though in no way light ... are plenty strong ... those are the exact same ones which came with my lemond and had no problems over nearly 7000kms ... though I do tried to avoid potholes .. going over rough patches of road did not damage them .. the rear hub has given out .. but the wheel is still true.

I've been using shimano rs10's for commuting in the last month or so ... only 500kms on them ... but no issues so far.

Are you sure you are not aiming for the potholes ... ... or maybe I cycle too slowly that even when I crash into a pothole its not wheel bending.

nialo

i do tend to cut my chops on the way in. have an idea where most of them are at the moment but something they are unavoidable due to buses.

cheers for all the replies. will look at how i cycle and see if i can be more gentle! never being the gentle type! more like a freight train ...

niceonetom

Raam wrote: »

Maybe it's partly down to your riding style. When I'm approaching an uneven patch of road which has lots of unavoidable bumps, cracks and holes, I will "go light" until I pass it.

puh-lease. you don't "go light". you are light.

OP - if it's primarily for commuting, with a bit of leisure riding here and there, i'd think about having a set of wheels made by a decent wheel builder. i've been abusing a set of mavic openpros laced with 32 spokes for a while now and find them excellent. they also have the added advantage of being much easier to true than factory built wheels - though the only time i've ever had to really do any work on them was after a road accident (though luckily i wasn't actually on the bike when it happened). they're not that heavy either.

people here can probably point you to a wheelbuilder. mine were made up in cycleogical. if you really wnat them to be bomb proof you can even go for 36 spokes on the back (or both).

Wez

I'd reccomend trying a larger tire, around 700cx28 guessing you're on 23/25's at the minute but I reckon this could take alot of the bumps out of your ride!

The biggest danger on the Irish roads are the potholes imo, spend more time watching them than the traffic!

Try taking the bash out of them, by pulling up on the bars as you pass over them. I do this on my moped too, with the small wheels you notice them all the time!

Raam

niceonetom wrote: »

puh-lease. you don't "go light". you are light.

You know what I mean though...if you hit a bad bump with your regular weight on the saddle, by god you feel it and your wheels feel it too. But if you lighten your weight on the saddle and lift the front wheel gently, you can glide over the bumps a bit better

nialo

Now to invent a 'go light' button on the bike!


and the front wheel isnt bad. its the rear. rarely stand up on the bike.

blorg

The rear wheel is the wheel that shoulders the most weight and will almost always be the one going out of true or having spokes break. It's also under more stress from being the drive wheel and (I believe) due to the dishing which is not necessary on the front wheel. Hence why in most low-spoke count wheelsets there are more spokes on the rear than the front.

scottreynolds

nialo wrote: »

Now to invent a 'go light' button on the bike!

I swear this was done in 1984 -- didn't E.T. have one of those to avoid houses.

peterk19

I have a trek 1200 with Bontager wheels i had the same problem both wheels kept going out of true and breaking spoke brought them, to humphreys in finglas and got both wheels hand built and they have been perfect ever since so that may be a good option for you

rottenhat

Handbuilt wheels are definitely the way to go - the stock wheels on any bike are machine built and tend to be unevenly tensioned at best. I'm by no means hefty but I've had a lot of spokes break on me and a lot of wheels that can't be trued. By contrast, I rode my first set of handbuilt wheels until one of the sidewalls blew out when I was pumping the tires because braking had worn them down so much (NB I do not recommend you do this).

If you want something rock solid that isn't too heavy I would go with Mavic Open Pro rims laced to Shimano 105 hubs with some reasonably burly spokes. And as someone else said, running a 28mm tire won't hurt if you can fit them.