Wheels for a 13 stone rider?

promethius

I've had two incidents of spokes breaking on the stock wheels of my boardman pro in the last 8 weeks or so.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/product/review-boardman-pro-carbon-10-35381/
I feel like i can't trust the bike now in a race so something needs to be done.
Are there any good replacement wheels i could get or indeed do anything with the existing wheels? It's a year old.
It's for triathlons
thanks a lot

Chips Lovell

I've heard loads of complaints about the Ritchey Wheels that come with that Boardman. 13st isn't that heavy, so I'd say its the wheels' fault, not yours. What's your budget?

C3PO

If you're looking for value (and if there are any left!) you won't go wrong here!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056291866

13st is not really heavy - I weigh a bit more and I've never broken a spoke but I work hard to avoid potholes and try to unweight the bike where they're unavoidable!

NMK2008

I am over 13stone, and find Mavics, fulcrums, campag, eastons all very solid wheels... and should handle your weight no problem.

seamus

Are the breaks all on the drive side? Similar thing happened to me on an MTB and someone here asked me the same question.
Turns out that I had a habit of starting/stopping in very high gears, which puts a lot of pressure on the wheel (and your knees!) when starting off from lights. Get used to dropping gears when you come to a stop so that you can take off without having to slam on the pedals. Sorted the problem for me.

kilns

I am a good good bit over 13 stone and I have the Ultegra wheels on my planet x and I have done alot of Km's, including a 1000km cycle through France on them with no bother at all.

One my second bike I have the Mavic Aksiums and they are bomb proof in my opinion. Cyclesuperstore have them as their online special this week at around 120 for the pair

blorg

Whatever you do about new wheels, try to get the existing ones fixed under warranty. They shouldn't be breaking, and it is not exactly a cheap bike. A retensioning could fix them.

C3PO

blorg wrote: »

Whatever you do about new wheels, try to get the existing ones fixed under warranty. They shouldn't be breaking, and it is not exactly a cheap bike. A retensioning could fix them.

In Halfords .....

michael196

13 stone here, Mavic aksium race as came with the bike. no problems. get the spokes checked for tension and readjused in a bke shop. ( should be part of a routine service).

jtwoods

I just got rid of a set of Easton Vista wheels for the same reason. After 5500 Km the back wheel basically started to disintegrate.
I took some advice from a bike mechanic and got a set hand-built. I went for Mavic Open Pro Rims, Double-Butted Spokes and Ultegra Hubs. Delighted with them, €300 the pair.

ednwireland

jtwoods wrote: »

I just got rid of a set of Easton Vista wheels for the same reason. After 5500 Km the back wheel basically started to disintegrate.
I took some advice from a bike mechanic and got a set hand-built. I went for Mavic Open Pro Rims, Double-Butted Spokes and Ultegra Hubs. Delighted with them, €300 the pair.

sensible choice but nowhere near bling enough

promethius

thanks for all the quick replies guys, to answer some of the questions,

The breaks were not both on the drivetrain side
I want to spend a sum on new wheels to do the bike justice, I'm not the quickest on the bike but do enjoy it. What kind of coin should i be looking at?
Reliability is paramount
I will be getting the wheel repaired and checked
I checked that special offer it looked nice but was expired unfortunately.

would something like this work: reviews are good and seems good price?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing-5-clincher-wheelset/

BostonB

Were all the spokes tight. Perhaps it wasn't set up right and then you hit a few potholes which loosened it up a bit more. Then one spoke which was taking all the tension, just broke.

People around here seem to suggest a wheel upgrade is one of the most worthwhile upgrades to do. So maybe its no harm to do that.

Jawgap

The ritcheys on the boardmans are prone to nipple loosening (oooh-ah, missus):) Mine (the ritcheys, not me nips!) have given sterling service over the last couple of years.

However, the Ambrosios I had on another bike barely made it through the winter and spokes started going with alarming regularity. I put it down to the roads but when the hub went, the mechanic I took it too said the salt on the roads was causing a lot of wheel problems by accelerating corrosion.

Anyway, replaced them with a set of Fulcrum 5s - super wheel, I've found and rock solid.

promethius

i checked the spokes on the wheel after the break and they all appeared tight but perhaps the one that broke was loose. i know i can get it fixed but i've lost faith in them with both of them having let me down in quick succession. with all the training and time that goes into preparing for an event a failure like that just isn't acceptable.
Thanks for feedback on the fulcrums
Nipple loosening, it sounds so much better than it acutally is

Beasty

It's rather depressing to think that it's over 35 years since I weighed 13 stone - maybe that should be my next target;)

I've ridden Fulcrums with no particular problems (apart from the odd broken spoke) - same with Mavics - they will go out of true occassionally, particularly given the state of our roads but there are some good wheelsmiths out there who can sort them out if you don't feel confident about doing it yourself

cdaly_

Beasty wrote: »

It's rather depressing to think that it's over 35 years since I weighed 13 stone - maybe that should be my next target;)

That's easy, just eat more...

Lemag

promethius wrote: »

would something like this work: reviews are good and seems good price?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing-5-clincher-wheelset/

At 13 stone (83kg) there aren't too many wheels out there which shouldn't suit you. I've never used Fulcrums. However, if you're running Conpagnolo components then you can find the '09 5s here for much cheaper than stated on your Wiggle link. Knock a further 10% off by freely signing up for their VIP membership.

blorg

The Ritchey WCS DS wheels that bike comes with are quite high-end, (claimed!) 1460g weight and maybe a touch more aero than a box section. Fulcrum 5s would be a downgrade. An upgrade, especially considering your use for tri, means deep section carbon, starting with something like the Mavic Cosmic Carbone.

I would get the Ritchey wheels fixed. Halfords *should* do this under warranty, maybe sending them back to Ritchey, but if you don't have confidence in them pay a competent wheelbuilder to look at them. It should not be that expensive, maybe €15-20. I had a similar problem with *much* cheaper wheels and after breaking 2 spokes early on had the rear retensioned and no problems since.

bcmf

The best wheels on a budget that are pretty much bombproof and are fairly decent in the bling stakes are the Pro-Lite Como's.
In ribble at the mo .
Put them in your basket and add the promo code of PRO40 and they will prob come in delivered at under €100. Deffo a huge deal and trust me they dont wince with a 13st + rider on them.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/Pro-Lite-WHEELS-FACTORY-ROAD-TRI-Pro-Lite-Como-Clincher-Wheels-Pair/PROLWHFR200

promethius

hey guys thanks for all that. i've got the wheel back repaired now but think a rebuild would make sense as per one of the suggestions.
Does anyone know a good one in the sligo area?
the deep dish aero would be excellent but to be honest it's out of budget, they are so expensive! how can they be so expensive
Anyways i think my plan might be to get the rebuild done and then get a more basic set of wheels for training on and use the rebuilt richleys for racing.
If you're doing this the front wheel is easy enough to manage but do you normally get another cassestte for the back wheel and just leave it on?