27" Heavy Duty Rear Wheel

Hi,

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride. Unfortunately, I
am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have
broken two spokes on each ride.

So, I am looking for a sturdier rear wheel. Any suggestions? Is it
possible to get 27" tandem rear wheel? Would it fit an older 10-speed?

The rear wheel I have right now is a 36 spoke wheel.

Thank You

harris cycle has 27" sunrim cr-18 double wall
with DT 14
and conti TT pumped to 80
and a deore hub
that will go 1500 per hub rebuild
3000 for drive side spokes
that should do it

jware30 wrote:

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride.
Unfortunately, I am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have broken two spokes on each ride.


Hey fellow LI rider, what kind of spokes are on that wheel? Are they
stainless steel?

A 36-spoke wheel should support just about any weight IF it's well
built. I would suggest you rebuild your current wheel with DT
Competition (double butted) spokes in 14-15-14 gauge. Find a good local
wheel builder or get "The Bicycle Wheel" and learn how to do it
yourself.
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/books.html#brandt


Art Harris

Quoting jware30 :
So, I am looking for a sturdier rear wheel. Any suggestions? Is it
possible to get 27" tandem rear wheel? Would it fit an older 10-speed?

27" tandem rims are still available, but I think you will find it almost
impossible to find a hub drilled for 36 spokes which is not intended for
use with tandem rear spacing, so there's little hope of cramming it into
an old 10-speed frame.

Perhaps build quality of the existing wheel is the issue? Except for the
occasional exceptionally heavy individual named Cholina, a 36-spoke wheel
should be OK for any single rider if well-built.
--
David Damerell Distortion Field!
Today is First Chedday, June - a public holiday.

I suspect the spokes are standard.

The web is a small place indeed, to run into a fellow LIer.

Can you recommend anyone on the Island to rebuild the wheel with
heavier spokes?

Thank You

Art Harris wrote:
jware30 wrote:

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride.
Unfortunately, I am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have broken two spokes on each ride.


Hey fellow LI rider, what kind of spokes are on that wheel? Are they
stainless steel?

A 36-spoke wheel should support just about any weight IF it's well
built. I would suggest you rebuild your current wheel with DT
Competition (double butted) spokes in 14-15-14 gauge. Find a good local
wheel builder or get "The Bicycle Wheel" and learn how to do it
yourself.
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/books.html#brandt


Art Harris

"jware30" writes:

Hi,

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride. Unfortunately, I
am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have
broken two spokes on each ride.

Are you more than 240 lbs ?? If not, then i don't think it's your
weight that is breaking these spokes.

First i'd make sure it's an aluminum rim and aluminum hub. Not worth
keeping if the rim is made of steel because braking performance will
be poor and indeed i can imagine that a stiff steel rim might impart
higher forces to the spokes.

Second, i'd make sure its a 36 spoke wheel. If you weigh a lot you
probably get reliable service from a 32 or 28-spoke rim.

Then, i'd make sure it was laced with new 14-gauge (not 15-gauge)
spokes, or maybe 14-15 double butted spokes - sturdy stuff.

I'd look at the broken spokes to diagnose the problem. Are they
shearing at the hub? It could be the hub is too cheap with no counter
sinks and it could be that this is literally cutting off the spokes -
in that case the rim would not be the problem. You either need a new
hub or if you love these ones you need to de-spoke the wheel and
de-burr and file counter-sinks into the holes.

Finally, if the hub is properly counter sunk and the spokes are all 14
gauge or 14-15 db then I'd take the rim to a skilled wheel builder for
a rebuild to make sure that it can be trued up tight with even tension
on all the spokes.

When you take the wheel in to get trued ask the builder to show you
their spoke tensionometer. If they don't know what you are talking
about go elsehwere.

If the rim is significantly out of round (1cm) then you won't be able
to get the wheel trued without imparting excessive force with some
spokes, making it likely that those spokes will fail.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

"jware30" writes:

Hi,

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride. Unfortunately, I
am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have
broken two spokes on each ride.

Are you more than 240 lbs ?? If not, then i don't think it's your
weight that is breaking these spokes.

First i'd make sure it's an aluminum rim and aluminum hub. Not worth
keeping if the rim is made of steel because braking performance will
be poor and indeed i can imagine that a stiff steel rim might impart
higher forces to the spokes.

Second, i'd make sure its a 36 spoke wheel. If you weigh a lot you
probably will not get reliable service from a 32 or 28-spoke rim.

Then, i'd make sure it was laced with new 14-gauge (not 15-gauge)
spokes, or maybe 14-15 double butted spokes - sturdy stuff.

In that era most wheels OEM were 36 hole aluminum with 14-gauge
spokes, so you can probably skip below if the wheel is OEM.

I'd look at the broken spokes to diagnose the problem. Are they
shearing at the hub? It could be the hub is too cheap with no counter
sinks and it could be that this is literally cutting off the spokes -
in that case the rim would not be the problem. You either need a new
hub or if you love these ones you need to de-spoke the wheel and
de-burr and file counter-sinks into the holes.

You can also break a lot of spokes if your chain has been thrown into
the spokes a few times - this will gouge the spoke and that may be
enough to weaken them and cause them to fail since the drive side
takes most of the stress in the wheel.

Finally, if the hub is properly counter sunk and the spokes are all 14
gauge or 14-15 db and they have no gouges then I'd take the rim to a
skilled wheel builder for a rebuild to make sure that it can be trued
up tight with even tension on all the spokes.

When you take the wheel in to get trued ask the builder to show you
their spoke tensionometer. If they don't know what you are talking
about or can't show it to you then find someone better.

If the rim is significantly out of round (1cm) then you won't be able
to get the wheel trued without imparting excessive force with some
spokes, making it likely that those spokes will fail.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

jware30 wrote:

I suspect the spokes are standard.

Some of those older wheels used zinc plated spokes rather than
stainless. They may also be 15 gauge.

Can you recommend anyone on the Island to rebuild the wheel with
heavier spokes?

Try "The Kreb Cycle" in Bellport. Speak to Chris.

http://krebcycle.com/site/intro.cfm

Art Harris

i asked brown about the tandem tandem rim is a tandem and outdated or
kinda obsolete with the CR-18
and the tandem is specifically meant for a wider tire-a standard conti
TT and the TT has a modern fat height width ratio is too narrow for the
tandem rim.
i went through your problem with an '87 raleigh for HD touring.
the cr-18 solved the problem with the DT spokes-i was getting stuck
with generic spokes fron the generic LBS stock-shheeet!
the cr stays round and the Conti is braced all sides with aramid so
when pumped hard is doesn't squooshflat-stays more or less round three
sides.

jware30 wrote:
Hi,

I have a 20+ year old Motobecane that I love to ride. Unfortunately, I
am a heavy guy and on my last two rides (60 miles, 100 miles) I have
broken two spokes on each ride.

So, I am looking for a sturdier rear wheel. Any suggestions? Is it
possible to get 27" tandem rear wheel? Would it fit an older 10-speed?

The rear wheel I have right now is a 36 spoke wheel.

Thank You

27inch rims are not that hard to find. Velocity makes a nice one called
a Twin Hollow.
Don't know how heavy you are, but a 40h/4cross, with a Phil hub, laced
to a TwinHollow would be very durable.