Road Bike Wheels for 210 lb rider

Hi, I currently ride a 2004 Fuji Roubaix Pro steel bike.The wheelset is a
Ritchey Aero comp 28 spoke front and rear with Specialized All condition Pro
700x25 tires. I'm currently riding approx 60 miles a week. My goal is to
work up to a century ride this fall and lose 25 lbs. My current weight is
210 lbs.
So here's my question: Should I replace my current 28 spoke wheelset with a
32 or 36 spoke set? I'm 49 years old so speed and weight are not my primary
concerns. My main concerns are getting home with minimal blood loss and
pain, and reliability. I don't mind fixing flats, but, breaking spokes and
rims makes me uneasy.

I live in Orange County in Southern Calif., so if any of you know of a good
wheel builder in my area, I'd like to hear from you.
Thanks, Mike

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 05:44:48 +0000, Mike Jenkins wrote:

Hi, I currently ride a 2004 Fuji Roubaix Pro steel bike.The wheelset is a
Ritchey Aero comp 28 spoke front and rear with Specialized All condition
Pro 700x25 tires. I'm currently riding approx 60 miles a week. My goal is
to work up to a century ride this fall and lose 25 lbs. My current weight
is 210 lbs.
So here's my question: Should I replace my current 28 spoke wheelset with
a
32 or 36 spoke set?

If you're not having issues with the wheels, don't bother--the Roubaix is
spec'ed for heavy duty riding so I wouldn't worry.

Since you're not a weight weenie, I would suggest going for an even wider
tire, perhaps a 28, which you could run at a slightly lower pressure to
give more comfort and protection against wheel snafus. I went from 23 to
25 to 28 this last year in tire width and really can't notice a rolling
resistance difference, though there probably is a tiny one. The comfort
level, though is quite noticeable.

Gosh - I have been using 32 spoke standard (stock) Mavic wheels which
came with my Lemond Buenos Aires since 1999, and have over 10,000 miles
on this bike.

I had them "stress relieved" upon purchase, and have them trued each
year (but they generally need very little adjustment). I have weighed
from 245 to 215 - never got down to 210. I have used 700x23 and
currently 700 x 25 new model Specialized Armadillos. It rides very
smoothly - like a dream!

So far, so good. No broken spokes nor any other problems.

My mtn bike (1998) did break a spoke last year at 10,000 miles. It is
a cheapo Specialized Hardrock with 36 spokes. Had it replaced and
trued. So far, so good.

Mike Jenkins wrote:

I live in Orange County in Southern Calif., so if any of you know of
a good wheel builder in my area, I'd like to hear from you.

Chuck from Rainbow Bikes in Laguna is a really good wheel builder. He did some
MTB wheels for me several years ago which were the most trouble free I've ever
had, despite sub-400g rims. I put tens of thousands of miles on them without
truing once.

So call Rainbow and ask for Chuck personally (he's the owner). I can't vouch
for anyone else there. If Chuck is still building wheels, I'm sure he'd do road
wheels too.

Matt O.

If you are not breaking spokes then you are probably OK with the 28 spoke
wheels. Ordinarily, I would recommend anyone over 200 lbs buy the 32 or
36 - 3x or 4x cross spoke wheels just for extra strength, especially if you
like to stand up and charge up the hills which puts a lot of stress on the
rear wheel.

Sid

"Mike Jenkins" wrote in message
ink.net...
Hi, I currently ride a 2004 Fuji Roubaix Pro steel bike.The wheelset is a
Ritchey Aero comp 28 spoke front and rear with Specialized All condition
Pro 700x25 tires. I'm currently riding approx 60 miles a week. My goal is
to work up to a century ride this fall and lose 25 lbs. My current weight
is 210 lbs.
So here's my question: Should I replace my current 28 spoke wheelset with
a 32 or 36 spoke set? I'm 49 years old so speed and weight are not my
primary concerns. My main concerns are getting home with minimal blood
loss and pain, and reliability. I don't mind fixing flats, but, breaking
spokes and rims makes me uneasy.

I live in Orange County in Southern Calif., so if any of you know of a
good wheel builder in my area, I'd like to hear from you.
Thanks, Mike

If you are not breaking spokes then you are probably OK with the 28 spoke
wheels. Ordinarily, I would recommend anyone over 200 lbs buy the 32 or
36 - 3x or 4x cross spoke wheels just for extra strength, especially if you
like to stand up and charge up the hills which puts a lot of stress on the
rear wheel.

So what should I expect to happen to my tandem (300 pound bike + team
weight) on my Rolf tandem wheelset (front = 20 spokes, rear = 24 spokes)?


Chris Neary


"Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the
same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on
a bicycle" - Helen Keller

Hi, I currently ride a 2004 Fuji Roubaix Pro steel bike.The wheelset is a
Ritchey Aero comp 28 spoke front and rear with Specialized All condition
Pro 700x25 tires. I'm currently riding approx 60 miles a week. My goal is
to work up to a century ride this fall and lose 25 lbs. My current weight
is 210 lbs.
So here's my question: Should I replace my current 28 spoke wheelset with
a 32 or 36 spoke set? I'm 49 years old so speed and weight are not my
primary concerns. My main concerns are getting home with minimal blood
loss and pain, and reliability. I don't mind fixing flats, but, breaking
spokes and rims makes me uneasy.

I live in Orange County in Southern Calif., so if any of you know of a
good wheel builder in my area, I'd like to hear from you.
Thanks, Mike

Mike: I wouldn't look for trouble where it doesn't currently exist. Spokes
are stronger than back-in-the-day, rims are stronger (and heavier) due to
deeper cross-sections (so they don't bulge out between spokes, as they might
when you get larger distances between them), and we know more about wheel
building (stress-relieving in particular) than we did when men were men and
everything had 36 spokes and maybe even high-flange at that.

Also, rarely do spoke failures occur that lock up a wheel. In fact, that's a
rather exceptional case, and when it does seem to have happened, it's
difficult to know if that in fact was the cause or if it happened because of
something else.

That's not to say there aren't some loser fancy wheels out there, but they
usually become known pretty quickly, especially when they're used on
production bikes (because you have a large enough sample size that, if there
are going to be problems, they show up pretty quickly). I can't speak for
the Ritcheys, but you might ask at a shop or two that sell bikes with the
same wheels and see what they've found.

But again, I wouldn't try too hard to solve problems that don't yet exist.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA