Wheels for 700lb guy?

Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.

I bought some Mavic A719 36 hole wheels for my bike and kept an eye
(not good enough, apparently) on them to see if they were still
running true. They ran true for a long time but when did go out, I
already had fatigue cracks around several spokes and I need a new rear
wheel again.

Presumably I had uneven spoke tension that I should have kept an eye
on, and I got cracks from that, causing the wheel to go out of true.
Does that sound right?

There's nothing rough or hard about my ride...the big sin I'm
committing, if any, is not paying enough attention to my spokes on a
regular basis, but I'd really like to come up with a wheel
configuration where I didn't have to ping each spoke every morning and
sit right down there in the driveway with the spoke wrench if
something's off.

I used this subject line because I find plenty of "I'm 250lb and
touring with 50lb of gear and my Mavic A719's are fine" kind of posts
on the internet, but what I want to know is "I'm 300 pounds and want
wheels I can ignore at least a little in the interest of just getting
into work." I'm not saying I'm not going to true the things, I'm just
saying I want to do it on Saturday and I don't want eight miles of out-
of-true ride to be an absolute death knell for my wheels

Is that a ridiculous hope? Is the 300-lb fat-guy wheel **with a
margin of error** a pipe dream, at least in a price range under
several hundred bucks? Hopefully I'm not offending everyone by even
asking ;-)

I've gone through a couple decent sets of rims with fatigue cracks
around the spoke holes (yes, both were eyeletted), and I suppose it's
just my fault for being cavalier about maintenance but it seems like
cracking rims on an 8 mile round trip, flat, minimally bumpy ride
means I'm right up at the capacity limit for the wheel, and I want
something that will do more. I probably can't have it, but I figured
I'd ask.

-Dan Zimmerman

wrote:
Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.

I bought some Mavic A719 36 hole wheels for my bike and kept an eye
(not good enough, apparently) on them to see if they were still
running true. They ran true for a long time but when did go out, I
already had fatigue cracks around several spokes and I need a new rear
wheel again.

Presumably I had uneven spoke tension that I should have kept an eye
on, and I got cracks from that, causing the wheel to go out of true.
Does that sound right?

Cracks around the spoke holes sounds like excessive spoke tension.

~PB

On Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:42:33 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.

I bought some Mavic A719 36 hole wheels for my bike and kept an eye
(not good enough, apparently) on them to see if they were still
running true. They ran true for a long time but when did go out, I
already had fatigue cracks around several spokes and I need a new rear
wheel again.

Presumably I had uneven spoke tension that I should have kept an eye
on, and I got cracks from that, causing the wheel to go out of true.
Does that sound right?

There's nothing rough or hard about my ride...the big sin I'm
committing, if any, is not paying enough attention to my spokes on a
regular basis, but I'd really like to come up with a wheel
configuration where I didn't have to ping each spoke every morning and
sit right down there in the driveway with the spoke wrench if
something's off.

I used this subject line because I find plenty of "I'm 250lb and
touring with 50lb of gear and my Mavic A719's are fine" kind of posts
on the internet, but what I want to know is "I'm 300 pounds and want
wheels I can ignore at least a little in the interest of just getting
into work." I'm not saying I'm not going to true the things, I'm just
saying I want to do it on Saturday and I don't want eight miles of out-
of-true ride to be an absolute death knell for my wheels

Is that a ridiculous hope? Is the 300-lb fat-guy wheel **with a
margin of error** a pipe dream, at least in a price range under
several hundred bucks? Hopefully I'm not offending everyone by even
asking ;-)

I've gone through a couple decent sets of rims with fatigue cracks
around the spoke holes (yes, both were eyeletted), and I suppose it's
just my fault for being cavalier about maintenance but it seems like
cracking rims on an 8 mile round trip, flat, minimally bumpy ride
means I'm right up at the capacity limit for the wheel, and I want
something that will do more. I probably can't have it, but I figured
I'd ask.

-Dan Zimmerman

Dear Dan,

With luck, Chalo Colina (~350 pounds) will tell you what he uses on
his many bikes.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

wrote:
Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.

I bought some Mavic A719 36 hole wheels for my bike and kept an eye
(not good enough, apparently) on them to see if they were still
running true. They ran true for a long time but when did go out, I
already had fatigue cracks around several spokes and I need a new rear
wheel again.

Presumably I had uneven spoke tension that I should have kept an eye
on, and I got cracks from that, causing the wheel to go out of true.
Does that sound right?

There's nothing rough or hard about my ride...the big sin I'm
committing, if any, is not paying enough attention to my spokes on a
regular basis, but I'd really like to come up with a wheel
configuration where I didn't have to ping each spoke every morning and
sit right down there in the driveway with the spoke wrench if
something's off.

I used this subject line because I find plenty of "I'm 250lb and
touring with 50lb of gear and my Mavic A719's are fine" kind of posts
on the internet, but what I want to know is "I'm 300 pounds and want
wheels I can ignore at least a little in the interest of just getting
into work." I'm not saying I'm not going to true the things, I'm just
saying I want to do it on Saturday and I don't want eight miles of out-
of-true ride to be an absolute death knell for my wheels

Is that a ridiculous hope? Is the 300-lb fat-guy wheel **with a
margin of error** a pipe dream, at least in a price range under
several hundred bucks? Hopefully I'm not offending everyone by even
asking ;-)

I've gone through a couple decent sets of rims with fatigue cracks
around the spoke holes (yes, both were eyeletted), and I suppose it's
just my fault for being cavalier about maintenance but it seems like
cracking rims on an 8 mile round trip, flat, minimally bumpy ride
means I'm right up at the capacity limit for the wheel, and I want
something that will do more. I probably can't have it, but I figured
I'd ask.

32mm tire (or larger), 48 spokes on an ample rim such as a Velocity
Synergy. That's roughly proportional to a 32x32 Aerohead with 23mm tire
under a 170lb rider.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Nov 16, 4:42*pm, wrote:
Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. *I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. * I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.
....
Is that a ridiculous hope? *Is the 300-lb fat-guy wheel **with a
margin of error** a pipe dream, at least in a price range under
several hundred bucks? *Hopefully I'm not offending everyone by even
asking ;-)

300 lbs. is actually a pretty light load for a touring tandem and they
need to hold up on long hilly tours over rough roads. Ours started
with 36 spoke rims but we had recurring problems with the rear wheel.
After trying a variety of spoke types and gauges we switched to a 48
spoke rim and haven't had any more problems. Ours is an old Super
Champion rim which hasn't been made for a long time - but I'd think
any of several decent quality rims designed for tandem use would serve
you well.

On Nov 16, 9:04*pm, peter wrote:


300 lbs. is actually a pretty light load for a touring tandem and they
need to hold up on long hilly tours over rough roads. *Ours started
with 36 spoke rims but we had recurring problems with the rear wheel.
After trying a variety of spoke types and gauges we switched to a 48
spoke rim and haven't had any more problems. *Ours is an old Super
Champion rim which hasn't been made for a long time - but I'd think
any of several decent quality rims designed for tandem use would serve
you well.

Good point. Our ancient tandem has Phil Wood hubs with a 48 spoke
rear wheel. We've never broken a rear spoke. (I've broken two front
spokes over the years, both during low-speed balancing in parking
lots.) Captain and stoker total 400 pounds, and with the tandem, we
can't jump the potholes, so that setup should work well for a 300
pound guy.

- Frank Krygowski

On Nov 16, 6:42*pm, wrote:
Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. *I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. * I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.

I bought some Mavic A719 36 hole wheels for my bike and kept an eye
(not good enough, apparently) on them to see if they were still
running true. *They ran true for a long time but when did go out, I
already had fatigue cracks around several spokes and I need a new rear
wheel again.

Alex DM18s are a good choice for a clyde. It's got even more meat than
the Mavic. Less than $20. ERD is close enough to the 604 I found for
the Mavics for you do tape 'em up and do a direct swap. You'll need to
emery paper the joints as they aren't welded, if you want smooth
braking.

Alex DM18s are a good choice for a clyde. It's got even more meat than
the Mavic. Less than $20. ERD is close enough to the 604 I found for
the Mavics for you do tape 'em up and do a direct swap. You'll need to
emery paper the joints as they aren't welded, if you want smooth
braking.

Well that sounds like maybe a good combo of cheap solution and an
intro to wheel building. If I mess it up, not such a big deal for
$20. It does look like a pretty hefty cross section too.

After trying a variety of spoke types and gauges we switched to a 48
spoke rim and haven't had any more problems.

That sounds like the correct long term solution for me. I'm going to
take a hard look at tandem wheels. Rebuilding with a cheap rim is
probably better given my grad school budget at the moment, but more
spokes sound like a good idea as soon as I can.

Thanks for the comments so far...

-Dan

I concur with others suggesting that you need more spokes. Mavics have
become known over the last several years for cracks at the spoke/rim
interface, but it's beyond question that spreading the total load to
more spokes is going to be help.

I assume this occurs only with the rear wheel?

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"peter" wrote in message
...
On Nov 16, 4:42 pm, wrote:
Ok, I don't weigh 700 pounds. I weigh a solid 300. I don't care about
the weight of my rims, I care only about strength and fatigue
performance. I have a short, flat, bike ride to work every day.
....
Is that a ridiculous hope? Is the 300-lb fat-guy wheel **with a
margin of error** a pipe dream, at least in a price range under
several hundred bucks? Hopefully I'm not offending everyone by even
asking ;-)

300 lbs. is actually a pretty light load for a touring tandem and they
need to hold up on long hilly tours over rough roads. Ours started
with 36 spoke rims but we had recurring problems with the rear wheel.
After trying a variety of spoke types and gauges we switched to a 48
spoke rim and haven't had any more problems. Ours is an old Super
Champion rim which hasn't been made for a long time - but I'd think
any of several decent quality rims designed for tandem use would serve
you well.

On Nov 16, 9:56*pm, wrote:
Alex DM18s are a good choice for a clyde. It's got even more meat than
the Mavic. Less than $20. ERD is close enough to the 604 I found for
the Mavics for you do tape 'em up and do a direct swap. You'll need to
emery paper the joints as they aren't welded, if you want smooth
braking.

Well that sounds like maybe a good combo of cheap solution and an
intro to wheel building. *If I mess it up, not such a big deal for
$20. *It does look like a pretty hefty cross section too.


You'll have to double check the ERD for sure, but if it's within a
couple mms--indeed, just tape the rims together, making sure that the
"handedness" of the spoke holes is correct, and swap the spokes one by
one. Use an electric driver from the inside to do this. A flat head
will do, or a philips bit with most of two fins ground off works as
well. If you don't have a truing stand, like most of us, do remember
to set your brake pads very carefully and closely before you do this--
and you can use your bike as a truing stand.

The Alex is a good strong rim--it's not machined and it's not welded,
so it will take emery paper for a minute or three on the joint. It
should solve your problem if built right and tensioned well. My last
rerimming I did with some has a couple thousand miles on 'em with no
touch ups needed. I've hauled groceries, ice biked--you name it, DM18s
is strong stuff. Don't let the non-Eurosnob price tag fool you.