Wheel Advice

[DismalScientist]

Well, I have a set of 40 spoke 27″ touring wheels. You’ll have a hard time breaking a spoke on that. (Breaking the axle… Well, that’s a different matter.) Make me an offer. :rolleyes:

[mstone]

It’s not the fact that they’re made out of carbon, it’s the fact that the spoke count is really low and the rims aren’t very deep. I’m not sure from the picture which model that is; from the manufacturer web site the weight limit might be as low as 200lbs. They certainly wouldn’t be my first choice.

[hozn]

Are those 20/24 spoke count and 40mm aluminum/carbon wheels? If that is just a shallow alloy rim with a carbon fairing (i.e. spoke beds are in the alloy), then I would guess that is probably a little under-built for you. This isn’t apples-to-apples but Boyd recommends 24/28 for his 44mm clinchers for riders over 180lbs (so that would be a relevant comparison if the spoke bed is at the extremity of the 40mm carbon on your wheels).

As mstone said, carbon isn’t holding you back in terms of wheel strength; carbon fiber is very strong (though again, may not really be a factor at all in those wheels if it’s just a fairing — i.e. for better aero profile).

Krazygl00 is a better expert in such matters, but it’s also worth noting that breaking a spoke doesn’t necessarily mean the wheels are under-built; it could simply be that the spokes had become unevenly tensioned (maybe had been for a long time) and this was over-taxing one of the rear spokes. The breaking spoke is probably an indicator that you should have the wheel re-trued/tensioned; IME if you just replace the spoke (and tighten it to bring wheel back into true) another spoke will break soon after.

And finally, thin spokes doesn’t indicate weak spokes; usually the opposite. The Sapim spokes they use are good and the thinner ones (e.g CX Ray or Lasers) are the stronger ones. Now they may not be the /stiffest/ wheels with cx ray or laser spokes (especially at that spoke count). I have a set of 30mm 20/28 alloy wheels w/ cx ray spokes and I can definitely feel (and see) the front flex back and forth on “spirited” climbing.

[Dickie]

What Hozn said!

[Subby]

Hugely helpful. Thank you for the advice – much appreciated.

Those wheels are exactly as Hozn described – alloy rim with carbon fairing.

Can someone make a recommendation for a reasonably priced wheelset for me/my bike?

[Tim Kelley]

@Subby 60105 wrote:

Can someone make a recommendation for a reasonably priced wheelset for me/my bike?

I couldn’t be happier with the couple sets I’ve gotten from November: http://www.novemberbicycles.com/

Plus, they’re local!

[culimerc]

@Tim Kelley 60109 wrote:

I couldn’t be happier with the couple sets I’ve gotten from November: http://www.novemberbicycles.com/

Plus, they’re local!

Those are what I’m saving my pennies for. That and I have to get the little missus used to the idea so her head doesnt explode when I plunk down that kind of money for wheels when I already have a reasonably nice set.

[hozn]

Yeah, +1 for November’s Rail wheelset specifically (http://www.novemberbicycles.com/rail); they designed that rim and they’ve got wind tunnel data to show that they did a fantastic job. (That is rare for these smaller shops — and pretty much unheard of for the open-mold rims.)

I bought a set of 50mm-deep and 24mm-wide carbon rims from Farsports (i.e. direct from China) laced to Ed hubs w/ CX Ray spokes — 20/24. The wheels are solid, but if the Rail had been available when I was building my bike, I would have saved up for that instead. At nearly $700, my wheels were definitely cheaper, but the savings really isn’t enough to justify the lack of support / accountability; I completely rebuilt the rear wheel (after a couple hundred miles spoke tensions were all over the place) and had to do a fair bit of tensioning work on the front wheel to make it round. This was basically what I expected, so I don’t regret it, but buying locally assembled (I believe their rims are made in Taiwan) makes sense.

If you’re looking for alloy or more affordable rims, November’s FSW-23 looks great too. I believe this is the Kinlin XC-279 rim. So at 28mm these are little deeper than most OE wheels which is nice aesthetically (and sure maybe a bit more aero), and 23-mm wide which I think does make a palpable difference in handling/ride. I imagine in 24/28 those would be stiffer (and stronger) than what you have now. The guys at November could probably recommend a configuration for you specifically too; I believe these are all built to order.

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