Rider Weight & Spoke Count

[Bodhi]

Fantastic, it seems I won't have a problem. Really didn't want to spend thousands on a new setup.

[Johan Bornman]

Don't rest too assured. A low spoke count wheel in this scenario is not a good idea. It may be strong enough to carry your weight but certainly not durable enough to carry it over a considerable distance. When that distance runs out, you walk home 'cause those wheels aint gonna turn with one missing spoke.

 

I've written plenty of strength vs durable. Search and you shall find.

[Bodhi]

Don't rest too assured. A low spoke count wheel in this scenario is not a good idea. It may be strong enough to carry your weight but certainly not durable enough to carry it over a considerable distance. When that distance runs out, you walk home 'cause those wheels aint gonna turn with one missing spoke.

 

I've written plenty of strength vs durable. Search and you shall find.

 

Hmm. What do you think of as 'considerable distance', Johan?

[Johan Bornman]

It is impossible to say. I don't know how much the wheel has already worked, what load is carried and how it was built.

 

However, once you start piling on the kays in summer, you will break spokes and walk home. Unless you one of those people who ride with a cellphone.

[quintonb]

Keep those wheels for racing, they should last a while because they won't be used on a regular basis.

Get a good "training" wheel set built. Mavic Open pro's on ultegra hubs, 36 hole. Maybe not the lightest around, but for a guy your size they will last for years.

 

[Butterbean]

It is impossible to say. I don't know how much the wheel has already worked, what load is carried and how it was built.

 

However, once you start piling on the kays in summer, you will break spokes and walk home. Unless you one of those people who ride with a cellphone.

 

While I do not wish to argue with someone as knowledgeable as yourself, JB, I must say, I do rides well over 120kms at a time, and through this winter, I have ridden at least 120kms a week on those 16/20 wheels. They have only broken a spoke when I was forced onto a bad pothole. Most of my riding is not on fantastic roads, loads of speed bumps, corrugated tar, and those lovely little dips created with the lamp posts wiring crossing under the tar. They have stood up well! And the only problem I have is the spokes turning, but keeping tension and true. They do get bumped out of true every now and then.

 

So its worked for my 100kgs so far. Although I must admit, I am looking for some higher count wheels just for the peace of mind..

['Dale]

Keep those wheels for racing, they should last a while because they won't be used on a regular basis.

Get a good "training" wheel set built. Mavic Open pro's on ultegra hubs, 36 hole. Maybe not the lightest around, but for a guy your size they will last for years.

 

Good tip

 

I have land mine proof training wheels. They go through lots.

Then my lighter, less robust, racing wheels.

[Johan Bornman]

While I do not wish to argue with someone as knowledgeable as yourself, JB, I must say, I do rides well over 120kms at a time, and through this winter, I have ridden at least 120kms a week on those 16/20 wheels. They have only broken a spoke when I was forced onto a bad pothole. Most of my riding is not on fantastic roads, loads of speed bumps, corrugated tar, and those lovely little dips created with the lamp posts wiring crossing under the tar. They have stood up well! And the only problem I have is the spokes turning, but keeping tension and true. They do get bumped out of true every now and then.

 

So its worked for my 100kgs so far. Although I must admit, I am looking for some higher count wheels just for the peace of mind..

How much you ride per week is irrelevant. It is total mileage that matters. If you ride one mile per year, a wheel will last 20 000 years. If you ride 20 000 miles per year, your wheels will last 1 year.

 

Your spoke wasn't broken by the pothole. The pothole was the last straw for an already fatigued-spoke. Spokes break from metal fatigue, not tension. Should tension have broken your spoke in that pothole, it would have ripped out of the rim. Further, your break was either at the bend or at the nipple, both weak points in fatigue but since they have larger cross-sections there than in the middle, a true tension break would have been in the middle.

 

As you attest, low spoke count wheels are troublesome wheels. They don't stay true and getting them true is not easy.