Yet another wheel question!

Phideaux

I'm starting my first self-build and have a limited budget that means new hand built wheels are way outside of my pocket.

My question is that as I weigh in at 110 Kg would the 28 spoke Mavic Open Pro suffice for the first 6 months as I gently get used to riding again after 20 years? Planned use is mainly on country A and B roads but also a few very dodgy country lanes. I was thinking of going for the Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x28c tyres.

Any recommendations, or someone who wants to part with some wheels that are under-utilized for a modest sum, would be most appreciated

nferrar

Open Pro's are nice rims and 28 spokes should be fine - they need to be tensioned properly though. Are you building them yourself or are they old wheels you have from 20 years ago? If you were getting new ones I guess it depends just how small your budget is but you can get a decent set of handbuilts pretty cheaply...

Phideaux

I was initially thinking of buying something secondhand, but I'm partway through Chapter 15 (wheel building) of the Zinn bike maintenance book and I've read Shelldon Brown's article on building bicycle wheels, which has encouraged me to consider building my own.

If I go for home built wheels I'll need to source decent hubs (28, 32 or 36) and suitable rims to take the 28 or 32 Marathon Plus tyres.

Browesy

I have a question relating to this,

I weigh 100kg ( and shrinking!) and am currently riding on 700x25 road tires however when im out of the saddle i feel that the tire is being put under slightly to much pressure and considering that all the punctures ive had have been front tire punctures would a change to a 28 or higher width tire be beneficial for me?