Wheels For a Fat Ba....ard

MattL30

I'm rocking in at around 120kg (6 foot 7 so not all blubber... just a bit!!)

Currently have a Mavic 319 rim on the rear and a Mavic Open Pro on the front and fair play, they seem to be bullet proof.

However, I'm looking to upgrade to something a little more sporty, but still keeping the quality around strength. I've thought of Fulcrum 5, Shim RS20, RS30, RS80 but all reviews are from those around half my size so I'm unsure.

If you were my size with £300-£400 to spend... what and why?

pingpong

Check out Merlin Cycles for a Shimano RS20 Wheelset, cassette and tyre offer..............stupid money :shock:

e999sam

I'm heavy and have tried a cheap Shimano wheel set I managed to get through 2 back wheels in as many months. I would recommend a hand built set of wheels probably 32/36 spoke. I’m using Mavic CXP33 rims on Shimano Ultegra hubs built with DT Swiss double butted spokes.

night_porter

When I started commuting I weighed in at 120kg and carried another 10kg in my panniers.

I broke a few spokes simply because I was riding "heavy" and soon learned to unweight the bike by using my legs as suspension over tricky surfaces. This was with 32 spoke Alex r500's that had been hand rebuilt by an excellent wheelbuilder.

However, I did find that a pair of Shimano R500's with less spokes (20/24) were absolutely bombproof and even when travelling in the dark (hard to see potholes) I have never managed to put the wheels out of true. Trust me I have hit some potholes at quite a speed, burst the tyre but the rims have stayed perfect.

I now weigh in at 100kg's and still use the Shimano's alongside some Mavic Aksium's and they are both very strong wheelsets that look quite nice too.

pbamf

I got RS20's and weigh 15 1/2 st. So I think I may qualify, have managed to do 7000 miles on my RS 20's with only one spoke broken and the wheels remained perfectly true apart from when I had to fit new spoke obviously. Had Aksiums on another bike and forever re-trueing them.

Sleeping_menace

I'm 115 KG and have been riding a set of Pro-Light Gavias for nearly 4000km's now without a single problem. There's no loosening of spokes, and they're still round / true..
I liked them enough to do an unsolicited mini-review on my blog if you're interested.
If you're a meaty rider, this is a very tough set of wheels...

Review is here: http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org/2011/01/04/pro-lite-gavia-50mm-carbon-wheelset-5-minute-review/