new wheels

bikermag

Hi,

I currently ride a cannondale caad9 from 2008. Love the bike but have been having problems with breaking my spokes on the rear wheel. I have been told that once they start going they dont stop as others will be weakend. Is this right?
Also that it can be best just to buy new wheels. Yesterday I was out when one broke and I had to ride a further 60km to get home on a 'wonky' wheel after loosening off my rear brakes... can this have just made matters worse?

Now with race season coming up fast I really do not want this to ruin a race!

It came with the shimano RS10 wheel set, so I was wondering what may be a good next buy if I want to upgrade to a slightly better set.

Any ideas?

magoo289

For what's worth I upgraded mt stock WH500s to RS80s on my CAAD9. I haven't had any issues with spokes but I'm only 60kg.

twoodley

bikermag wrote:

Yesterday I was out when one broke and I had to ride a further 60km to get home on a 'wonky' wheel after loosening off my rear brakes... can this have just made matters worse?

I broke a Shimano RS10 rear spoke last week whilst out on a group ride (105kg rider and a hill start), and rode it for approx half a mile before I worked out what was binding. The wheel was rubbing the frame for approx 5% of the revolution, and in that half mile the tyre has made a small groove in the frame (Carbon). If you went for 60km I would give your frame a good look, even though it is ali.
The LBS (Evans) need 3 weeks to get a replacement spoke, so bought a RS20 as a spare. I really wanted a RS80 but was informed at my current level I would probably not notice/gain any real benefit from the 80 over the 20, so happy with my purchase.
Not sure if it is the new wheel, the fact I have refitted the slicks, or a combination of both but my 50 miler average speed increased by 1.5mph yesterday

Monty Dog

If you get the wheel rebuilt and spokes correctly re-tensioned by a decent wheelbuilder, there's no reason why it shouldn't remain reliable. Suitable replacements depends on the depth of your pockets! There are countess "what wheels?" threads so browse those first rather than starting another..