Will my wheels break if I do this?

Pete Reader

Hi all,

I'll be touring around Normandy very soon whilst carrying 2 fully loaded panniers. I've upgraded my wheels to Shimano RS30's... bladed spokes, 30mm rims...

I weigh 65kg

The bike is a Giant Defy 3 that according to the scales weighs 8.2kg (-optimistic reading?)

These wheels as I understand are made for TT/racing and not touring.

Can I get away with touring with these wheels?

Thanks

Pete

weedy1

How much weight is going in the panniers?
My gut feeling is you'll be fine as long as its not lead ingots.
you only weigh 65Kg, loads of far heavier people tool round np.

Pete Reader

Shouldn't think I'll carry much more than 20kg with me....

amaferanga

20kg of static weight on the rear wheel of an RS30 is asking for trouble IMO (and its obviously not the same as an 85kg rider with no panniers). I'd get hold of a cheap but sturdy rear wheel - 32 or 36 spoke something or other.

marcusjb

amaferanga wrote:

20kg of static weight on the rear wheel of an RS30 is asking for trouble IMO (and its obviously not the same as an 85kg rider with no panniers). I'd get hold of a cheap but sturdy rear wheel - 32 or 36 spoke something or other.

I'd agree with this - it's not quite right to assume that because an 85kg rider uses the wheels without problems, a 65kg rider plus 20kg of luggage will be fine.

That 20kg is all on the back wheels, rather than some of the 85kg rider's weight being on the front.

Typically, when you see a bump in the road, you'd try and get out of the saddle and move some of your weight forwards - you can't do this with panniers obviously.

The roads in France are generally somehting like a bazillion times better than ours - but still not sure I'd be risking that (and I am a 60kg skinny git).

I'd have a look on Spa Cycles website and buy something with 32 or 36 holes - nice and sturdy. You may also want to see if you can fit a fatter tyre (depends on frame clearances etc.) as this will increase touring comfort dramatically.

All that said, you could be fine - BUT the problem with most 'racing' wheels these days is that when a spoke pops, things get terribly out of shape very quickly (whereas if you pop a spoke on a 36H wheel, it won't have too much of an impact) and finding spares is near impossible.

Monty Dog

Fit the fattest tyres you can, don't go jumping off kerbs and avoid potholes. However, if you're limited to 23mm tyres then be prepared for lots of pinch punctures...
I think the wheels will be strong enough, but how and where you ride the bike is important

Pete Reader

Thanks for the replies chaps,

I'll be riding 50 miles with panniers to get to our destination from the Ferry Port of Le Havre and then they'll be taken off and it'll be normal group riding for 10 days. Then panniers back on for the return journey of 50 miles...

Thoughts on risking punctures and rims for 8 days fast riding?

I'd rather not go back to my heavy stock wheel set you see... :P

schweiz

Pump up your tyres to 130psi (if rated to that) and as suggested above, ride 'light i.e. avoid pot holes and kerbs. It'll be a bum numbing 50miles but you'll be okay.

Anyway 20kg is a lot of weight....if you're only going for a week, what are you taking with you?

Hierotochan

schweiz wrote:

Anyway 20kg is a lot of weight....if you're only going for a week, what are you taking with you?

He's packed Powerbars & weights for 'The Guns'.
Every day is a training day.

colsoop

Cycled in australia with panniers weighing 25kg's on some easton wheels and had no issues although i did swap to some schwalbe 25 mm marathons and made sure i moved the panniers as far towards the middle as i could.

rake

when you 'upgraded' the wheels with those factory built ones you should have hand made some nice 32 spoke double eyelets wheels for about the same price. much stronger and more reliable, and hardly any extra rotational weight. the rims will be quite strong but your main problem will be because they have so few spokes the spoke tension is high and the rims arent eyeleted, the spoke holes will be under heavy stress in both hubs and rims. my guess is they could crack around the holes in the rim after a while.

iPete

If your sensible, you'll be fine.

MountainMonster

I've carried about 40kg on a rack on my "waffenrad"n old ww2 bike from the military in Austria with no problems. I'm sure th op will be fine, it's not like he's going to be doing it everyday.

Just pump the tires up to 120psi or so, and maybe 25mm tires as when cornering the weight may shift, and the extra width may help keep a bit more balanced. Otherwise should be perfectly fine!

acidstrato

will be fine

they might not be the strongest wheels on the market but they aint made of chocolate

no bunny hops tho