Wheels for a bigger guy

karungguni

Destroyed a pair of Bontrager Race Lite wheels so bought some used Mavic Ksyrium ES. Destroyed those. I weigh around 195 lbs. Ride about 700 miles a month on Northern California roads. Have a pair of 32 spoke Velomax A23 with Ultregra hubs that are a bit heavier than I would like. Am over my wheel bling phase but would like something decently strong and fairly light. Any suggestions?

ugo.santalucia

It seems your 32 spokes are a keeper...

vorsprung

32 spoke Velomax A23 with Ultegra hubs sounds pretty good

I weight a mere 180lb. I do a lot of long distance ride (see blog link below for details if y'interested) often on poor roads. Reliability is important to me.

I favour hand made wheels with a 36h rear. If you use a low profile rim like an Open Pro they will be reasonably light. The front doesn't need such a high spoke count, a 28h or less is fine.

My best bike has 32h front Exal 17 rim on a Schmidt generator hub and a 36h Mavic Open Pro on a Hope Pro3. I built the wheels myself, they have double butted Sapim spokes.

Weight wise I would guess the rear wheel is marginally lighter than your current rear wheel.
If the front had a similar hub it would probably be the same weight, the Exal 17 is similar to the A23 in that it is a slightly wider road wheel

This year I have had one rear broken spoke on during a 600 km ride but I didn't even notice until the following day and then just backed off the brake a little and kept riding. That's the advantage of 36h, losing one spoke is not a big problem

I've heard good things about the higher end Fulcrum wheels ( the Fulcrum 3 and better ) for use on long distance rides

triban

Hi karungguni,

i'm the same weight as you...

i use Fulcrum Racing 5's and don't have any issues with them. the roads where i am are in pretty poor condition but these wheels have stayed true, and they spin forever!

i would recommend them.