Bomb proof wheels needed.

Mark Alexander

Hi I have 3 bikes and 1 set of wheels. I'm not looking to spend a lot up to £300 but need them to be strong. I'm not looking for ultra light but strong. Any advice would be welcome thanks.

hypster

You say you need them to be strong. How much do you weigh and what sort of riding do you do?

Moonbiker

rigida flyer 36h 105 hub

anyway why have 3 bikes but only 1 wheelset? :shock:

Grill

Ugo built me 32h Archetypes on Ultegra 6800 hubs (DT comp/rev) for just a little bit more. I plowed straight into a curb at over 20mph and snapped my steel frame in the process but the wheels are still true. that's bombproof in my book.

wishitwasallflat

Pretty much any decent wheel builder will build you 36 hole strong wheels easily within budget. SPA cycles have a good rep for touring wheels and Rigida/Ryde rims on Shimano cup and cone hubs can easily be got in your budget. I got Open Pros on 105 Hubs from Harry Rowland and they have been plenty strong enough. I'm over 17 stone and have destroyed plenty factory wheels quick time! See my other posts re those hubs though as I am not sure I would get those hubs again I've had problems with the seals and water ingress - but - that could well be just bad luck or poor adjustment. I'm considering Miche Primato or Ultegra 6800 for replacements.

That said even though the cup on drive side of those wheels is rusty the wheels are still strong and work fine just don't spin as smoothly. As ugo said if you can live with imperfection 105 hubs can run for ages even with some wear damage - the word agricultural was used which I would defo agree with. Mine look awful but run.

wishitwasallflat

PS re bombproof seek out the old thread where Wheelsmith posted a pic of an Archetype rim he shot! Well worth checking as its hilarious if you haven't seen it.

ugo.santalucia

wishitwasallflat wrote:

As ugo said if you can live with imperfection 105 hubs can run for ages even with some wear damage - the word agricultural was used which I would defo agree with. Mine look awful but run.

It's a good word... it makes you think of tractors...

lastant

Grill wrote:

Ugo built me 32h Archetypes on Ultegra 6800 hubs (DT comp/rev) for just a little bit more. I plowed straight into a curb at over 20mph and snapped my steel frame in the process but the wheels are still true. that's bombproof in my book.

Ugo built my wheelset too, Hope hubs with DT Swiss rims, had them eighteen months or so now and couldn't be happier - asked for something that'd be suitable for an, ahem, larger gentleman for the commute across London as well as audax/touring and that's exactly what I've got.

Big fan of the Hope hubs too, perfect for alerting your presence to dopy pedestrians!

ugo.santalucia

lastant wrote:

Ugo built my wheelset too, Hope hubs with DT Swiss rims, had them eighteen months or so now and couldn't be happier - asked for something that'd be suitable for an, ahem, larger gentleman for the commute across London as well as audax/touring and that's exactly what I've got.

Big fan of the Hope hubs too, perfect for alerting your presence to dopy pedestrians!

If you want to do LEJOG, buy this man's book, it's a really good read and gives you an entierly new perspective about what athletes eat...

navrig2

Al at Wheelcraft built me a set of wheel.

CXR rims and 105 hubs with lots of spokes (32 on rear). Not light but I would say they as abombproof as you'll get. Cost less than £200 delivered abiut 2 years ago.

vs4b

hope hubs or 105 on open pro 32/36 handbuilt

cycleclinic

Miche hubs just work. If you put INA bearing in them they may last as long as hope's do or longer as the bearings are bigger. 6800 hub like all ultegra hubs last if serviced. I have one customer who got 50,000 miles from a set of 6402 hubs until his freehub died. He bought a NOS set of 6402 hubs form me for the freehub body that's how good they are.

Pick any 32/36H hole rim and the above hubs and you will have a wheelset that lasts. Even the cheap ryde/rigida chrina will do silly miles so you do not have to spend alot on the rims. Open Pro's wear out a bit faster, and the archetype will look good. If you want the rims to last longer use soft brake pads.

Mark Alexander

Thanks, I'm not heavy really, just 74 kg. before you say that's not heavy... I'm 5 ft 6in (in heels but don't tell the misses!) Racing weight was67kg. I have been using Mavic Aksium's bus they keep getting warped. I went to the LBS the other day and the cant sort them. I've had them 15 months. I had Campag Cirrocco G3s for 5 years and no probs but they are no more.

Sta81

campagnolo zonda...have them, love them

hypster

Mark Alexander wrote:

Thanks, I'm not heavy really, just 74 kg. before you say that's not heavy... I'm 5 ft 6in (in heels but don't tell the misses!) Racing weight was67kg. I have been using Mavic Aksium's bus they keep getting warped. I went to the LBS the other day and the cant sort them. I've had them 15 months. I had Campag Cirrocco G3s for 5 years and no probs but they are no more.

That isn't that heavy actually as far as wheels are concerned. I have been riding a set of Aksiums for over 6 years and I usually weigh 85kg. Reading all sorts of forums there are plenty of people over 100kg riding factory built wheels as well.

Having said all that my recommendation for you would be to get a set of Shimano 105 hubs with Mavic Open Pro rims and Sapim Race spokes 32F/32R built 3x. You can get them within your budget from somewhere like The Cycle Clinic.

A decent set of wheels, average weight, that will be easy to fix if any problems do occur and should last you years.

passout

Fulcrum Racing 7s are strong, reliable & good value. I know people who entered cross events with them without issue. I kept mine for years without even the smallest problem.

gabriel959

hypster wrote:

Mark Alexander wrote:

Thanks, I'm not heavy really, just 74 kg. before you say that's not heavy... I'm 5 ft 6in (in heels but don't tell the misses!) Racing weight was67kg. I have been using Mavic Aksium's bus they keep getting warped. I went to the LBS the other day and the cant sort them. I've had them 15 months. I had Campag Cirrocco G3s for 5 years and no probs but they are no more.

That isn't that heavy actually as far as wheels are concerned. I have been riding a set of Aksiums for over 6 years and I usually weigh 85kg. Reading all sorts of forums there are plenty of people over 100kg riding factory built wheels as well.

Having said all that my recommendation for you would be to get a set of Shimano 105 hubs with Mavic Open Pro rims and Sapim Race spokes 32F/32R built 3x. You can get them within your budget from somewhere like The Cycle Clinic.

A decent set of wheels, average weight, that will be easy to fix if any problems do occur and should last you years.

What he said, I am using exactly that same set of wheels, weigh 82 kg and have had no problems whatsoever.

dork_knight

I do like Ambrosio Rims, they seem to handle the rough roads around South Wales pretty damn well.

StarBike seems to have a good price on them at the moment, paired 105 Hubs and a build cost should bring them in around £210 to £220 ish:
http://www.starbike.com/en/ambrosio-excellence/
http://www.starbike.com/p/Shimano-105-F ... 2H-4760-en
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod50505

Perhaps an upgrade to Hope Hubs might be another option which would come in just over £300 looking at the prices on Wiggle.

Ugos build of Nemesis on Hope Hubs have been brilliant.

drlodge

Dork Knight wrote:

I do like Ambrosio Rims, they seem to handle the rough roads around South Wales pretty damn well.

StarBike seems to have a good price on them at the moment, paired 105 Hubs and a build cost should bring them in around £210 to £220 ish:
http://www.starbike.com/en/ambrosio-excellence/
http://www.starbike.com/p/Shimano-105-F ... 2H-4760-en
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod50505

Perhaps an upgrade to Hope Hubs might be another option which would come in just over £300 looking at the prices on Wiggle.

Ugos build of Nemesis on Hope Hubs have been brilliant.

I've got two sets of wheels both in regular use, both pretty much the same and both built by Harry Rowland

Dura Ace hubs, sapim race/laser spokes (32H) and Open Pro Rims
Record hubs, same spokes as above (different make, same profile), Ambrosio Excellight rims

These follow the same pattern - cup and cone hubs, 32H, decent rims and hand built. If I were doing it again, I may use Archetype rims. You really can go wrong with this setup, costs about £300, wheels ride superbly and last for ages.

brettjmcc

I recently built my first wheels up for a training set and to learn. Mavic CXP22 rims on 105 hubs 36/36 and ACI DB spokes (thanks to Ugo for telling where to buy). They are not the lightest, but had them out for the first time last weekend and am really impressed with them.

All in, I got the whole package together for £125 with Rim tape (I put it together based on deals at the time n the rims and hubs not what I maybe wanted). If you know someone who could show you how to build them up then that may be an options. I am now looking into buying my own truing stand etc, as any future wheels I am going to do myself (with a bit of supervision of course)

cycleclinic

If you are putting askiums out at that weight you might put out a open pro build. Just finished one tonight and I would not call them stiff. Adquate stiffnes for the rear wheel for most but not all riders, I do some lower spoke count wheels with thinner spokes that are stiffer. I think the OP would benefit from a stiffer rear wheel so look at a deeper/wider rim. A 24F/28R build with archetypes or better still (stiffer) Kinlin XC-279, lace these miche hubs and they would work very well indeed and be alot stiffer than Mavic Askium's or an Open build. Kinlin XR-300 or the XR-270 would also work well for deep, stiff, light, cheap but narrower rims.

The OPs issues are down the lack of lateral wheel stiffness for his power output/riding style. The problem will be caused by when he is accelerating or out of the saddle on a hill for example he able to make the NDS spokes near the ground go slack, this loosens them off and of course fatigues them quite quickly. The solution is a stiffer wheel not another of the same stiffness using one of the rims (or similar) I have outlined above on any hub that gives a good NDS bracing angle (which is most hubs to be honest but not DT Swiss or to a lesser extent Hope).

rattyc5

my hs sons archetype rims on 105 hubs are very strong. I weigh 16.5 stone.

rattyc5

went out on my bike this morning and smashed into a big pothole. innertube exploded and one side of tyre came off rim. these wheels really are bombproof. still perfectly true.

dennisn

hypster wrote:

Having said all that my recommendation for you would be to get a set of Shimano 105 hubs with Mavic Open Pro rims and Sapim Race spokes 32F/32R built 3x. You can get them within your budget from somewhere like The Cycle Clinic.

A decent set of wheels, average weight, that will be easy to fix if any problems do occur and should last you years.

This is great advise. You can buy shinier, blingier, and so called faster wheels but the above is about as good as it gets for a durable, sturdy, dependable, cost efficient, and pretty much no worry set of ROAD wheels.