HED Belgium spoke count

trek_dan

A friend from work (more money than sense type) has a set of handbuilt wheels for sale I'm interested in but am worried that the spoke count is too low for my weight. They started out life as Dura Ace C24 so the spoke count is 18 front and 20 rear, he wore the rims out using them as winter wheels (yes £600 wheels are his idea of winter wheels) and then had them rebuilt with HED Belgium C2 rims. He said DT Swiss spokes have been used but not sure what type. I'm 75kg, are 18/20 just going to flex like mad under my weight? I know the HED Belgium is one of the best (and most expensive) handbuilt rims on the market but still worried they won't be stiff enough.

ugo.santalucia

Should be stiffer than the original Dura Ace CL 24 wheels, if that is of any help.
The C2 is 99% identical to an Archetype, but with better graphics

DeVlaeminck

75kg isn't considered heavy now is it ?

darkhairedlord

^ yes, it is. OK, not so much Johnny Vegas as Dawn French.

ugo.santalucia

DeVlaeminck wrote:

75kg isn't considered heavy now is it ?

No. You will probably be fine. The reason builders with common sense don't use 20 spokes at the rear is that the weight saving and aerodynamic benefits are too small to even out the potential drawbacks of such a low spoke count design.

I have built a few wheels... nobody ever complained that they were 20 grams heavier than the Mavic X or the Fulcrum Y, but I am pretty sure someone would have complained if a broken spoke resulted in a taxi ride home or a nasty accident. There is no incentive to push the boundaries, as the bespoke market tends to cater for the sensible minded, rather than the poser... there are exceptions of course, but IMO those who build to compete with the market (often false) weight claims are pretty desperate for business.

Should you get those wheels? If you like them and the price is right, they'll probably be OK... if they slightly rub the brake pads, open the latter more