Decent wheelset for a heavy rider

I've recently purchased a caad10 105 that cane with the rs10 wheelset. After a few rides and talking to a few people I have been told to keep an eye on my wheels as they may break due to my weight. Can anyone recommend a decent set of wheels for me? I currently weigh 228lbs. I know I should just ride and not worry but I can't help but to have it in the back of my mind. I tend not to push myself out of fear.. Thanks in advance.

 

The spoke count does looks a little low for your weight. If you are considering a new set of wheels do not be intimidated by contacting a wheel builder that can build a set of wheels with good components, sturdy spokes and good hubs at a fairly good price.

Some builders to look at (and there are others and maybe so good ones in your area):

Wheelbuilder.com

Prowheelbuilder.com (has a nice custom building tool where you add in your weight and helps you select components and lacing patterns based on their suggestion. It is free to use and just see what they suggest.)

Excelsports

I have a friend in the bike industry that just built me a rear wheel much cheaper than most mass produced sets with the components that I selected. When I picked up the wheel we got into a conversation about spokes and lacing patterns. He told me that he built a wheel for a guy weighing close to 300 lbs that was having terrible luck with breaking spokes so he built up a wheel using DT Swiss Alpine spokes that are typically used on tandems and cruiser bikes. So far the guy has not broken any spokes. However, at your 228 lbs you probably don't need anything that beefy. Probably DT Swiss Competition spokes 32/rear 3X lacing, 28/front would be sufficient.

In the meantime just ride until you do pop some spokes. Who knows that wheelset that you have may hold up okay until you decide to upgrade.

 

When wheels go is it usually a spoke or 2 at a time or would it just be some catastrophic event?

 

The former. Sure if you hit a really bad pothole at speed or tangle with the curb at high speeds you could fold a rim but even when rider weight is high for a wheelset's ratings the issues are usually individual broken spokes or just wheels that don't want to stay true. Catastrophic wheel failures are rare.

I second getting a good set of custom wheels built, ideally by a local builder you can talk to. It's not nearly as expensive as many folks think and you end up with wheels designed for your needs and your riding style. I'd suggest something built up on some HED Belgium rims or some Kinlin XC-279 rims or perhaps some Velocity A23 rims. All are a bit wider than traditional clincher rims and when paired up with a good set of 25c clinchers you'd have a really nice wheelset for your size and a very comfortable ride with great cornering qualities if you run them at reasonable pressures like 100 psi or even less for a 25c tire on wide clincher rims.

If you want to go the boutique wheel route then look at HED Ardennes in their stallion build or something similar.

BTW in the meantime before you get around to replacing your wheels it would be smart to run relatively large clinchers like 25 tires on your current rims to buy some shock absorber qualities on your current rims as that's one of the best things heavier riders can do to improve ride quality and extend wheel life.

-Dave

 

Colorado Cyclist has some damned good wheel builders. I build wheels and their builders are GOOD.

32 Hole, 3 Cross Mavic Open Pro rims laced to straight 14 Gauge DT spokes on Campagnolo Record hubs will withstand 35 thousand miles of my abuse on crap Ohio roads. They got another 60 miles yesterday and they have never been touched by a spoke wrench. Color me highly impressed by the wheel builders at CC.

What Dave said, regarding tire choice. A slightly larger tire profile will give you better road shock attenuation and give any wheel choice a better fighting chance at survival.