Fat [censored] and spokes

OzCableguy said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on the
heavy side?
Even though I'm getting lighter and lighter these days, the rate of spoke
breakage is on the increase. I reckon this is mostly because as one breaks
and gets replaced and I retrue the wheel, gradually tensions must be getting
a bit uneven around the wheel creating pressure areas that suffer from
greater fatigue.
Strangely it's always a left hand rear spoke that goes and nearly always as
a result of putting the power down on a steep incline rather than hitting a
nasty bump.
I'm going to have a go at rebuilding the wheel but if there's a purpose
built (and cost effective) solution already I might go that way instead. I
seem to recall on the final episode of Celebrity Overhaul they presented
Anthony (the big fella) with an MTB that was specially designed to carry the
heavier than average human so there must be something around.

Just make sure you use good spokes.

My Alex wheels started breaking spokes on the rear after about 18 months
of use. As a precaution I relaced both wheels with new aero spokes.
Result? A higher rate of breakage! From DNFing a 2 day tour and
numerous road races it got to the point where one week I broke a spoke
on EVERY RIDE! Sure I weigh 90kg, but come on! After that I relaced
(again) with good quality (non-aero this time) spokes and haven't broken
a single one in 3 months.

--
BrettS

OzCableguy said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on
the heavy side?

A well built one. While I'm far from being a clydesdale, I ride with a few
blokes who are around 100kg, and with standard 32 hole rims they're fine,
even when their line picking starts to approach mine in terms of
crappiness. A good rim, maybe something in the "Heavy XC" class like a
Mavic 521 (or whatever's replaced it) or a Sun Rhyno Lite, quality spokes,
and any reasonable hub. Lace them tight, or have a real wheel builder do
it, and all should be sweet.

Either get 32 name brand spokes, or get a new wheel.
--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Random miscellany, as opposed to that other kind of miscellany
- Patrick Shaughnessy

"Random Data" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

even when their line picking starts to approach mine in terms of
crappiness.

I've never associated your line choice with crapiness, more overly exciting...

Parbs - who doesn't weigh 100kg and who has gone soft and now has a bike that will make it a bit easier to follow some of Dave's
lines...

With my mountain bike I started breaking spokes after about four weeks so the wheel was rebuilt with DT stainless steel spokes and no problems since, some four years or 16000k later.

My new road bike OCR2 24 spoke rim was much the same but the genuine spokes cost $15 each so I found that DT spokes fitted and I used them for a while until I was sick of replacing them, eventually I had the wheel relaced with DT stainless steel spokes. I am about 90kg and now cart the laptop and clothes in two panniers sometimes, the bike has done about 1200k since the relace and the wheel is as true as it left the shop.

An ordinary 26" wheel should be fine if it's properly built. The 26" wheels
on our tandem are 36 hole and carry both of us plus up to 50kg of gear when
cycle camping. They still have the original spokes from when I built them in
1988 and we've had zero spoke breakages, in spite of the drive side spokes
on the rear being slightly chewed from shifting the chain into the spokes
about 15 years ago.

"OzCableguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on
the heavy side?

Nick Payne said:

An ordinary 26" wheel should be fine if it's properly built. The 26"
wheels on our tandem are 36 hole and carry both of us plus up to 50kg of
gear when cycle camping. They still have the original spokes from when I
built them in 1988 and we've had zero spoke breakages, in spite of the
drive side spokes on the rear being slightly chewed from shifting the
chain into the spokes about 15 years ago.

I would agree with this. My tourer, a converted '93 MTB, has carried myself
(admittedly a whippet) plus up to 30kgs of camping gear, which would bring
the total payload up to over 90kg, on tours through the Victorian Alps,
Grampians, northern NSW forests and other bush tracks. I've not had any
broken spokes at all since I bought the bike in '93. First set of wheels
were standard Giant, 36 hole, probably machine built. They were replaced in
1998 when the rim sidewalls were shot. Christies built up new wheels on the
same 36 hole hubs. Still going strong, could do with a little trueing, but
running well.

Bike wheels are phenomenally strong, when built and used correctly. I think
they can happily carry loads in excess of 250kgs. Don't get sucked in to any
magic $$$$wheels. The standard wheel, correctly built, will handle your
weight.

Recommendation: get good rims, 36 hole if you can. Ask a good LBS to build
the wheels, including stress relieving. Double butted spokes are supposed to
be better as they still have the strength at the ends where it's needed, but
true better (something to do with less twisting?). Try Abbotford Cycles or
Cecil Walkers for a good wheel build. Other shops will also have good
wheelbuilders, just ask do they do their own wheelbuilding, and talk to the
wheel builder.

Cheers
Peter

Thanks all. Will play it as it comes for a while longer and get a wheel
professionally built if it gets any worse.

OzCableguy said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on the
heavy side?
Even though I'm getting lighter and lighter these days, the rate of spoke
breakage is on the increase. I reckon this is mostly because as one breaks
and gets replaced and I retrue the wheel, gradually tensions must be getting
a bit uneven around the wheel creating pressure areas that suffer from
greater fatigue.
Strangely it's always a left hand rear spoke that goes and nearly always as
a result of putting the power down on a steep incline rather than hitting a
nasty bump.
I'm going to have a go at rebuilding the wheel but if there's a purpose
built (and cost effective) solution already I might go that way instead. I
seem to recall on the final episode of Celebrity Overhaul they presented
Anthony (the big fella) with an MTB that was specially designed to carry the
heavier than average human so there must be something around.

--
www.ozcableguy.com
www.oztechnologies.com

If the left side spokes are breaking, it's probably 'cos the wheel is under-tensioned. The left side spokes have less tension than the right side due to the wheel's dish. If the whole wheel isn't tightened enough, the left side spokes will go slack from time to time when you hit bumps. This is a bad thing that accelerates spoke fatigue. A cheap and easy solution is to increase the tension on all the spokes and retrue the wheel. Try this first and see how you go before spending up on new stuff.

HNY!

Ritch

"OzCableguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thanks all. Will play it as it comes for a while longer and get a wheel
professionally built if it gets any worse.

Make sure that your spokes are tensioned properly, as stainless steel spokes
that are a bit loose will break no matter how strong they are. Stainless
cannot handle the fatigue from a cyclic load.

On 2005-12-30, Peter Signorini (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Bike wheels are phenomenally strong, when built and used correctly. I think
they can happily carry loads in excess of 250kgs.

Gah! You've just given me images of a really fat guy in too small
tight lycra, riding a bike! :eek:

--
TimC
Whip me. Beat me. Make me maintain AIX.

"Rudi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Make sure that your spokes are tensioned properly, as stainless steel
spokes that are a bit loose will break no matter how strong they are.
Stainless cannot handle the fatigue from a cyclic load.

You might be onto something there. They all seem to "twang" at around the
same note and feel pretty tight but they're under a bit more stress than
most spokes generally are so I might experiment a bit and see what happens.

--
www.ozcableguy.com
www.oztechnologies.com

Peter Signorini said:

Recommendation: get good rims, 36 hole if you can. Ask a good LBS to
build the wheels, including stress relieving. Double butted spokes are
supposed to be better as they still have the strength at the ends where
it's needed, but true better (something to do with less twisting?).

32 hole should be fine, and if you've already got OK rims and hubs it's
cheaper to pay for spokes + build than for a whole new wheel.

Other than the weight saving of having a thin section in the middle, the
other advantage of double butted spokes is that the thin section is more
elastic, so is able to handle excess load better - like when you hit a
pothole, or a stick hits your spoke. Nominally the spoke is a tiny bit
weaker, but since the load points are the ends and they're just as fat as
a normal spoke, the effective strength is actually marginally higher due
to the above bit. The downside, as always, is that they cost more.

Someone upthread mentioned retensioning the existing spokes. That might
work, but if you're popping them already there's significant fatigue on
the existing ones. As a matter of interest putting a few extra turns on
each spoke to get an idea how loose they are - I put about 3 extra turns
on every spoke of the rear wheel of my good MTB when I bought it, and the
rim is still sufficiently round to work.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Random miscellany, as opposed to that other kind of miscellany
- Patrick Shaughnessy

OzCableguy said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on the
heavy side?
Even though I'm getting lighter and lighter these days, the rate of spoke
breakage is on the increase. I reckon this is mostly because as one breaks
and gets replaced and I retrue the wheel, gradually tensions must be getting
a bit uneven around the wheel creating pressure areas that suffer from
greater fatigue.
Strangely it's always a left hand rear spoke that goes and nearly always as
a result of putting the power down on a steep incline rather than hitting a
nasty bump.
I'm going to have a go at rebuilding the wheel but if there's a purpose
built (and cost effective) solution already I might go that way instead. I
seem to recall on the final episode of Celebrity Overhaul they presented
Anthony (the big fella) with an MTB that was specially designed to carry the
heavier than average human so there must be something around.

If you are breaking the rear non drive side spokes you could try radial
spoking just that side of the rear wheel. I think I read about it on
Sheldon Browns site. I have a 99 model mongooes 3 inch travel dualie
that is laced radial on the front and radil 3 cross on the back. I have
Taken it of 10 step dropoffs and other stupid stuff no probs. I only
weigh 68 Kgs maybe 70 or so with camelbak and tools.

"Random Data" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OzCableguy said:

Is there such a thing as a special 26" wheel for someone who's a bit on
the heavy side?

A well built one. While I'm far from being a clydesdale, I ride with a few
blokes who are around 100kg, and with standard 32 hole rims they're fine,
even when their line picking starts to approach mine in terms of
crappiness. A good rim, maybe something in the "Heavy XC" class like a
Mavic 521 (or whatever's replaced it) or a Sun Rhyno Lite, quality spokes,
and any reasonable hub. Lace them tight, or have a real wheel builder do
it, and all should be sweet.

Either get 32 name brand spokes, or get a new wheel.
--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Random miscellany, as opposed to that other kind of miscellany
- Patrick Shaughnessy

I had a set of Rhyno Lite XL rims (36 spokes) laced up with 14 gauge
straight DT spokes and I have not had a problem in close to 12 months of
riding on them. The rims were warranty replacements for the Rhyno Lites
that I managed to break (came apart at the seam as it is not welded on the
Lites). I got them built up at VicMTB and basically said that I wanted them
built like downhill wheels. The guy who built them (think it was Dave but
not sure??) did a great job and I haven't even had to tighten a spoke
since!!!

I know that they are probably a bit on the heavy side but I am prepared to
sacrifice some weight for strength anyway. I am close to 100kg and although
I only ride XC and don't regularly do big drop-offs or anything, I would
highly recommend you going for something similar.

Ride On,

Gags