Wheel's for a Single Speed

I ride a SS road bike with a 52t chain ring and a 16t freewheel. For the past month or so I have been 'blowing' spokes on my rear wheel. The spokes have been breaking at the hub while riding, always on a straight away while I'm just keeping a steady pace. The shop I go to that specializes in SS and Fixies say it's pretty much due to my size, 300lbs, and my gear ratio. They told me to get my wheel respoked with stainless steel spokes and that should fix my problem. Well after blowing a spoke again today I'm taking it into the shop tomorrow to get this done. Yet if this doesn't fix my problem, I would like to find other ways around this. Actually in general I am trying to figure out the best wheel for me all around. Yet I seem to have pretty high demands, light, strong and minimal maintinence. I'm almost to the point that if I blow more spokes after I respoke I will end up getting some aero wheel for the rear, something like the Spinergy Rev-X, yet I know wheels like these have their issues too. So I'm looking for suggestions and ideas for a large man (although if I can keep my bike out of the damn shop that might not be the case) riding a SS road bike with a high ratio (I average around 20mhp) and not wanting to put much maintinence in wheels that won't slow me down.

 

Buy a carbon wheel with double sealed bearings.

 

How old is that wheel that it wasn't laced with stainless steel spokes?

How many spokes does your current rear wheel have? 36? 32?

Find someone with an old, 40h tandem rear wheel ... have the wheel respaced to fit your frame. It will probably have a 27" rim (I'm presuming your SS bike currently has 700c or 27" wheels -- 27" wheels may not fit in some frames, so wheel selection may be limited), so if your front isn't already a 27", then consider getting the front wheel, too! The "old" tandem rear wheel will have a flip-flop hub.

For the record, what kind of spokes did the shop relace your wheel with?

BTW. Consider changing your rear cog size to 18t and/or your chainring to 42t.

 

The wheels are 27" 32 spoke, single walls. I think part of the problem is the spokes being over 25 years old and probably fatigue. i dont think the ones that continue to break on me arn't the new ones. I didn't run into this problem last year, so hopefully respoking the entire thing will work. I get the bike back tomorrow and if it doesn't work I might just go with one of those wierd aero tires that have 10 or 8 "spokes". Then I won't have to worry about blowing them and will just have to worry about trueing it. but i'd have to go 700c and then i'd mess up my ground clearance. Either way I will have to do some sort of maintinence and most of my problem is my pig headedness.

As for dropping my ratio I can't see my self doing that. going from a 52x16 to a 42x18 seems nuts to me, i'd lose so much of my speed. that would be going from a 3.25 ratio to a 2.33 ratio, that is almost losing 1 whole revolution of my wheel per crank. I am contemplating getting a used fuji track wiht the standard 48x16, and i might drop it down to a 46, just because i do want to work with a fixie, but dont want to convert my SS to a fixie.

thanks for the suggestions, I'll let you know how my new wheel works out.

 

I run 700x28 tires with 32 - 14 guage spokes at 250 pounds on a good day. Prior to the fixed I ran nothing but 36 hole wheels for years on geared bikes, but still had to learn to bunny hop at speed for holes and ruts. Both 700 and 27 wheels have been bullet proof for me on non-dished fixed. On old or less than good wheels, after breaking two or three spokes, the only way to go is a complete respoke with all new spokes, though I have broken flanges off hubs and cracked or pulled nipples through rims. Starting with fresh round wheels is the best and going over them a time or two right away, then they're usually good for years. A little more tire cushion also helps. That's my two cents.

 

I just got my bike back today after the respoke and plan on testing out tonight and then doing a 25 miler tomorrow. so heres hoping!!

 

I once bought a new mountain bike and the store guy told me to bring it back in 30 days for a tune-up. After riding it home from the shop, the headset was loose, wheels were floppy, barely shifted. The wheels eventually turned out to be built a little light for me, but snugging them up helped. The more and bigger spoked versions have lasted many years. Sucks when you can't ride.
.......and I'd shy away....no....run away from titanium pedal spindles. A very bad experience.

 

I'm about 250LBS. I swear by DT Swiss Competition double butted spokes on high spoke count wheels. 32 or 36 spokes. I've had good luck with this setup. As to rims, something with eylets, double walls, and 2 side chambers designed for touring or tandems. Low end: Sun CR 18s very strong but can be difficult to mount tires on. Higher end : Ambrosio Evolutions, these have double eylets(they bear on both the inner and outer rim walls Mt bike rims often have these). I've also heard that these Velocity deep Vees are strong, but no eyelets. Hubs: Got money? there are always Phil Wood and White Brothers. They'll take your weight.

 

I have been riding on my rebuilt wheel for a few weeks now. I have put about 100 or so miles on it and I have had no problems. So, for now, I'm going to keep riding it and when it becomes a wheel I can no longer use I was looking at getting a double walled rim. Not sure if I want to go deep v yet, still looking into the stats on those rims. As for the Phil Wood hub, definatly something I want to do in the future. Thanks everyone for all of your help!!