Wheels for big guys

[woodythewizard]

So basically I bout a mountain bike I really love it but I’ve buckled the wheels because I’m a big guy. I was wondering if there are any good wheels out there for big people at a decent price I’m about 180kg and my bike is the easiest way for me to get exercise to lose weight

[Brucey]

wheels that are meant for tandems bear a similar load, have 40 or 48 spokes and are built with stronger parts throughout. They may be more suitable for you but they ain't cheap.

Have someone who knows look at the wheels that failed and if they were of particularly poor quality or not. If they were poor quality then maybe a decent quality set of wheels meant for a solo would work for you. A set of handbuilt wheels using the strongest solo-rated parts could be almost as strong as tandem rated wheels but ought to be less expensive.

cheers

[kylecycler]

woody - what size wheels does your mountain bike have - 26" (559), 27.5" (584, aka 650B) or 29" (622, aka 700c)? The underlined numbers will be on the tyre sidewalls if you don't know.

Brucey - would that make much difference? Fairly sure 26" wheels are strongest, but don't know how much. It's just that I remember this blog post by 'bretonbikes', who you'll know sometimes posts here and who you've often posted back and forth with (in fact I think he learned some of it from you!):

https://www.bretonbikes.com/homepage/cy ... 700c-vs-26

Of course if woody's wheels are already 26" it's all moot! And if they aren't, he'd need a different bike to get any 'benefit'.

woody - good luck with getting it sorted out somehow. I've never been seriously overweight as such, but when you get going properly with the cycling the weight will fall off you. Then you learn to eat because you're burning so many calories (even though you think you know how to eat already!), then that gets to be a 'secondary issue'...

[pwa]

If it is the right size, something like this might be a good idea.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/wheelswheel ... -disc-hub/

[Brucey]

…..Of course if woody's wheels are already 26" it's all moot! And if they aren't, he'd need a different bike to get any 'benefit'....

pretty much, yes. Of course if you can get the same parts in the different sizes then the smaller wheel ought to be stronger; however the choice of parts in different wheel sizes is not completely free.

My suspicion is that the wheels that fell apart were typical factory built wheels, and could easily be improved upon, but we don't know that for sure.

cheers

[PH]

Your weight shouldn't be too much of an issue for well built MTB wheels with strong but not necessarily expensive components.
In your position, I'd be asking for recommendations for a local wheel builder.

[andrew_s]

Fairly sure 26" wheels are strongest, but don't know how much.

In terms of just riding along, it goes inversely with the separation of the spokes at the rim, so a 36 spoke 700C wheel is about the same strength as a 32 spoke 26" wheel, but not as strong as a 36 spoke 26" wheel.

If you do something that puts a sideways load on the rim (crashes, landing jumps badly etc) the wider angle between left and right spokes in a smaller wheel helps.

[random37]

Congratulations for starting!
The Rigida Andra 40 rim is rated for your weight. Add to that a good quality Shimano freehub, a good wheel build and you'll be golden. Expect the whole thing to cost £100-130ish.
Or the wheel in that SJS cycles link above.

[kylecycler]

Fairly sure 26" wheels are strongest, but don't know how much.

In terms of just riding along, it goes inversely with the separation of the spokes at the rim, so a 36 spoke 700C wheel is about the same strength as a 32 spoke 26" wheel, but not as strong as a 36 spoke 26" wheel.

If you do something that puts a sideways load on the rim (crashes, landing jumps badly etc) the wider angle between left and right spokes in a smaller wheel helps.

Does the shorter length of the 26" wheel's spokes not just make them inherently stronger?

[PH]

Does the shorter length of the 26" wheel's spokes not just make them inherently stronger?

Not really, otherwise you could just have stronger spokes in bigger wheels.

[kylecycler]

Does the shorter length of the 26" wheel's spokes not just make them inherently stronger?

Not really, otherwise you could just have stronger spokes in bigger wheels.

But is a shorter spoke of the same gauge not stronger? Not arguing, I just always thought it was.

[Bonefishblues]

Doh - I just wrote:

Andra 40 rims are rated to your weight. Speak to SJS cycles who will build them up.

...and saw ano had posted already - but it's your best and most economical solution I think.

[Brucey]

Does the shorter length of the 26" wheel's spokes not just make them inherently stronger?

Not really, otherwise you could just have stronger spokes in bigger wheels.

But is a shorter spoke of the same gauge not stronger? Not arguing, I just always thought it was.

stiffer (pro rata with the inverse of the length) but not stronger

cheers

[Bonefishblues]

Not really, otherwise you could just have stronger spokes in bigger wheels.

But is a shorter spoke of the same gauge not stronger? Not arguing, I just always thought it was.

stiffer (pro rata with the inverse of the length) but not stronger

cheers

$64k question then. Are 26 inch wheels stronger? If so, exactly why?

[Brucey]

in smaller wheels, all things being equal, the spoking is stiffer, the rims are stiffer (by scale) and they see smaller bending loads in relation to their capacity to withstand them.

cheers