What 700C wheels do you have on your commuting bike?

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What 700C wheels do you have on your commuting bike?

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Started 10 years ago by Kenny
Latest reply from Uberuce
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Kenny
Member

It appears I have gone through a pair of Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels in 18 months of commuting, based on the advice of Hart's Cyclery. Snapped a spoke yesterday on the way home (first ever), and Hart's basically said that the wheels I was using for commuting were not up to the job, especially as I have a pannier rack, because there are not enough spokes and (I suspect) the side walls are not thick enough. The rims are indeed quite worn, he reckoned I have 6 months left if I'm lucky.

This is the 2nd wheelset I've gone through in 2½ years of cycle commuting around 15 miles a day.

Therefore, what wheelset (700c) do people use for commuting that have 32 spokes and rims that won't get worn through quickly, but ideally don't weigh a ton?

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"but ideally don't weigh a ton?"

I'm sure you'll get all sorts of good advice, but don't forget to factor in the tyres when adding up the weight.

Some people are happy to commute on 23s, others go for 28 or 32 - often with degrees of punctureproofness - those will outweigh any rim.

Posted 10 years ago #
amir
Member

hand-built wheels eg open pros with 105 hubs are reasonably reliable and easier to repair (not very light but similar to aksiums) . I do go through rims quite quickly but that's down to all year longish commuting coupled with fanatical braking. My weekend bike is much better preserved. A solution to that might be disk brakes. Another solution that I'm considering is learning to build wheels - that will make it much cheaper.

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Here's a useful chart -

Can't find the original on SB site, but other info here -

http://sheldonbrown.com/rim-sizing.html

Posted 10 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"Another solution that I'm considering is learning to build wheels - that will make it much cheaper."

Not hard really - especially if you are re-using a hub (which will last longer than rims if worn due to lots of braking).

Some people say 'always use new spokes' but I don't see the point.

SO if you want to get a taste for wheelbuilding, choose a rim with the same diameter (and number of holes!) and 'swap over' a spoke at a time.

This is more fiddly than starting with hub, rim and bunch of spokes - but you don't have to worry about getting spokes in the right hole or lacing patterns.

You'll still have to do the difficult part of truing - always easier with decent rims.

Posted 10 years ago #
acsimpson
Member

I know you're looking for rim brakes but if you are able to consider the jump to disc for commuting then I'd agree it's a great choice. A CX bike handles the potholes and rough bits with no trouble and I load mine with a lot of luggage periodically and have had no trouble with my current wheel after about 6000Km.

It's a Bontrager SSR so not the lightest but it seems bombproof. I'm planning on getting a front one to match shortly.

Posted 10 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

Near the top of my personal list of prerequisites for being a commuter is that the device doesn't use rim brakes. Anything that does is not a commuter; it's another type of bike pressed into service as one, and while it'll almost certainly get you to work and back in all weathers, it just won't be as good at it as a non-rim braker.

That is plainly a useless statement, given the difficulty of converting a rim brake bike to the the other kinds, so I would suggest you work out your upper limit of 'not weighing a ton' and see what you can get in 32 holes.

Posted 10 years ago #
Darkerside
Member

Open pro rims on Hope rear and SON front hubs. Disc braked. Hope hubs have a usefully loud clicking when freewheeling, which is handy for those shared used areas...

Posted 10 years ago #
Kenny
Member

A lot of people favouring disc brakes, but alas my bike doesn't have the capability of such devices. Noted for the future if/when I replace the frame!

Posted 10 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

The cheapest way of ticking the not-rim-brakes, not-derailleur-gearing boxes of my commuter recipe is a fixie with a Sturmey dynodrum hub, an example of which you've driven to Peebles in the back of your car.

Probably still useless commentery unless your bike has horizontal dropouts.

Posted 10 years ago #
Instography
Member

If I were a weekend racer/club rider, I think having wheels that weigh a ton would be a good way of training.

Posted 10 years ago #
amir
Member

It's also a good way of going off cycling!

Posted 10 years ago #
Darkerside
Member

Did you ever get the, ah, not-really-very-good-at-stopping-the-bike issue ironed out of your magnificent drums, Uberuce?

Posted 10 years ago #
steveo
Member

TBH 2 wheel sets in 3 years doesn't sound that bad if you're looking at basically zero maintenance. I've been running the cheap Shimano R500 on my racer for a couple of years for both commuting and longer leisure journeys and at £70 a pop (for the pair) I'm happy getting 18 months out of them.

You'll probably not get that much more out of Open Pro's and you'll need to service even a 105 hub every couple of years; you might even wear out the freehub which is another cost.

I don't have panniers but I do have my carridice stuffed to the gunnels at times and I'm far from the lightest rider!

Posted 10 years ago #
CycleCommute.CC
Member

I'm running the stock Giant wheels on mine (PR2) which seem very solid. Had them trued a couple of times but other than that not really any problem.

What sort of milage should one get out of a wheelset and how do you know when the rim is too worn? I'm currently at just over 8k miles on mine and they seem to be going as well as ever.

Posted 10 years ago #
earthowned
Member

I've been using pretty much the same wheels as Steveo. Picked up a R501 wheelset for £70 which I've been using on the commuter since Dec 13. Zero maintenance and still running true. The previous wheels which I ran into the ground lasted 22 months with little/no maintenance.

Posted 10 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

Well I've used Mavic A319s or equivalent for years and they are bomb-proof if you keep them round by yearly truing. I've had a pair last five years of daily commuting.

I've no real idea of what counts as heavy, but I've never regreted using them.

Posted 10 years ago #
TractorFactory
Member

Sounds like the solution might be disc brakes. I've been running on the same front wheel for 2 1/2 years. with no problems at all. I just need to get round to replacing one of the bearing cones and it's back to full strength.

I say front wheel, as I went through a back wheel because I didn't appreciate the usage of bearings and grease in the wheel and killed the hub.

Posted 10 years ago #
DaveC
Member

I have quite a mixture of cheap Shimano (500?) & oem, hand built Shimano Tiagra with Open Sport and XT Deore disk & other rim wheels.

My cheap oem Alex rim wheels which came with the cotic are ok but the bearing cartridges wear out every couple of years and the hub won't last as long as the rims at this rate as the cartridges have to be pressed out and into the hub. I am moving to hand/self built wheels but I think a good hub, rim and spokes should last. I use the older cheaper wheels for commuting replacing spokes myself as required.

Disks means the wheels last longer as you can replace discs as needed, but as you have said that means a different frame/forks. Also note that non disk/disk rear wheels are different widths 130/135mm. You can force a wheel into the rear stays but its not a good idea on a carbon bike!

Try getting 105/Tiagra hub with Open Sport rim & double butted spokes and building your own wheel in the rear stays. Its surprisingly easy done over 2 - 3 days: building up, tensioning & truing and then finishing/dishing/untensioning. There are books you can buy or perhaps even borrow from a library or from someone who has one to lend you. I found it pretty easy and you learn lots about the wheel when building your own, making a spoke replacement a simple task.

Posted 10 years ago #
Kenny
Member

Cheers again for the info. Lots to ponder on.

After pondering on it some more, I'm coming to the conclusion that the pannier rack isn't an issue. The heaviest bag I put on there is 5kg, and that happens about twice a year, the rest of the time it's not got a lot in it. Added to this is the fact I'm not heavy - I can put on 5kg in weight and still be below the "overweight" BMI rating, therefore the pannier rack isn't something I'm going to consider as an issue.

From various other readings on teh interwebs, I think he's right about the lack of spokes, especially on the back wheel, though. I think what I will do is investigate getting a custom wheel made up, Mavic either A319 or Open Sport based on opinions above, with a Shimano Tiagra/105 hub and 32 or 36 spokes, just to be sure.

That all said, I've also read that Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels are indeed ok for commuting, at least according to road.cc:

http://road.cc/content/review/115857-fulcrum-racing-5-wheels

So I'm confused even more. Realistically, the only thing that is bothering me isn't the broken spoke, it's the side wall which he suggests is worn and doesn't have a lot left in it. Maybe that's because I've (once again) left it too long before changing brake pads, though?

Posted 10 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

Did you ever get the, ah, not-really-very-good-at-stopping-the-bike issue ironed out of your magnificent drums, Uberuce?

They bedded in after a week or two, but that didn't give them much more grab. I've had to brake sharpish a handful times in the course of commuting and they've always slowed me in time, so I think it's the way they brake that makes them seem worse than they are. Unlike disc or caliper brakes, they don't have much grab when you're moving very slowly, so the last part of braking seems like they're duff, but they take you from fast to very slow acceptably well.

Posted 10 years ago #

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