700c wheels with few spokes (24h)

[bigfella]

Are these a lot weaker than 32 or 36 hole wheels?

I've been looking at hybrid/road bikes and wondered about the strength of wheels with fewer spokes. Would they be OK for someone who weighs 125kg ish?

 

[spandex]

They will do it but do not push them but I think you would be better with the 32's or 36's

 

[Chrisz]

I had a set of Simano 105 wheels with 16 front and 20 rear spokes - had 'em for several years and only ever had to replace two rear spokes (both pinged after a sudden stamp on the pedals). This happened when they were several years old. Other than that they stayed perfectly straight/true. BTW, I was 17st at the time!!!

 

[MacB]

BF, my new bike has 36H Mavic touring rims front and back coz it'll be my fully laden commuter. Have pinged rear spokes on the Giant, 28H rear wheel.

 

[andy_wrx]

The stock wheels which came with my Spesh Allez have a 32 spoke rear, which unfortunately seems to be laced with spaghetti or noodles or something, not decent quality spokes.
After I'd had them for a year or so, they started pinging on a very regular basis.

On the other hand I have 20 spoke Mavic Ksyrium and Cosmic, 24 spoke Shimano WH-R550 and 27 spoke Fulcrum rear wheels and I've not (touch wood) broken a spoke on any of them.

Answer I think then is that a cheap, sh*te 32 spoke wheel is not as strong as a decent quality low spoke-count wheel...

 

[TheDoctor]

I've bust a spoke on Shimano ready made wheels (24 spokes) and hand-built Open Pros (36 spokes). Make of that what you will.

 

[dan_bo]

I'm a big lad and have been running campag scirroco's (>32 spokes) with no problems for the last two years. Very well built wheels they are.

 

[hubgearfreak]

it's all about defect tolerance. i suspect that wheels with 6 spokes may work on a computer model, but that will only transfer to the real world if they're assembled perfectly. but wheel-building machines or people will have off days, after all, no-one is perfect. also each spoke is manufactured to a specification, give or take a % or ten and the rim must have a hole for the valve and a stiff/heavy bit where it's been joined. weigh ten spokes (minusing 20 holes in the hubs & rims), does that extra honestly matter more than peace of mind/ likeliness of failure?

 

[fossyant]

Are you looking at new wheels ?

If so do consider handbuilts - say Shimano 105/Ultegra on Open pro or CXP 33's

I've just had some old 28H hubs laced 3x on CXP 33's and they are tough - absolutely no deflection - very tough and come in at a respectable sub 1800 grams.

If the wheels have to be stock with the bike, Aksiums are tough.....

 

[e-rider]

At 125kg you definitely need 36 spokes on the rear wheel.

32s would probably be OK for a while but why bother - 4 extra spokes doesn't add much more weight and the extra strength is well worth it.

I'm not keen on low spoke counts - for a start, the spokes have to be much stronger, and therefore heavier, as does the rim so weight saving is often minimal.

Also, they are much more difficult to true because there are fewer spokes so each one carries a greater load and if a spoke does break when you're out riding the whole wheel will be a mess because as I said each spoke carries a greater load so without just 1 spoke the wheel become severely buckled and unusable.

Front wheels are a different story - you could probably use 28 or 32 spokes for that but you should assess the extra weight of 4 or 8 spokes and decide if that really worries you - are you racing? If not, get more spokes and the wheels will last longer and need less fixing.

 

[bigfella]

Great advice there, I will definitely be getting the 36 hole. Looking at some Mavic Open Sport rims.

 

[02GF74]

i am not sure the advice is strictly correct.

it does not follow that a wheel with fewer spokes is weaker - but I would guess if you had two identical wheels other than for spoke count built correctly, then that should be true.

I have wolber vector wheels on my no.1 road bike and these have 18 or 20 spokes. although I am not 125 kg, guessing somewhere just over 100 kg, I have never had any problems with them.

photo is a wolber vector wheel. (yes, I know the tyre is flat... on purpose)

 

[hubgearfreak]

it does not follow that a wheel with fewer spokes is weaker

wrong

but I would guess if you had two identical wheels other than for spoke count built correctly, then that should be true.

right

you managed to contradict yourself in one paragraph

 

[Young Un]

I had a set of Simano 105 wheels with 16 front and 20 rear spokes - had 'em for several years and only ever had to replace two rear spokes (both pinged after a sudden stamp on the pedals). This happened when they were several years old. Other than that they stayed perfectly straight/true. BTW, I was 17st at the time!!!

These the wheels I have now Chris?

I am quite hard on my wheels and not really a light weight at 12 1/2 stone and these have stayed perfectly true!

 

[Chrisz]

Them's the kiddies Young Un I almost regret getting rid now - they're a lovely set of wheels and the modern ones don't look half as good