On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 12:02 PM, Thomas Lynn Skean <thomaslynnsk...@comcast.net> wrote: > Hi, all. I seek counsel. > > I weigh about 250 lbs. I often carry 10-15 lbs on a rear rack. I ride > a Trek hybrid, sitting bolt-upright. (By the way, this Trek is about > as Riv'd up as any Trek could be. Actual Riv relevance: Later this > year I'll also be riding a Hillborne and any counsel I receive will > apply to it for sure; maybe/maybe-not for the Trek. Also, the riding I > do is very much non-clubby, non-race-y, and non-trivial in distance; > this seems to match up with Riv philosophy and thus seems appropriate > for this group.) I use 700x35 tires on 32- or 36-spoke wheels at about > 60 psi. I ride 70-100 miles/week 12 months a year (I bet that'll rise > when I get the Hillborne), over half on limestone trail. I'm actually > pretty easy on the bike in general, avoiding obstacles/rough path > where practical, lifting the wheel and slowing down when I don't avoid > the hazard. > > My problem is that I haven't gotten more than 1000 miles on any rear > wheel without complete failure (cracked hub, bent axle) or the need > for repair (hub overhaul, multiple spoke breakage, rim *way* out-of- > true-or-round). The wheels I've used include some cheapies and some > good ones. Some were better to use than others. But all were okay to > use (until they failed :( ). More wheel details later.
You shouldn't have these sort of problems within a thousand miles or so. I have LX and XT hubs with over 5,000 miles each, and i expect them to last for many more years with normal maintenance. To look at your earlier wheel failures, it seems like the rim might be the common weak link. The CR18 is a decent rim, but they aren't consistently round, and it's certainly possible that spoke tension was uneven on each of them, leading to out-of-true issues and premature spoke breakage. I'd say that your current XT wheel should be plenty strong for the load, and the Synergy is a good rim. It's impossible to tell without hearing the sounds, but it seems likely that the hub just needs fresh bearings and a repack. I don't know where you got the wheel, but often it seems Shimano hubs come from the factory a little too tight and a little light on grease (at least for my taste) and i usually rebuild brand new Shimano hubs before using them. 36 spokes should be fine too; more might be better, but i don't think strictly necessary. If you have any problems with the rim staying true, the Velocity Dyad or Salsa DelGato might be a stronger choice. Since you mention your riding position, i'll add that the bolt upright position does tend to put a greater percentage of weight on the rear wheel, which would also tend to explain the issues. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with sitting upright, nor that 250lbs is too heavy to expect a bike to handle. I do think that the combination of the two tends to require a stronger rear wheel than might otherwise be indicated, but i'd say what you have now should be sufficient. -- Bill Connell St. Paul, MN -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
