Historically, bicycle wheels were laced with 36 spokes. For a few decades, largely for marketing reasons, wheels with fewer and fewer spokes have become popular. With more spokes, each spoke carries less of the total load on the wheel. The result is wheels that are stronger and more durable. This is one of those wheel sets.
For sale, a pair of road wheels, built specifically for durability, strength, and ease of maintenance. Around a pair of Wheel Master AQ 1010 hubs with traditional cup and cone bearings, laced with DT Swiss Champion 14 gauge spokes and DT Swiss brass spoke nipples, 622 x 15 mm Mavic Open Elite rims with eyeletted spoke holes and Presta valve stem holes. The freewheel is for 8 – 9 – 10 speed cassettes. The rims are suitable for 700C x 23-32 mm tires. These wheels are for a bicycle with rim brakes and QR skewers.
The front wheel is laced in a three cross pattern, while the rear wheel is laced in the less common four cross pattern. This describes how many other spokes each spoke crosses on its way from the hub to the rim. A four cross pattern is usually only seen on 36 spoke wheels such as these. The advantage for the four cross lacing pattern on the rear wheel are two-fold. First, the near tangential angle each spoke takes as it leaves the hub puts the most possible hub flange metal between each spoke hole on the hub. The second reason is this configuration also gives the most rotational stiffness to the wheel. This means that the power put into pedaling is not used to wind up the spokes before transmitting that power to the rim.
The hubs are standard cup and cone bearing hubs. This is useful to the owner, as they are easily cleaned, re-packed with grease, and adjusted by every bike shop in the world.
The Mavic Open Elite rims are eyeletted, to spread the load of each spoke nipple over a larger area of the rim. This prevents rim cracking at the spoke holes.
Similarly to the hubs, the DT Swiss Champion 14 gauge spokes are replaceable by any bike shop that can cut and thread spokes, if needed. I use brass spoke nipples to avoid the problem of bi-metallic corrosion that plagues aluminum spoke nipples, particularly in the presence of any salts, such as we find on our roads here in the North Country. There are small weight penalties for using 14 gauge spokes and brass spoke nipples. So, these wheels wouldn’t be my first choice for a time trial, triathlon, or hill climbing bike! But, this wheel set isn’t built for those purposes.
This wheel set is for the road rider who is over six feet tall, weighs more than 200 pounds, or perhaps for a road bike that’s going to be taken on a long distance tour with a bike carrying panniers. Anyone who wants emphasis on strength, durability, and serviceability.
Price: $354 for the set (save $20.40), $180.60 for the front wheel, $193 for the rear wheel. If you want these shipped, I will source packaging and get a quote to ship them to you insured.
I warrant my wheels for their lifetime. If they ever need truing, bring or send them to me, and I will correct the problem (you pay for shipping, both ways). I don’t warrant failures caused by abuse, trauma such as crashes, neglect, or lack of routine maintenance.
It’s up to you, the user, to ensure your bike is safe to ride before each trip. Your wheels should have no side to side play in the bearings when installed on the bicycle. There is very slight play in the bearings when the wheel is not mounted. This is on purpose, as the skewer will compress the axle when it is closed, bringing the bearing cones into perfect position so your wheel will be smooth, with no bearing play. If axle bearings become loose, do not ride the wheel until this situation is corrected, as it will damage the bearing cones.
All spokes on each side of the wheel are tuned to have equal tension. You can check this by listening to the tone each spoke makes when plucked like a guitar string (damp it’s partner spoke with your fingers to get a clear tone), and compare it to it’s partner spoke.
I recommend never use a bicycle rack that holds your bike up by it’s rim. You can’t be there to see when the next person comes along and bends your wheel for you. Bicycle wheels are designed to hold you and the bicycle while riding, they are not intended to hold the bicycle vertical in a bike rack.
Axle bearings require periodic service and re-packing. I recommend this be done annually, but immediately after any full immersion of the axles.
If you or your mechanic adjusts the spokes, it voids my warranty. I can’t warrant the performance of my wheels after others have “adjusted” them.