Bike Wheels with adequate weight limit

[Dudeman]

Hey all,

I recently bought a Trek Crossrip+, and I'm about 1100 miles in after about 3 months. I've taken the bike for a tune-up and had a rear spoke replace after it broke around the 800 mile mark. Well yesterday during my commute home I heard a noise and another cyclist told me my rear wheel was wobbly/out of true. So now I'm trying to decide if I get it trued again, or look into replacing my wheels. The bike is rated for 300lbs. I'm about at that limit- 245lbs rider, 44lbs bike, backpack with clothes. Obviously I could stand to lose weight, but also in looking for new wheels I don't really see any 700c wheels that are rated for higher weight limits. I'm also wondering what the actual weight limit of these generic Bontrager disc rims is. I can't find any info abut them. So my question is- Do any of you know of 700c wheels rated for higher weight limits/ebike specific?

 

[Dmitri]

To be perfectly honest, bikes without suspension are not great at handing this sort of weight. You can move to double-wall rims and increase the number of spokes from 32 to 36 or even 40 (though 40-spoke rims are 'vintage'), that might help. Also reducing tire pressure so more weight is absorbed by the tire instead of the spokes. Increasing tire width to maximum would also help in this regard, but I suspect there isn't much scope in this frame for a wider tire.

 

[harryS]

EBike rims are usually 36 holes. I don't know about Trek, but many inexpensive ebikes come with 12G spokes, which look nice and sturdy, but it turns out thinner spokes provide superior tension and make for a stronger wheel. Spin a wheel with thicker spokes and they won't ring as nice if you let a screw driver strike them as they pass by. This is also a rough method with some merit for detecting lose spokes.

You can ask your shop what they would charge for re-spoking with spokes that are 13G at the motor end and 14G at the nipple end. like Saphim Strong spokes, which are intended for cargo and ebikes usage. Around $40-50 for the parts, and $50-100 for labor is my guess.

 

[Dmitri]

EBike rims are usually 36 holes.

Actually, that's not true. Most commercial ebike rims have 32 holes and some formats (e.g., ebikes) are almost exclusively 32H. You do meet 36H occasionally on the rear wheel when a heavy hub such as Rohloff is used, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[harryS]

Ahh, I forgot that I'm primarily a hub motor guy and those are almost exclusively 36 holes, but the good mid motor bikes will use the 32H rims to save weight.

 

[Katysax]

In the years when I was a serious club rider doing lots of long distance rides I had a few different trek bikes and I was well under 200 lbs. I also suffered lots of broken spokes. It got to the point that when I got a trek bike the first thing I did was get Mavic wheels. My opinion is that Bontrager rims are kind of junky, and trek uses machines to true their wheels. Other people that I rode with also had plenty of broken spokes on treks, even one woman who was under 90 lbs. I don’t know if trek wheels are still bad, or if you are just having bad luck.

 

[AHicks]

I can share that I'm a 300lb rider, and bought a new analog 700c Trek Hybrid a few years back. Within just a few miles I had broken a couple of spokes on the rear. When the second one broke, I took it back to the dealer expressing my dismay over what appeared was going to be a chronic problem, and he swapped a whole new rim (still a Bontrager) onto the bike, and I never had another issue.

I have had several bikes before and since (I've been this weight nearly my entire adult life), and never had an issue of any kind with spokes. Point being, I can't help but wonder if Trek doesn't use some lightweight assemblies that might be a little too lightweight for bigger riders? Best of luck....

 

[Nerkdawg]

When I inquired about Trek bikes, I was told they could support 300 pounds, but the 300 pounds included, the rider, any cargo, and the weight of the bike itself.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been +/- 250# for most of my adult biking years. I also carry quite a bit of cargo weight. I've had spoke issues on most of the bikes I've owned over the years until my wife and I got Trek Shift 4 MTB's. Although I've never seen it in print, the dealer told me the bike was rated at 375#. In any case, I've never had a spoke problem in the 10 years I've owned the Shift 4's. The Bontrager rims with 36, 12G spokes don't seem to be anything special but no broken spokes.

Unfortunately, Trek doesn't offer an ebike rated over 300#. In reality, there are few on the market today. Not wanting to revisit the broken spoke issue, I ultimately chose a model that had a mag wheel option rated to 400#. Since your Crossrip+ is a mid drive, a mag wheel conversion is possible but could be difficult. 700 cc mags suitable for disc brakes and 11 speed cassette may be hard to find. It might be worth looking into though.

 

[JMac]

Any wheel either new on a bike or recently built needs to be retensioned after about 200 to 00 miles otherwise the wheel loses its tension, weakens and its longevity suffers in the long run and that when you start breaking spokes.

I too am interested in the prospect of new wheels after noticing the spokes on the 36H wheelset that came new on my izip has hardly any tension....im 200lbs. I was thinking of a 29er enduro wheelset would work.