# My Wheel Story/Dilemma



## sarah (Jul 29, 2004)

I'm a bit irritated with my wheels right now. I have Easton accents. I got them last july and I've always thought they were bombproof. I've ridden them through everything. They've been raced on ever since I got them. This past labor day weekend I'm out for a ride. Nothing unusual, a couple of hours, I don't run over / hit anything hard. I get done with the ride, shower and I'm getting ready for dinner when I hear this loud twang noise. I walk into the room where my bike is and my spoke is shaking all around. The spoke broke right at the nipple (The front wheel). I'm told by a few people this is a defect and an unusual place for a spoke to break. 

So I sent the thing back to Easton. They tell me some bull that 12 of my spokes are damaged, I'm thinking they are trying to distract me from the real problem but whatever I want the wheel back and it's only $50 so I just tell them to fix it. 

The other day I get a flat, I'm fixing it and I notice that the rim of the back wheel (not the wheel that got fixed) seems to be separating where the two ends meet. None of my other wheels have this seperation so I'm afraid that the back wheel is screwed up too. 

Either way I'm kinda irritated. Maybe I shouldn't be and this should be expected from a wheelset that weighs 1400 grams but I weight 113-114ish during the race season and about 120 at my fatest. I'm thinking of looking into some new wheels just because I don't want to have to worry about these things just breaking. 

I guess the point of this long drawn out post is, do you ladies have any good experiences with a light (1400 gram) wheelset? I would really like to stick with clinchers.... Any suggestions?

Sarah


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Not a lady, but if you really want new wheels, then look at Bontrager. They have reasonably priced wheels. What's your budget? 

I think yours might be an isolated problem FWIW or maybe, an Easton problem (but I wouldn't know as I've never used Easton before)


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

Also not a Lady, but help out wrenching for womens team. 

I will tell you that if you took care of those wheels (and it sounds like you did) those two things should not have happened esp with in the short time frame you talking about and eps. with your weight vs the wheel set. 

There are tons of good wheels out there I will give the bontragers a second recommendation I have a pair (aeros) that are over 4 seasons old and are my main race wheelset they do however only get raced so that contributed to their long life. 

The team I work with has had good luck with Cane Creek wheels (volos team issue), their retty easy to maintain also their stiff (stiff enough that the sprinters on the team havn't been asking for something else) and light enough that the Climbers are complaining 9tho everyone wants to use the carbon sets). I will give them a strong recommendation tho clearly I'm baised if it make any difference whe have wheels sets still in action after 3 seasons of racing/training and that have made through pileups in NRC stuff.

If you have to have only one set of wheels to race and train on try get a set built up from part. You can get something that is fairly light and reliable and that you don't have to send off to be worked on. Tubies are great if you want to mess with em 9and their free and you get free tires) but you can get light clinchers.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Wow. I am so sorry to hear about your wheels. 

My wheels weigh 1358 grams. I ride tubulars. I know you said you want to stick with clinchers but I figure the clincher version will probably be not that much heavier. 

I have custom built wheels. Campy record 28h hubs, DT Revolution spokes. Two cross/three cross on the back and single cross on the front. My rims: a Campy Barcelona (410g) rim on the front and an Ambrosio Chrono rim (360g maybe?) on the back. I replaced both rims last year at about the 10,000 mile mark for them. 

I have never, ever broken a spoke and it's only since I've switched to the lighter Ambrosio rim on the back (from Campy Barcelona) that I've actually had to take the wheel in for truing once or twice a year. 

You can probably get a clincher version of a setup like this for - I don't know - around $500? Maybe someone who knows more about clincher rim pricing can give us some info. 

Wheel Mavens: Yeah I know it's a funky setup but hey, it's light.


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## *Dude* (Feb 26, 2004)

*Try American Classic*

Try the American Classic wheels.. :thumbsup:


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## sarah (Jul 29, 2004)

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't even considered getting a set built up.... I'll have to look more into that.

I do plan on getting a set of deep dish tubulars next season.. But I'm thinking clinchers for my main training/races when it's crapy out wheels. Bontrager's might be ok... 

I don't really have a budget. I'm not going to go crazy and buy lightweights, but If I like the wheels I'll probably buy them regardless of price. Especially because I know they'll get used... 

Thanks,
Sarah


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

A really reliable set would be DT 1.1 rims with DT 240 hubs and a DT revolution or DT aero spoke. These would come in at 1450ish grams and be bombproof at your weight. In fact, at the weights you listed, just about anything should last you forever. DT sell these wheels as the DT 1450 wheelset, or you can have a builder build them. Either way they go for around $550. Honestly, you really could ride any wheel you find and not worry. I think you got a bad set of wheels from the sounds of it.


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

sarah said:


> Thanks for the replies. I hadn't even considered getting a set built up.... I'll have to look more into that.
> 
> I do plan on getting a set of deep dish tubulars next season.. But I'm thinking clinchers for my main training/races when it's crapy out wheels. Bontrager's might be ok...
> 
> I don't really have a budget. I'm not going to go crazy and buy lightweights, but If I like the wheels I'll probably buy them regardless of price. Especially because I know they'll get used...


Tubulars for racing eh? I'm using the Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon Aero (38mm) wheelset and they work nicely with the 16spoke configuration on both the front and rear. 

Lightweights - mmmm, those are my dream wheelset too but since you mentioned price might not be an object then you might wanna check out the Zipp Z series (mainly so, the Z4s) from www.all3sports.com/allproducts.php as they are going for $2500 instead of the usual $3500 or so. I know a couple of people who use them and the latest guy o use them from my LBS really liked it a great deal and said ''Totally worth it. I knew Zipp was good but I never expected them to be this great''

So, it might be something you wanna check out and all3sports is giving a really great deal with the sale price. (Not sure how long it'll be for but you can always email them for enquiries as I did and they responded very quickly too)

Oh yeah. just remember that deep rims would have crosswind effect so take note of that. (My 38mms also have that effect but it's not a problem.)

As for clincher wheels, well, there are lots of cheap and durable wheels out there and IMHO, the Bontrager line up has several very affordable wheels which are good and durable. 

As for your racing, are the races mainly gonna be flat, rolling or hilly or crits? Coz if it's lots of hilly races, then you might want to look at lighter wheels, say maybe a good, light clincher set which you can train with and race in those races. 

Just curious here, any specific reasaon as to why you would like to get clincher training wheels? I know many might not agree or whatever, but I use my Carbon Aeros for training, racing and simply, everything. (Mind you, they are tubulars) and no problems so far save for the cut tire I got when I hit something on the road. But yeah, this MIGHT be a problem. You could always get better quality tires to go with but it's just something I thought you might want to consider. 

Good luck Sarah and keep us posted.


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## CC09 (Mar 11, 2006)

check out neuvation....

great customer service, i personally have had great luck with them and now my collegiate team is sponsored by them. even without the sponsorship deals its a sweet price for the product and john is a great guy, id call him or email him to at least explore. i know he has some deep dish carbon tubbies and clinchers, and also some more bombproof medium depth clinchers (alu or some alloy rim i think)


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## sarah (Jul 29, 2004)

Yeah maybe I'm jumping the gun here. But I do have all winter to think about it. 

Uzziefly - I want clinchers for the training because if I get a flat, I know how to fix it  I don't know the first thing about tubulars and I ride by myself most of the time....

And it is always my theory that lighter is better  That's the main reason I liked the Easton accents. They're 1400g and I thought they were bombproof.... Maybe it was a freak incident with the spoke thing, and maybe the other rim isn't seperating and I'm just paranoid. I'm more irritated with the customer service at Easton than anything else and I don't find it necessary to deal with jerks...

The only reason I'm even thinking about getting tubulars is because I hate time trialing so if getting a TT bike/helmet/deep dish wheels will shave a few seconds off my time without me having to work too much at it, then I'm all for it. Give me a road race anyday I HATE time trialing. Plus I can get a pretty good deal on a set through a team sponsor...

Anyways Thanks for the info everyone. I'm going to look into having some wheels built up. 
Sarah


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Ah ok gotcha! 

Well, what's your definition of light? My Bontrager Race X Lite carbon aeros are 1400g (gie and take 20grams or so) and they're 38mm rims. Not too bad I guess.

Well deep dish wheels would actually help you in road races too, when drafting, breaking away, sprinting or whatever. 

IMHO, Zipps are the fastest wheels but not the lightest. Lightweights are awesome but way way expensive. 

Actually, for TTs, wheels don't make much of a diff. Aerobars, helmets save more time. Bike as well. Position too. Did you check out the Zipp Z4s? Probably the fastest wheels out there for now.. Oh well, at $2.5k, I might get it considering I can save about $1.2k vs. the Lightweights. 

Yes lighter is better but not much of a difference to be honest. You do save watts, etc etc and hence, you are faster. By that small bit. I wouldn't bother too much about weight especially on flat races/TTs and all. you could get the 404s from Zipp which are cheaper. 


As for changing a flat on a road, well, true, clinchers are easier. But, well, I know I'll probably get 'WHAT THE??' exclamations for this but, I don't ride with a saddle bag or anything. I just have 2 bottles, my cell, ID and money. No spare pre-glued tires or anything. You might wanna check out the Bontrage Race XXX Lite clincher wheels at around 1200g or so for a pair. Pretty expensive but, you could race in em and all.

Hope that helps. Good luck. 

p.s. if you are really keen on the zipp Z4s, I can ask the LBS guy more details as to how it feels and performs.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

sarah said:


> I'm more irritated with the customer service at Easton than anything else and I don't find it necessary to deal with jerks...
> Sarah



I can't blame you at all for this! 

I'm going to give you a different perspective though. First to say, I don't know much about your rims (I went to Easton's website, but didn't find out a lot), so I could be off base totally.

Anyway...The spoke failure you described is in my opinion, not that rare. I had it happen to me for the first 2 years of owning my bike, and it's incredibly annoying! I expect the problem is the spokes are slightly loose. The reasoning is this; if the spokes are slightly loose they will stretch/release more on every wheel revolution, and this will fatigue the metal. While this can happen anywhere on the spoke, it happens quite often at the head area, where it goes into the hub. A tighter spoke will not move as much and will probably stay within the "stretch" limits of the steel. I'm trying not to be overly technical here because I don't want to confuse myself. 

As for the rear rim, it is also possible that the rim is separating because the spoke tension is too low. This will be impossible if the rim is welded instead of pinned, but I don't have any idea which is the case for your rim. The increased tension on the spokes will actually draw in the rim and make its diameter slightly smaller, by maybe 1mm or so. Not much overall, but if the rim is pinned it should keep it together and close up any small gaps.
Here's the rule I go by when I build my own wheels since I don't have a tensiometer. I squeeze the two most parallel spokes on each side with either hand (right hand right side, left hand left side) and continue around the wheel doing this to each pair. If after two revolutions, my hands are sore where I've been squeezing the spokes, then they are tight enough overall. I do squeeze them fairly hard (enough to crush an egg, but not so that I have to clench my teeth), and observe how much they deflect in the process. The goal is to squeeze hard, and have the spokes not move much, and my hand to feel uncomfortable.

If your spokes are moving more that say, 1/4" to the side when you squeeze them, then I would think they need to be tightened. This may or may not solve your problem. It's worth checking out though.


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