I'm waiting on my recently ordered Cro Mo (got it because 1. I'm an old steel fan 2. the frame is great for a short legged/long torsoed rider- they are switching the 172.5 cranks for shorter 170 on my 56cm frame) I do have some concern about those Shimano R540 wheels after reading reviews, esp. spoke breakage. I weigh 190 lbs (I do medium paced club rides) and am considering swapping them out for some Ultegra 32 spoke Open Pros. But maybe just the few people with bad experiences send in reviews and 95% of the folks are happy with these wheels? Any thoughts?

I can't stand it when people don't responds to questions so I thought that I would help out. I had the R540s for about 10 months on my Allez cro-mo before I switched them for some Krysium Elites. I met a person who wanted to trade for the 540s straight up so naturally I couldn't refuse. Would you! I rode on the 540s for about 300 miles and never had a problem with them other then they were too flexy under my weight. I'm a powerful 235 and have snapped a couple of chains on my MTB but the 540s stayed true and only showed weakness on climbs. This is all I really have to offer, I hope it helps.

i've got about 5,000 miles on my 540s and i have never had to have them trued. granted, i weigh 138-144 and rarely run stuff over, but i have ridden on some rough roads with these wheels. they are somewhat flexy, but for the price, these wheels rock.

....PLEASE remove the hideous electric-blue Shimano stickers unless your bike happens to be that same nauseating color.