I'm looking at my first road bike (after many years in MTB).

I weigh around 240 lbs and given my weight and MTB background I am worried about trashing wheels.

A few bikes I am looking at come with the following wheels:
Mavic Cosmos wheelset
Real-Design Supersonic carbon wheels

How would the above wheel sets stand up? and if they wont what should I change to at purchase?

PS: At 240 lbs - I am not a weight weenie - otherwise I would hold off on the big macs.

this comes up a lot. just run a search for "heavy rider wheels" or something along those lines. Also the most common answer seems to be hand built wheels. When you get that far above 200 (I'm 220 myself) you'll probably want 36 spoke and a cross three pattern. For hubs go with something decent from shimano or campy and some Mavic Open Pros, CXP 33s, or even MA3s. All build up great wheels and most people have great luck with them!

I myself am having some ultegra/cxp33s built so I can't yet speak about them personally but that's the most oft given advice.

Also, stop by your local shop and ask about if they hand build wheels and what they would recommend.

I was over 200 lbs (gave up the Hamburgers and lost 45lbs last year) and used a custom builder for durable wheels. Young Wheels built a set of 36/32 spoke CXP-33's with 3x 14-15 gage spokes on Hugi hubs. Even though I don't need them any more, they are still my favorite wheels. Look good, have never needed truing. You can ride with confidence knowing even if you break a spoke, you can still get home.

hand built wheels with CXP-33s (or deeper) rims and dura ace hubs, 32 or 36 double butted spokes, 3x pattern. Build quality is just as important (if not more so) than component choice. However, some riders will trash every wheel that has the misfortune of bearing them. I've heard of riders like this who actually had good luck with Mavic Ksyriums-- Velomax also has a good reputation. At your weight, I'd approach the Cosmos with caution (or not at all). I don't know anything about the Real Design wheels.

Riding style and road surface is probably just as important as weight. At a massive 160 lbs, I've managed to screw up well-tensioned 32 spoke DA/CXP-33s and 36 spoke Super Record/Mavic MA-40s by riding hard on crappy roads. I've currently got about 1000 miles on a new set of FSA RD 400s which are still going strong at this point.

Good advice. You could add Ksyrium Elites to that group, too. Not the SSSc Sl's though. I've had my Ksyriums for going on 4 yrs now and have them trued only 2x and that was because the spokes weren't tensioned right at the factory. Been true since. I'm 6' and 185-195lbs depending on the season.

I saw these bikes in Germany. They're rated for people up to 440lbs.

Thanks for the replies people.

Another wheel that has been thrown into the mix is the Campy Scirocco (due to Campy Centaur option), although I'm warey of the G3 lacing.

I think i will be insisting on 32/36 with a non-sexy lacing.

I'm 215 and I've been riding Open Pros with Ultegra hubs 32F/36R and they have been absolutely bomb proof. They were built by Lance's personal wrench however.... ;-)

Elites, bullet proff and i see them for 399 now,wow.

Thanks for the replies people.

Another wheel that has been thrown into the mix is the Campy Scirocco (due to Campy Centaur option), although I'm warey of the G3 lacing.

I think i will be insisting on 32/36 with a non-sexy lacing.

One of my rides is equipped with Campy Shamals. Bombproof, despite the low spoke count. You can score them on ebay for around $300.- (get the black rims, very cool!).
At 210 lbs., I also have two pairs of hand-built wheels:
1. Record hubs (...and Centaur will work just as well) 28DT aero spokes laced to Campy Atlanta 1996 rims, 3X, 36mm of worry-free aluminum. A little hard to come by, but you might get lucky.
2. Record hubs, laced to Ambrosio FCS 28 rims, 3X, 32 holes. I have been riding these rims since I weighed 295, 5 years ago. I most highly recommend these. Do a yahoo-search for 'Ambrosio' and check them out. Both sets have been great, no problems, 8-10,000 miles/year.
As for the 'stay-aways' from personal experiences: ANYTHING Mavic, especially Ksyriums (endless problems from spokes coming loose to nipples pulling through the rim) or Open Pros (the 'click' WILL come!!). Unfortunately, Mavic's customer service is non-existant.
Good luck hunting, let us know your decision.

A deep section aluminum rim adds a huge amount of strength. Building a set of wheels on the appropriate Campy or Shimano hub with these rims would be plenty stout and pretty classy.

A deep section aluminum rim adds a huge amount of strength. Building a set of wheels on the appropriate Campy or Shimano hub with these rims would be plenty stout and pretty classy.

I fully agree with this. If you don't care about the extra weight, get a deep V section rim. The Velocity is one of the best of these available. They are pretty cheap too, and they are great rims. I built a set of cyclecross wheels with American Classic hubs, bladed DT spokes, and Velocity Deep V's, 28 front, 32 rear. They have lasted three years now under my 230 lbs butt during some pretty hard off-road riding. I have only had to true them once and that was because I landed bad jumping a log. They are one of the toughest wheelsets I own.

Russ

One of my rides is equipped with Campy Shamals. Bombproof, despite the low spoke count. You can score them on ebay for around $300.- (get the black rims, very cool!).
At 210 lbs., I also have two pairs of hand-built wheels:
1. Record hubs (...and Centaur will work just as well) 28DT aero spokes laced to Campy Atlanta 1996 rims, 3X, 36mm of worry-free aluminum. A little hard to come by, but you might get lucky.
2. Record hubs, laced to Ambrosio FCS 28 rims, 3X, 32 holes. I have been riding these rims since I weighed 295, 5 years ago. I most highly recommend these. Do a yahoo-search for 'Ambrosio' and check them out. Both sets have been great, no problems, 8-10,000 miles/year.
As for the 'stay-aways' from personal experiences: ANYTHING Mavic, especially Ksyriums (endless problems from spokes coming loose to nipples pulling through the rim) or Open Pros (the 'click' WILL come!!). Unfortunately, Mavic's customer service is non-existant.
Good luck hunting, let us know your decision.


I guess all those owners of the Elites that got an avg. rating of 4.64 are wrong?

if you are worried about weight also consider Sun Venus rims; a little heavier than Velocity but very, very strong and built up beautifully by Mike Garcia (oddsand endos.com) with Speedcific hubs and Sapim CX-ray spokes for under $350!!!

Go with CPX33-36 spokes.Colorado Cyclist sells this wheelset with DA or ULTEGRA. :)