[rola643]

Originally Posted by froze

I went back and scanned, howbeit rather fast, previous posts and I didn't see any that mentioned how much you weigh. So the question is how much do you weigh?

6' 180 lbs - need to loose a few pounds to keep up with those 140 lbs hill climbers! I recognize the fact that the best solution is to loose 10 or 15 pounds. If I could get to 170 I feel the is the best weight for me and honestly think much less would just not look or be healthy. As for rotating mass...meh... maybe it was the wrong phrase to use since I tend to look at things like that from an automotive perspective. The lighter the crank, rods, pistons, clutch, drive shaft, etc the faster we can spin a motor up, quicker acceleration, etc so I would have assumed the lighter the mass the less force to turn it would be better, maybe not.

I have a set of 32 spoke Mavic Open Pro along with Bontrager Race lite wheel sets

Performance and Wheels Concepts

[froze]

Originally Posted by rola643

6' 180 lbs - need to loose a few pounds to keep up with those 140 lbs hill climbers! I recognize the fact that the best solution is to loose 10 or 15 pounds. If I could get to 170 I feel the is the best weight for me and honestly think much less would just not look or be healthy. As for rotating mass...meh... maybe it was the wrong phrase to use since I tend to look at things like that from an automotive perspective. The lighter the crank, rods, pistons, clutch, drive shaft, etc the faster we can spin a motor up, quicker acceleration, etc so I would have assumed the lighter the mass the less force to turn it would be better, maybe not.

I have a set of 32 spoke Mavic Open Pro along with Bontrager Race lite wheel sets

You don't seem to be heavy enough by any means to stress those wheels out. I think the wheels may not have been properly tensioned. I've read plenty of other forums where guys weighing up to 220 had rode those same wheels without any problems, and most of those rode on less then ideal roads, and some rode as much as 20,000 miles without a problem. I think that Mavic limits the weight of the those wheels to 200 but usually that's really conservative as to play it safe.

Most common failure with heavy riders is stress cracks in the rims and spoke breakage. They are a racing rim so their not going to last as long as your Open Pros, so I would use the Open Pros as much as possible and save the Ksyriums for races or fast rides with the club.

Where did the spokes break? And did you true the wheel(s) yourself? I believe the Mavic web site will provide you with a list of the proper tools needed to true those wheels with. Without the proper tools you could be twisting the bladed spokes and therefore stressing them in ways they were not designed to do thus they will snap.

[rola643]

All the spokes have broken on the rear wheel drive side on the hub end. I had a LBS install and true the wheel. To me it spun true. They checked the lateral and circumferential, I think that's what they called it, as well as told me they checked it with a tensiometer. I have no doubt they did since the mechanic that did it is a long time friend. I think it could be a material issue myself. The guys at the LBS said the same thing, the wheels are good entry level wheels but there is just something in this rear wheel. My weight should not be an issue.

I suppose it still could be a twisting force being applied to them.

I saw the twisting of the blade you mentioned as I just installed the last broken spoke. I just put it in to take to the shop. I had never done it so I just wanted to say I had. I don't see truing a wheel as a big deal with a truing station, maybe time consuming and aggravating but not hard.

I hate to sell them but I don't want to deal with this every couple thousand miles and at the most inopportune times! They are a good set of entry level wheels at a respectable weight. I don't need anything like Zipps or anything near that fancy.... I've pretty much convinced myself to ride the Bontrager RL wheel set for the year.

[rola643]

Well...not sure if it was just time for a good true on my wheels or not but I've pretty much decided I won't be buying anymore Mavic wheels in future. My front wheel was so out of round it was square just kidding of course, but it was noticeable. When I get up out of the saddle and do what we call climbing, for a flat ander, it was making some serious noise. I didn't have time to get it taken care of before the last century but wanted to make sure she rolled true for the Ride2recovery and the Air Force Crystal City ride.