Need training wheel suggestions

ademilt said:

I was lucky enough to win a tri bike that came equipped with Zipp 404 wheels. Only downside is now I need to find a pair of good, sturdy (90% of my riding is in NYC and pothole-ridden) training wheels. Any suggestions?

open pro rims,ultegra hubs,butted spokes. Good bang for buck.

ademilt said:

I was lucky enough to win a tri bike that came equipped with Zipp 404 wheels. Only downside is now I need to find a pair of good, sturdy (90% of my riding is in NYC and pothole-ridden) training wheels. Any suggestions?

lucky [censored]! nice problem to have. yeah getting a set of OPs built up makes sense or troll ebay for something similar at a good price.

ademilt said:

I was lucky enough to win a tri bike that came equipped with Zipp 404 wheels. Only downside is now I need to find a pair of good, sturdy (90% of my riding is in NYC and pothole-ridden) training wheels. Any suggestions?

Velocity Aerohead rims with Off Center rear makes a strong and trouble free set up.
I agree with other posters on Shimano Ultegra hubs, but Shimano 105 shouldn't be passed over.
Double Butted spokes from DT, Sapim, or Wheelsmith are all good.
The most important part is how well they are built.
Find a builder with a great reputation.

Ok...showing my ignorance, what are double butted spokes, and what makes them better than the alternative (single butted?!?)?

Butted spokes are thinner in the middle than out at the ends. They're lighter than straight gauge spokes because there's less metal, but since most spoke breaks happen out at the ends, they aren't any weaker. The wheels are also going to be a bit more springy with butted spokes.

artmichalek said:

Butted spokes are thinner in the middle than out at the ends. They're lighter than straight gauge spokes because there's less metal, but since most spoke breaks happen out at the ends, they aren't any weaker. The wheels are also going to be a bit more springy with butted spokes.

The springiness makes the wheel more resillient by spreading the dynamic loads over more spokes and therefore more rim and hub section. Springiness means that the spokes go slack less and mitigate nipple unwinding. Nipple unwind happens if/when the spoke is slack (no tension) and once it starts it continues as the spoke get looser and looser. Spokes support the loads and need to always stay in tension. If/when the rim is not supported by spoke tension, it will plastically deform... or in simple terms bend and stay bent.

what does the group think of mavic T520 rims?

ademilt said:

what does the group think of mavic T520 rims?

Very strong, made for 28 mm - 38 mm wide tires.
Good for heavy riders, touring, cyclocross, and 29er trail riding.
Maybe overkill for regular road riding but if you want sturdy and can mount ~ 30 mm tires you should be able to conquer NYC.
They will add about 200 grams total weight over Velocity Aeroheads.
Can you bicycle handle wide tires?
Most Tri bikes top out around 25 mm for tire width... and then only with certain brands.

Choose a decent, hard wearing but lively tyre too.

I recommend the Vittoria Open Pave CGs (which are green tread and have 24mm section). Lovely tyre.

Available on ebay and direct from bicyclerubber.com - about £50 a pair including tubes

Cheers,

Mavic Open pro rims , 32 spokes ( 2mm not butted ) , 105 hubs and consider 36 spoke at the rear if your heavy . for bullet proof look at tandem rims .
also consider using 25 or 28 mm tyres - though 25mm should be enough .
simple , cheap and if you brake one it´s cheap to replace .

😄 My good wheels are Open Pro/Ultegras! My cheapo training wheels are the Alex ones that came standard on my bikes. Specialized seems to love Alex wheels.

Doctor Morbius said:

😄 My good wheels are Open Pro/Ultegras! My cheapo training wheels are the Alex ones that came standard on my bikes. Specialized seems to love Alex wheels.

My training wheels are Alex R400s on 32h Ultegra hubs with Sapim d/butted spokes. They're going on 3 years old and have probably done around 25,000kms so far with no problems. Nothing wrong with Alex rims!

MidBunchLurker said:

My training wheels are Alex R400s on 32h Ultegra hubs with Sapim d/butted spokes. They're going on 3 years old and have probably done around 25,000kms so far with no problems. Nothing wrong with Alex rims!

Their rims seem pretty sturdy but the ALX-290 wheelset that came stock on an '04 Specialized Sequoia I purchased a year ago doesn't impress me. With only 1400 miles on them, the rear hub sounds like a coffee grinder. I've looked on Alex' web site (http://www.alexrims.com/) for that particular model but they aren't listed so I assume they are something that they sell only as OEM equipment. The closest thing I've seen on Alex' web site are the ALX-220 wheelset.

The rims seem fine, but on that particular wheelset the hubs are less than satisfactory. I also have wheels with the Alex AT400 and R400 rims but I haven't ridden them enough to have an opinion. The hubs on both of these are generic so that wouldn't affect my opinions about the Alex rims. But the ALX-290 are supposed to be a bona fide Alex wheelset.

Doctor Morbius said:

😄 My good wheels are Open Pro/Ultegras! My cheapo training wheels are the Alex ones that came standard on my bikes. Specialized seems to love Alex wheels.

Let me explain why Spec use Alex wheels on their bikes. There is another bike brand named Merida, it is a part of huge Spec corporation. Alex is official sponsor to Merida and Merida has used their wheels on cheaper bikes for ages.
Im currently using Alex AT400 rim and Shim 105 hubs on my magnesium Merida, which had originally ksyrium sccl.

I don't have any experience with the Alex wheels, but I've used the R390 rims for a few projects. One was a 700c for the back of one of my road bikes, and the other was a pair of 20" front wheels for a recumbent trike. They're good rims for the money. The one on my road bike went about 2k miles before it needed truing. The wheels on the trike took a pretty serious beating without any problems.