Originally Posted by
illusiumd
True this. I have to admit - riding in dense urban traffic it's sometimes impossible for me to see these things coming cause I'm too focused on car doors and pedestrians in rush hour mayhem. The bomb I hit on the A23 flatted me out. I don't know what bent the HED. I do wonder is 80psi on a 23mm rim with a Conti 4Season too low?
I think I'm going to re-purpose my old T11 hub with a new 36h Archetype and take a wheel building class.
80psi in a 28mm tire for what you are doing it far too low, especially if you are in the clyde range.
This may help...
Bicycle tire pressure calculator I will go higher, but never lower.
I always ran 100-105 PSI in my Conti Grand Prix 4000S II in 28x700c before I switched to Compass Stampede Pass 32X700c tires. My rims are Alexrims 23mm (similar in design to the Velocity A23) on Shimano Tiagra hubs. I am 230 and have never has an issue in 2.5 years, but I am not commuting with crazy drivers and pedestrians.
Is this more a rim or spoke issue? Where are the spokes breaking? Try looking in the mechanics forum as they were talking about a spoke by DT called the Alpine and building heavy duty, but lighter wheels. It is a heavier gauge butted spoke, but with a longer thicker area at the bend. Also do use brass nipples not alloy. As spokes rarely break in the center, why add the weight and material in the middle? Spend the $$ and go with a heavier gauge butted spoke. I have been kicking around a spare set of wheels for serious gravel and the Dyads are a big candidate as they are only 1mm wider than the 23 I have, but have that triple chamber design.
The Velocity Dyad rims are stronger than the A23 at a cost of weight. Remember that weight at the rim is more noticeable than weight in the hub. You will notice the extra weight in a sluggishness, but is can be offset to a degree with a lighter larger sectioned tire and butted spokes. When I bought my Bianchi Volpe cross bike it had 28mm Vittoria Randonneur tires, a very heavy touring tire. I was shocked at how out of shape I felt and how sluggish everything handled. I checked out the tire weight and found they were 440g! each. I moved to the 28mm Conti GP 4000S II and was very pleased since they felt better than any tire I ever used, in fact they were better than budget tubulars.
My prior bike had a set of custom wheels I had built on Campy Tipo hubs with 14/15/14 butted spokes and 27" Weinmann concave rims (also a triple chamber design) that weighed about what a Dyad runs. They were popular for tandems and touring bikes in their day, but could handle 25-32mm tires. I had those wheels for 35 years and they never broke a spoke or needed truing. This was with long gaps of non-use (years) and rider weights up to 270.
However no rims allow hitting a curb or deep pothole with a soft tire. Additionally, once the tire is compressed enough to allow direct impacts to the rim - bikes, cars or trucks - the rim will probably dent or fail, not to mention snakebit tires.