bicycle wheel strength
6 ft 5in at 265 lbs. A little more information in this already overloaded discussion. I had a rear wheel with a very lightweight Velocity Blunt 29'er rime that allowed the spokes to pull through. This rim is built very lightly with no rim brake lands. I build my own wheels and as anyone knows that build wheels spoke tension is on the preventative maintenance list after a wheel is built. They tend to work loose and usually just one will get very loose and cause spokes to break on either side of it. So we check spoke tension regularly, especially right after the build. This rim always had loose spokes, not just one but generally. I would tighten them and they would all loosen up again. Never had a wheel do that before. The front wheel with the same rim was not having issues. After really looking it over one day I noticed the entire wheel was failing at all the spoke holes and they were gradually being pulled to the hub. There was cracking starting to happen and deformation around the holes. I believe the Blunt 29er is just built too light for our weights. I never actually broke a spoke and they were all straight 14 gauge. The deep dish MTB wheels I spoke of in my previous reply were Veulta brand and did have a very thick spoke. The spoke was 2.6mm or bigger. That is why the wheel handled my weight for years with no complaint. 24 14guage spokes would never have handled my weight with so few spokes. Check your low spoke count wheels and see if they are using very big spokes. Sometimes the spokes are flattened for wind resistance reduction so check around the nipple end for diameter. If they are 14 gauge then that is too few spokes for our weight catagory. If they are 12 or 13 guage or bigger then they can handle our weights with an appropriate rim.. Deep dish rims are very good at rolling faster than box shaped rims. I believe it is because of the engineered deep semi I beam shape that makes the rim much stronger in a load applied direction. The end result is they flex less under load, than a box shaped rim and thus roll better.