XTR

I still ride a Cannondale Delta V frame from '93 from time to time, no issues here.

Jax Rhapsody

same. It was a Mongoose xr250 and I think I had the seatpost too high, because the tube snapped above the top tube. I've had two steel bikes fail on me, though.

staehpj1

My 1990 Cannondale is still fine. It saw very hard use for the first 15 years of it's life and a bit less and maybe easier use after that. I destroyed a nice steel frame with the same level of use in just a couple years just before I got the Cannondale. I am not blaming the steel, but just saying that it is more about how well it is designed and built, what kind of use it sees, and just plain luck of the draw.

georges1

I have a mountain with a frame from a mix of an aluminium bonded front triangle and a rear chrome moly seat which is 30 years old, a merida al bon and it is as robust as a tank.

Clydesdale John

I bought my first aluminum road bike in 2011. It was a 2010 Giant Defy 3. In 2014 the frame developed a crack in the weld where the top tube and head tube come together. I still rode it until the bike season ended. My local bike shop ,Smart Cycles in Norwalk Ct, rebuilt the whole bike with a new frame over the winter for free. Actually I paid around $200 because I wanted a few items to be replaced also while everything was apart. The frame was a 2011 Defy 3 and Giant paid the bill. That same bike has over 10,000 miles on it and is 10 years old with a lot of hard road miles by a heavy rider. 270-305 pounds. It is still going strong.

My other bike is a 2013 Cannondale CAAD 10 with no frame problems and it has been ridden over ten years now.

I wont say the same with aluminum rims though. I have a very aggressive riding style. I have crashed both bikes a few times each. Because I am a ex crit racer and 300 pounds I put a lot of stress on bike parts. Rims are a different story and only rear aluminum rims. I never had any front wheels fail yet. I currently build the spoke count in the front at 18 to 20 spokes. No problems at all. I build all my rear wheels at 28 spokes and usually look for a rear wheel that is strong enough for cx racing. I break a lot of spokes and crack a lot of rims. If I crack a rim I just take everything apart and send the hub into my wheel builder who rebuilds me a rear wheel. Often I ride with mismatched wheelsets because I go through a lot of rear wheels but still have all my original front wheels. Rather than spending $1000 for a new wheel set, I send in my hub and spend $150-$250 to get the rear wheel rebuilt with new spokes and rims. I have plenty of spare wheels so I just easily swap out the rear and am ready to ride. I replace spokes that break myself and just spin the rear wheel in the brake track then tune and adjust the spokes with my spoke wrench. I twang the spokes and listen to the tone. From there I can get the spokes at the right tightness. A spoke wrench cost me $5 and spokes are less than $5 a piece. I don't mind braking spokes. Its an easy repair and a small price to pay.

veganbikes

Hey John, just FYI this is a mountain bike sub-forum and this particular thread is from 2022 and hasn't been active since.

In terms of rear wheels as a larger rider I don't have that problem. If you get quality wheels built by an accomplished and knowledgable wheel builder using the right parts in the system you shouldn't break spokes and rims all the time. You need someone who understands how the system works and the correct parts to make that system work well and the correct tension for that wheel set. As well it needs to be properly de-stressed and if you are a larger rider checked a bit more often by that builder (if possible) or by an experienced mechanic.

My wheels are all handbuilt and generally are 32h and I have had no spoke issues on any of my handbuilt wheels at this point. However I probably could get a 28h wheel system that is strong enough and make it work well without constant broken spokes. That is a problem usually reserved for machine built wheels and low spoke counts or poorly built wheels from someone who is not experienced or not understanding how the system needs to work together.

Clydesdale John

Road Bike wheels are a bit different. Lightweight wheels are more fragile. I have a lot of bigger friends that are fast and they have similar experiences with wheelsets not lasting. I do have some factory built sets too. They are designed for small and light fast guys, or big casual riders. I buy light weight wheel sets. I am a big buy that likes to go fast. I push hard on the pedals and apply a lot of torque. I have switched wheel builders to Richard Craig from ProWheelBuilder.com. So far nothing broke yet but it is to soon to tell. I bought a brand new wheel set from him.

The point is. Front Wheels are overbuilt and Rear Wheels underbuilt. Low spoke count in the front is ok but a stronger wheel with more spokes is needed in the back. That is one reason I get custom built wheels now. So I can get light where I need it and strength where needed.

veganbikes

Nope no real difference. A properly built wheel shouldn't break spokes regardless of where someone is building it for riding. If it is built for the rider and terrain it should work fine. Obviously if I am riding a road bike on a downhill trail but that is one thing but a road wheel on the road shouldn't be breaking spokes unless built incorrectly. Sometimes people should not ride ultralight low spoke wheels and need something that will work for them. But also we need to understand again the wheel is a system so two parts being lightweight and one part being heavy duty it will lead to a wheel that probably won't work as well.

A rear wheel shouldn't need to be under built either unless maybe a machine built wheel or an inexperienced wheel builder. It should be built properly for the rider and if not yes you will have broken spokes and constant issues. Hopefully your new builder should be able to make it happen so you stop having these issues.

Clydesdale John

I have had a total of three rear wheels fail. Two factory built and one hand built. A Mavic Ksyrium Elite cracked two rims and broke three spokes. The first cracked rim was under warranty. A Easton 90 SL broke one spoke. I easily fixed it. The Ksyrium is retired and the easton will be retired. The rims aren't wide enough for modern bigger tires. A hand built Kinlin. x279 cracked a rim and had a spoke loosen up a few times. I had to Loctite it to stop from loosening and now it is fine. Still riding it but a small crack is developing in the replaced kinlin rim. I switched wheel builders so hopefully I will get better luck. Learning as I go. Getting smarter but still I enjoy working on my bikes. None of these problems cost serious money anyway. I was always going to upgrade to wider rims too.

A problem is I am overweight for the wheels I buy. I don't mind the repairs. I still want to buy the wheels I buy.

veganbikes

Ok so you are intentionally getting the wrong wheels because...? That is an odd one to want I prefer to not have to mess with my wheels or have to worry about them as a heavier rider. I can still build a decent wheelset without it being super heavy that should last a long time. Wheels should not have problems like that often if at all.

I mean overweight could mean a lot of things but your wheel builder could build something to handle that with the correct rim, nipples, spokes and hub that will still give you performance benefits of the stuff that is failing but without the failures. However I don't like to waste money on problems that shouldn't happen so the problems you describe would not be acceptable for me I would rather have the money to buy more bikes or better accessories or upgrades or spare wear items like pads, chains, cassettes...

Clydesdale John

Why would you say I am intently getting the wrong wheels? Why would anybody do that? I am saying I had problems with factory wheels and learned that doesn't work for me. I don't like my first wheel builder because I had to many problems. The loose nipple came from the test ride. I just didn't want to send the wheel back. I new something was wrong with the build.

Anyway everything is base off of risk and reward. I want a good wheel set just like my friends have. That leaves me having to buy wheels made for lighter guys. I like more choices. I don't buy super expensive wheel sets. So if something breaks it doesn't bother me. I like tinkering with the bike and therefore I can tolerate problems more than the next guy. I would be upgrading these wheels anyway because wider is better now. I have a brand new wheel set now that only has three rides on it. It is wider than all previous wheel sets.

Also I believe I got a custom wheel builder now that is very good. I believe with my new wheel set it is

1) Better Built from more experienced builder
2) Just as light as my other wheel Sets
3) Wider and has 28's on it. The profile is aerodynamic even with the 28s
4) Faster and corners better
5) Stronger and should break down less.
My new wheel set is on my more expensive bike. CAAD 10 2013 with Force. Kinlin XR31T rims, C Xray Spokes and White T11 Hubs and Conti GP5000 tires 28c

My older bike is a Giant Defy 3, has hand me down parts and is a mixture of Sora and older 8 speed triple stuff. I ride this bike 90% of the time.
I am still riding a Mavic Ksyrium Elite in the front with Conti GP4000S 2 23c
Easton 90Sl in the back with a Conti GP4000S (Real old tire) 23c
When those two tires wear out I have a set of Kinlin Rims XC 279, CXray Spokes, Alchemy Orc and Elf hubs with Conti GP5000 25c waiting.

I ride my worst equipment until it wears out. I then upgrade to parts handed down from my more expensive bike. My more expensive bike I ride on special occasions.

veganbikes

I said that because you have had a bunch of problems with your wheels and those problems shouldn't normally happen especially not with a handbuilt wheel. If you had the right wheels you would probably have a lot few problems to no problems.

Having a good wheel set is one thing but getting one that breaks does not sound good. You can really have different wheels from your friends and actually have better wheels then them and show off.

You do buy expensive wheel sets, you just put the cost long term rather than short term. A wheel set that is having problems more often and breaking spokes and cracking rims is expensive and not a good wheel set at all. It might look really cool initially but if it fails the looks don't matter.

Hopefully this new wheel set will work it looks like a good set up at least spoke and hub wise. I haven't really done anything with Kinlin personally and have seen minimal info on them so not really enough to form a solid opinion. However it sounds like you have a better combination.

Maybe you should try getting wider tires on the other bikes as well. 23s are miserable I remember going to 25s and being like this is better and then going to 28s on that bike I was like oh this is way better and then going to 38 tires on another bike I was sold on really wide tires. Currently my main road bike is 28c with 32h Sapim Force, brass nipples, White Industries T11s and H+Son Archtypes that was handbuilt and has had zero issues with the built wheel though had a free hub that needed adjustment recently but that was resolved. It looks really good and is probably nicer than most of the prebuilt wheels out there and more importantly they haven't failed in 7-8 years so way cheaper than buying multiple wheels and having to fix them.

georges1

I have three aluminium MTBs :
1999 Trek 6700 SLR (frame handmade in the US)

2006 Trek 6500 SLR


1994 Giant Bronco ATX 880 (Aluminium Alcoa 6013 CU 92 Frame)


Despite being the oldest aluminium frame of the bunch, the Giant Bronco is one of the most solid and very nervy ride I have regarding MTBs

georges1

My oldest roadbike wheelset is a pair of Mavic Cosmic Expert from 1997 and never had any problems, I also have three pairs of Mavic Cosmic Carbon, three pairs of Mavic Cosmic Pro, a pair of Mavic Helium and two pairs of Zipp 60 and one pair of Zipp 404. Never had issues with any of those. Normally when you buy a custom made wheel it shouldn't be prone to cracking or have spokes breaking.Most of my MTB rims are mavic fitted with DT240 hubs or Hope RS4 or Shimano XT 780 T hubs and laced to DT spokes, I never had a single issue with them.

50PlusCycling

My 2003 Giant AC-1 is still going strong. Most of its life its been in the salt air in Honolulu, and now its in Tokyo. The frame and Shiver fork are still perfectly good, enough so that I upgraded the bike to a new XTR 9000 driveline. I thought about replacing the bike with something new, but so far it’s been bomb proof, and the upgraded crank, derailleur, cassette, and brakes makes it competitive with newer bikes.

georges1

Older Giant frames are truely bullet proof. I have even an older 1993 Giant Tourer Hybrid that I upgraded with xt780t and a very good ride