rstuppi

Hello! I suffered 4 broken spokes after nicking a rock no bigger than a baseball. One spoke I could understand, but 4? The wheel is 26", black, fitted with a coaster brake (beach cruiser) and I suspect it is low quality as there are no brand names, labels, etc. on any of the wheel's components. So now I am thinking of replacing both wheels with something high quality designed for a 260lb rider who does 5-7 miles daily. I know little about quality components and so I am looking for suggestions. Thank you in advance!

b1934

The Shimano CB-E110 is a good hub. You can check out atomiccycles.com's Coaster Brake Challenge pages for good info on coaster brakes & rims, and there's always your local bike shop.

SkinGriz

Maybe it wasn’t so much the quality of the wheel but that the spokes didn’t have enough tension.

AtNjineer

Walmart sells 27” coaster brake wheels. I just recently thought if they existed and they do. Bigger wheels better rolling better tire selection available at 27”

rickpaulos

Black spokes from China break quite often. Most that I replace at the shop are black, even those on $1500+ bikes. I call them mystery meat spokes, you never know what's under the black coating. Usually nothing strong. DT Champion 2.0 spokes are far stronger than those spokes on chinese made bikes. DT stainless steel spokes are available in a many thicknesses but the 2.0mm straight gauge is plenty strong for tandems. I have them on my bicycle built for 4 people (with 2 wheels) and didn't break any spokes in 10,000 miles with 700 pounds of bike and riders.

There are wider rims with more metal that should be stronger but i've found the wider chinese made crusier rims bend pretty easily. Those no-name rims or HJC rims are just barely acceptable for average riders who don't abuse them. A name brand rim is usually stronger. Araya, Mavic, Sun, etc. Araya made wide cruiser rims. Sun made heavier aluminum rims like the Rhino or Rhino Lite. Aluminum rims sure ride better due to being so much lighter. Many aluminum rims on the boxmart bikes are narrow but some bikes have wider aluminum rims. I would not buy new wheels. Many new wheels won't be any stronger than the ones you have as they are basically the same as what you have now. Unless you get heavy duty wheels with thick spokes and hd rims. Worksman Cycles is one source for sturdy wheels but those may be overkill. I'd rebuild the wheels you have with DT spokes. Once the spokes are removed, you can lay the rim on a flat surface to see if it's warped and should be replaced. Note the spokes are usually different lengths on the rear wheel right side vs left side. 3 mm or less difference.

Plenty of vids on respoking wheels. Cruiser wheels are about the easiest to respoke.

HarryPotter69

The What

AtNjineer

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼


my point exactly.

even when the question is simple

people just see it as a opportunity to put their vast knowledge of useless information on display

oldiron

I have an 80's Nishiki beach cruiser that came with rather generic wheels, steel rims, plain spokes, and a Shimano clone rear hub.
The original wheels are okay but the rear hub was more trouble than it was worth. I swapped in an older Bendix Red Band II hub about 5 years ago.
The plan is also to build it a better set of wheels, and for that I'm looking for a pair of older mountain bike rims, with DT stainless spokes and the Bendix hub.

I thought about Worksman rims but they are both heavy and expensive for what they are. Their heaviest rim, looks more like a motorcycle wheel.