Nickshu

So I've been away from cycling for a few years and I'm buying some new/updated equipment.
I have an older set of Campy rims on Duraace hubs with a 28 spoke setup. I am looking for new wheels.

It appears that the current wheel setups are around 20 spokes or less and mostly bladed, right?? Is this wheel design prone to true-ing problems? Can they be maintained....meaining can you true them at home with a conventional truing stand? I do all my own maintenance so I was curious how these wheel designs hold up to on-road abuse.

thanks!!

roy5000x2

truing stand and a tension reader, and you'll be all set.
I know my boss won't let anyone in the shop work on low spoke wheels except himself. Maybe you should find an article about working on low spoke count wheels just to see if there's anything special to it. Of course, my boss could just be freaking out over nothing, again.

jackcoke

Stick with your 28H. Unless you're racing and millions of dollars are on the line, I don't think you need the slight aero advantage.

Nickshu

I agree but I need new wheels and this style of wheel seems to be all that is on the market today. Are old 28-32 spoke wheels obsolete??

jackcoke

No not at all. I recently bought some new wheels from bicyclewheelwarehouse.com and they are 28H front and 32H rear. I'm in Italy at the moment and I have been surprised at how many new bikes are selling here with higher spoke count wheels. There are some advantages.

jackcoke

Check Performance and Colorado Cyclist they both have higher count wheels.

waterrockets 

Yeah, spokes are highly under-rated in the current market.

michaelmc

There's all sorts of lust for low-spoke this or boutique wheelset that, but when it comes down to it, 28- or 32-spoke wheels with high-end hubs and good rims are the best thing going.

If you want new and blingy, get some DT Swiss 240s hubs and Aerolite or Sapim CX-Ray spokes for your new 28-hole wheelbuild.

emptgrave

https://www.zipp.com/Products/Wheels/...ld=ISBN%2cISBN\

I got these by accident and they are bladed spokes, high spoke count, light, and have fast bearings.
I have seen sets go on ebay for under $450.

urbanknight

Since you do your own maintenance, why not try and build your own pair? There's nothing wrong with higher spoke count, especially since it lets you use a lighter rim and a larger range of spoke tension. When (if) I get the money, I plan on building up a pair of lightweight tubulars with 24 spokes up front and 28 in the rear (I weigh 145 and can get away with that easily). They should come out 200-400 grams lighter than most of the aluminum rim tubular wheelsets on the market right now.

Creakyknees

As a fellow old-schooler, the big differences are that the metal is much higher quality these days, so you can get away with lighter rims, fewer spokes, and _much_ higher spoke tension (which is the key)

I like Velocity rims - and so do a lot of custom wheelbuilders. They have a reputation for arriving "true" from the factory, before ever being laced up.

A lot of the rims are going quasi-aero with the V shape; this adds a bit of weight but is good for strength and is good for a bit of aero improvement. The bladed spokes look cool, but wind tunnel evidence seems to call it a wash vs round spokes of the same size.

To net it out - ride what you like, and don't worry too much about frail wheels as long as they're built from modern stuff.