zap brannigan

im looking to buy a giant ocr1 but im not sure about the shimano 550 wheelset that it comes with.
the wheel only have 16/20 spokes.

i only want the bike for fitness/fun so are these wheels strong enough for everyday use or should i try and change them for something else with more spokes?

the shimano 500 wheelstes on the rest of the ocr range have 20/24 spokes.

Poppaspoke

There are spoke breakage problems reported for this wheelset:
https://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wh...x.aspx#reviews

late

Here's what you do.... Tell the dealer you like the bike but not the wheels.
Ask him if you can upgrade the wheels when you buy the bike, and how much.
I almost always do this; it typically costs me extra, and it's
worth it. When I got my wife her Strada, and extra $100 upraded the wheels from
MA3/Tiagra to Open Pro/Ultegra.

SaddleBags

I've got a set of 550 with approx. 2500 miles on them. Just recently had them trued and they were only slightly out. Since I've upgraded to Mavic K SSL, these are now on my beater/commuter/indoor trainer bike.
I'm 180# FWIW.

dekalbSTEEL

I have the WH r540's on my allez steel and have had ZERO problems with them. I'm not the lightest guy in the peleton, either.

branman1986

I've had 2004 R540's for about 1500 miles, I weigh 210lbs and Atlanta roads suck. No problems at all so far.

stickydpaul

As a mechanic, I've seen many of the shimano wheelsets come through with broken spokes, often the same wheels that had been in for previously broken spokes. Take the advice above and see if you can deal with the shop owner to get a different wheelset.

cyclintom

I think that it's important to understand that big guys often ride a lot easier than smaller guys. We break things all the time and tend to be more careful when it might mean more skin on the pavement. If you look in all the reports on these wheels all of the big guys say they aren't having any problems.

And yet my brother who is 5'8" and only 165 lbs broke spokes and bent axles on both the 535 and the 540's.

But the fact is that I ride Mavic Kyserium Equipes on several bikes because they're cheap, reliable and strong. I put about 3000 miles on one set since last November and haven't had a problem with them. I put 500 miles on a set of Heliums and bent a rim and broke some of the ferrules. But that might have been a fluke since I haven't had any other problems with Mavic wheels. Though it is annoying having to wait 6 weeks to get a Helium rim and the spokes not being available so that I had to reuse the old ones.

Psimet2001 

+2 (broken spokes that is) - I have done a lot of posting about my set of 550's. Bottom line. I just don't trust them. They were bulletproof for over 2,000 miles then..."PING" a rear NON-DRIVE SIDE spoke broke.

A month later another one did. I honestly think that they ran into a bad batch of spokes...saw something about that happening to a different series of their wheels around the same time.

I finally replaced the spoke last week. Then I weighed it against my Open/600 set with 32 DT Stainless 14g (at least) spokes...difference?...22grams. As much as I hate it (not sexy) I'm back riding my 14 year old set of Open/600's

Stay away from 550's.

brianappleby

Popped a drive side spoke on my 550's. Upon further inspection, looked like all of the nipples on the hub were starting to corrode after 4 months of use.

Cyclaholic

I destroyed a 550 rear in about 800 miles, the front lasted about 1500 miles. Both were replaced under warranty, the replacements have about 1000 miles on them and the rear is starting to show signs of deterioration.

In my case cracks in the rims started radiating from the nipples and the wheels couldn't stay true (I never tried to true them). No broken spokes. I'm a tad over 200lb.

zap brannigan

thanks for all the replies, looks like i will definitely stay away from shimano wheels and try to swap over to mavic elites, which are in the same price range.

the internet is incredible, no matter what the problem or the topic you can find someone who can give advice.
you can find out about any bike or components before you even walk in the bike shop.

what did people do before the internet??

pelotonracer

the Shimano model down, the WH-R500's are actually better- they have the traditional build with the nipples at the rim, not the hubs. See if you can get those, & save some money.

Geoff326

I have the shimano r550's and have broken 1 spoke on the rear and have about 5000 miles on em. I also weigh 130 lbs. They tend to say relatively true for the most part and I haven't had much trouble with them besides the 1 broken spoke when I hit a pothole I think. I wish I had some Ksyrium SL's though, that might be my next upgrade =P if these problems I'm reading about crop up for me.

thatguy

Well, I have about 4,000 mi on a set of 550s with zero problems. They've been trued once. I pretty much use them as my "abuse" wheels too. Some wheels seem to develop reputations for being troublesome (American Classics). Problem is, only people with bad experiences speak up about them. If your LBS will trade them out, go for it, but I'd still recommend them to anyone.

cpb406

2,000 miles and counting without a problem on mine. I weight about 175.

Charles.

FormerBMX'er

I'd guestimate 1500mi on mine @ 155lbs...zero problems (2 centuries, 1 86miler, 1 metric, numerous hammer sessions...etc...etc). Aside from the spoke issues everyone else seems to be having; there are better wheels so upgrading upon purchase seems to be the way to go. The R550's are actually on my backup bike now for weight reasons alone.