Z
Zaf
Guest
Essentially there are a few big factors that make a wheel strong.
Rims: A few big factors here, profile of the rim, intended spoke tension, width, profile bracing material all can have a fairly big impact on how the wheel behaves. Wider, lower profile rims are generally harder to flex laterally, but can deform from tyre side impacts better so can give a more compliant ride than a taller rim. Few reasons being that the lower profile has a resultant larger ERD (and longer spokes because of it) as well as less material bracing in that direction.
Hookless profiles are supposed to offer better resistance to impact damage, and there seems to be an reasonable easy to follow logic to having a little lip on the contact edge of the rim (in the case of said impact) vs a completely solid bead edge. Again, rim profile will have an effect on how these impacts are transferred, if the rim is vertically rigid, the rim material itself will absorb the impact instead of the form of the rim, resulting in flat spots.
I want to write more on spokes, and tensions and lacing patterns and flanges and all the myriad of different factors that constitute a strong wheel, but this is just a huge rabbit hole and I should go to bed. In short, go look at Wheelworx FLITE wheelsets, and the gorgeous contraption he uses to bed the rim and spokes in and remember that it's the builder that makes the biggest difference to a wheelset. If you want something strong, I've yet to see a single more convincing display of durability than his processes in building.
If your funds are tighter, Flow EX's are pretty well bomb proof, just gotta keep an eye on spoke tensions for the first 500km...after that they just don't die.
Also Aaron Gwin did a fairly amazing stress test of the DT Swiss EX471's, which I feel is a great advertisement for their durability.
Rims: A few big factors here, profile of the rim, intended spoke tension, width, profile bracing material all can have a fairly big impact on how the wheel behaves. Wider, lower profile rims are generally harder to flex laterally, but can deform from tyre side impacts better so can give a more compliant ride than a taller rim. Few reasons being that the lower profile has a resultant larger ERD (and longer spokes because of it) as well as less material bracing in that direction.
Hookless profiles are supposed to offer better resistance to impact damage, and there seems to be an reasonable easy to follow logic to having a little lip on the contact edge of the rim (in the case of said impact) vs a completely solid bead edge. Again, rim profile will have an effect on how these impacts are transferred, if the rim is vertically rigid, the rim material itself will absorb the impact instead of the form of the rim, resulting in flat spots.
I want to write more on spokes, and tensions and lacing patterns and flanges and all the myriad of different factors that constitute a strong wheel, but this is just a huge rabbit hole and I should go to bed. In short, go look at Wheelworx FLITE wheelsets, and the gorgeous contraption he uses to bed the rim and spokes in and remember that it's the builder that makes the biggest difference to a wheelset. If you want something strong, I've yet to see a single more convincing display of durability than his processes in building.
If your funds are tighter, Flow EX's are pretty well bomb proof, just gotta keep an eye on spoke tensions for the first 500km...after that they just don't die.
Also Aaron Gwin did a fairly amazing stress test of the DT Swiss EX471's, which I feel is a great advertisement for their durability.