Looking for a reasonably cheap, but strong rear wheel for my road bike. Weight not a huge concern but spoke strength is as I seem to pop them with alarming regularity. 9 speed shimano compatible.

No strict shortlist as such, but would probably be one of these:
Mavic Aksium (£100ish)
Mavic Cosmic Elite (£175ish)
Mavic Ksyrium Equipe (£170ish)
Shimano RS10 (£75ish)
Shimano RS20 (£80ish)
Shimano RS30 (£110ish)
Shimano R500 (£65ish)
Shimano R600 (£100ish) actually 10 speed only, no good.

Maybe a fulcrum, but don't know much about them. Somehow the shimano wheels just seem 'too' cheap.

Interested in your experience of these, has it put up with abuse or failed miserably?

Thanks

M

First, why are you popping spokes? You can knack even the bestest, strongest wheels by riding like a big chubby mechanically unsympathetic mountain bike background hairy legged gorilla.

So look where you are riding and don't crash into/over things; graceful and light is the style…

Mavic Ksyrium Equipe (£170ish); good enough but heavy.

Shimano R500 (£65ish); excellent training wheel, but waaaaay to flexy for any serious steaming along.

Pair of decent handbuilts; 105/ultegra hubs with mavic rim seems to be the best compromise in terms of reliability and re-buildable-ness.

But, as above, if you ride like a gibbon, you will go through any wheel.

Agree with Crikey, get yourself a handbuilt from a good wheelbuilder. I might not be as pretty but it can be built nice and strong.

How rude, I am disgusted by your response….my legs are smooth.

I could be riding like a gibbon, but what confuses me is that I previouly had a set of ksyriums SSC SLs which were perfect and I rode on a 28hole open pro rim all winter with no problems.

Current wheels causing concern are hope road hub, mavic open pro and 32 spokes, this is used on a much stiffer road 'race' bike but I don't think that is the problem, probably just the combination of hub and spokes?

M

Forgot to say, the hope/open pro combo was built by a very good local wheelbuilder.

what he said ^^

plus you should work out what you want from your wheel. You've got cosmics and kysrium in the same list up there. One's a aero wannabee, the others a climber. For fast and flat take aero over weight, to climb like wiggins take weight over aero.

Are you truing your own wheels?
What do you weigh?

I've just done the marmotte on fulcrums and I weigh in at 16st. Good solid wheels. I 'train' on Askiums and highly recommend them too. absolutely bargainacious.

Forgot to say, the hope/open pro combo was built by a very good local wheelbuilder.

Maybe he had an off day?

who built your current wheels, and do you tweak them often? Uneven spoke tension could lead to some being super tight and others relatively slack. I had issues with a rear wheel i bought on a second hand bike – popped a few spokes in the early weeks of ownership, replaced them and made sure the wheel was relatively even tension, and not had a problem since. Bike gets abused (ss track bike on the road commute, opping off kerbs etc 🙂 )

Mmmmmm.
First, an apology, I presumed I was addressing one of the unpleasant smelling primates that frequent this site, whereas it appears you are of a much more sophisticated background.

I suspect that you've maybe tweaked the wheel a bit and one or two spokes have decided to come loose.
I'd opt for a re-truing first, or a re-spoking if ness.

As above, the Shimano cheapo wheels are pretty good, but are a bit flexy; I've ridden a pair for a couple of years without problems; the hubs are a bit poor tho and do need attention.

I never touch them to be honest, the one part of bike maintenance I dont touch, but if they go out of true they are returned for a tweak.

I weigh 12 1/2 stone.

These wheels dont really get abused as not for commuting just for best.

Oh and your prices are a bit out. The equippes are £190 a pair so £170 for a rear sounds high. But then £190 is still a lot for a pair of bricks.

your presumption was correct first time

Where abouts do you live?

Cos I've got cheapo shimano wheels, mavic ksyrium equipes, and old mavic heliums, and ultegra/open pros that you could try out..

I'm surprised you're breaking spokes on that combination cos I use the same (Hope hub, 32H Mavic Open Pro) on my CX and that's coped with the Three Peaks CX race plus all sorts of other (ab)use!

I'd go for a rebuild first TBH – bad batch of spokes, builder having an off-day, corroded nipples, it could be any or all of those. the wheel itself should be plenty strong enough.

Aksiums are nice (and cheap) but they're fairly weighty.

crazy-legs, what spokes are you using on your combination? Is it a road or mountain bike hub you use?

Thanks