Wheels for the heavier cyclist

While not as heavy as your friend I was very much a "big lad" a few years ago, the wrong side of 150kg and closer to 160kg or 25st.

The wheelset that came supplied with the bike I bought as I started my weight loss journey were lightweight to the extreme. I replaced them with a pair of Hope 20five's with 32 spokes front and rear, which were punished day in, day out, yet stayed almost true throughout my weight loss. The only thing I did was get a local wheelbuilder to true them up every 4 weeks or so at first and every 3-4 months thereafter as the lbs fell off.

These are very much an affordable off the shelf option that worked for me, less than £300 all in iirc.

As others have said, spoke count is important in increasing the load carryin ability, but then again so is the rim profile, rim width, tyre size, how many times the spokes cross each other and the tension of them being kept true.

I think a decent wheelbuilder with the correct information regarding rider weight and type of cycling requirements would be able to build a wheelset for far less money than some of the option stated throughout these comments that wouldn't neccessarily cost the earth, it's then just a case of ensuring the wheelset is kept in good order over a period of time rather than paying a large amount upfront.

It may be of some interest here that I have now sent back to Chain Reaction the wheel I described in the 'collapsing rim' topic. I didn't notice this when I first observed the failure of this WTB i23 rim, but ALL of the cracks occur at the drive side spoke holes. Some of them are huge. It is no doubt indicative of considerably higher tension in these 'steeper spokes' when it's a machine built wheel. There aren't any nipples coming through to the inner rim. Interestingly, I kept riding on it for a couple of weeks and it didn't get worse or go more out of true

48 spokes, Ryde Andra 40 rim, 2.3-1.8-2.0 spokes, 3X lacing, brass nipples, will do, standard road hubs maybe, tires will not.

He will need more robust (urban/cargo) tires. Schwalbe specs tire load.

Road bike? Start on a MTB with fat tyres.

I'd be surprised if anyone would warrant their wheels up to 210kg, certainly nothing factory made. And you might get a raised eyebrow from the frame and component manufacturers too.  I wouldn't want to discourage your friend, we all start somewhere and starting is the main thing.  But consider the possibility that he'd be better served riding another bike until he sheds some weight - even a sturdy e-bike. If he buys a good one he could always sell it later on....

Bontrager Paradigm Elite 25 wheels are specified as having "no rider weight limit". These are aluminium wheels with fairly wide rims: 25mm internal/30mm external, so the load is spread out. They are available on the Bontrager website:

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/equipment/cycling-components/bike-whe...

Worth contacting them to confirm that even 210 kg is not an issue. 

Tandem wheels are probably stronger than gravel wheels.

I would be inclined to contact a wheel builder or bike shop (ideally one with a focus on touring/tandem bikes) and ask for their advice - I don't think there are many "off-the-shelf" wheels aimed at riders with that weight. 

SJS Cycles or The Cycle Clinic spring to mind as places that have a focus on reliable, no-nonsense bikes, although I'm sure any reputable bike shop/wheel builder would be able to help. 

After a little bit of googling, it appears that 48 spoke rims are probably going to be the best bet (they're usually marketed as tandem/touring rims). Find a local recommended wheel builder and let them build up a pair of super-strong wheels. Touring tandems are often built to support two people and a heavy bike-packing load, so it should be quite feasible to get sufficiently strong wheels.

There's an American site that sells bikes for heavy riders - https://zizebikes.com/

Shipping and taxes would probably make it quite expensive though. I'm not aware of anything similar based in the UK.

Do frames have a rating for weight ? Tandem wheels can take 2 riders so those type of wheels sound possible but the frame is also bigger and stronger. Wouldn't want something breaking midride as that could be a ksi stat - we saw that aussie rider come off this week with his handlebar failure.

I don't want to be rude, but do you maybe mean 210lbs, or as hirsute suggested 120kgs? 210kgs is 33 stone, which is a bit more than "on the heavy side" - I'm "on the heavy side" and that's nearly three of me! If he really is 210kgs I'd suggest talking to a custom wheelbuilder, I don't know of any road wheelsets rated for more than 120kgs.

Did you transpose some digits there? Did you mean 210 kg and not 120 ?

In my limited experience I have found that galvanised spokes break a lot less than stainless steel. These are usually found on older wheels. Personally I would try to find an older steel framed road bike on ebay. It will be a lot cheaper than new wheels.

Custom is probably the best option, or maybe (providing the hubs fit a road bike) something from the downhill MTB world. Another option would be an e-MTB wheel as they're built strong too. I'd imagine he's breaking rear spokes more than the front? Hope Fortus 30 might work too, but possibly too wide for a road bike.

Also, despite being triple-butted and fancy Sapim CX-Ray spokes build an immensely strong wheel according to a wheelbuilder I was talking to. I'm a shade under 120kgs so not quite in the same boat. 

Maybe try PT Cycles. Others would be Spa or JRA but many have very long lead times at the moment.

Tandem wheels might work, or alternatively contact a wheel builder (sorry, no recommendations as to who) to get some strong 36/40 spoke wheels made.