Stiff wheels for 90kg rider

I’m about 120kg – clearly not

I’m about 120kg – clearly not built for going up hills  – but I have Shimano Dura-Ace C24s on one bike and Reynolds Strike SLGs on another and both cope really well with the weight/power.  I haven’t experienced any issues with brake rub, flexing etc.  Have read that Bontrager wheels don’t have any rider weight limits on them too.

With spoke counts of 18/21

With spoke counts of 18/21 that is not enough spokes to handle your body mass which is causing your hoops to lose torsional stiffness. You should be looking at hoops with spoke counts of 32+. Also, rears should be 3x on the drive side.  JMO

I’m 93kg and run Campagnolo

I’m 93kg and run Campagnolo Bora 35’s.  I think I’ve made them rub once and that was up some stupid percentage climb.  Thumbs up from me!

one thing i’ve noted in the

one thing i’ve noted in the past is that the under-the-bb rear brake position as used by the reacto is much more susceptible to brake rub than the seatstay position. wheels don’t flex the same amount in all planes, it’s a factor of how the drive forces act upon them.

if you’re a powerful rider, you’ll make any wheel flex; quattros are pretty stiff, like many people have said above. i’m more or less the same weight as you and i’ve had similar problems with bb-braked aero bikes.

On reflection both the
On reflection both the quattros and zondas are known to be stiff in the rim – different spoke pattern on zonda and rim treatment *might* yeild greater stiffness but debatable.

So as others have said, perhaps your wheels are not correctly adjusted or knacked/ out of true. That said, my Zondas have never needed truing and are still very stiff after 0000’s of miles and potholes and 85kg of rider on them!

Summat very wrong if you’re
Summat very wrong if you’re rubbing a rim with the brakes opened up.

I’d be getting the wheels checked over by an expert at the first opportunity.

First thing you can do though is check alignment of wheel and brake pads. Undo the QR and allow the wheel to settle into the dropout. Check that it is straight in the frame and that it is centred between the brake pads.

Once happy the wheel is centred, horse the QR as tight as you can.

Then, check the pads for alignment on the rim.

Campagnolo Zonda
Campagnolo Zonda