Wheel replacement - Giant road e bike plus 1

[Jimbobins]

Hey all. The bike - Giant road e plus 1, has suffered a bit of drama. Hit a pot hole and blew out the front tyre, indluding denting the rims. Effectivly crushing the rim,. Ive given it a bit of a tweak with a pair of pliers and given myself enough re-assurance its good enough to ride on but I do want to replace the wheel set. There no rough edges, and the tyre still slots into the rim correctly.

So, replacing the wheel or wheel set. Giant Pr-2, 700, disc. Not the best reviews. Mine had a rebuild under warranty, with spokes replaced and new hubs. If I was not going to get the same wheels from giant, what should I be looking at? ~Would a standard road disc wheel with same spoke count be suitable?
I question whether theres any difference in wheel between the e road and a std wheel?
What would your thoughts be? Any specific wheel recomendation?

Cheers and thanks in advance.
Jim

 

[Jimbobins]

Maybe I could phrase the question differently.

Are road wheels on a mid engine bike, the same or different to those on standard non ebike?

Googling doesnt seem to give me much of an answer.

Thanks all.

 

[JPGiant]

Looking at the Giant website it seems there could be a few differences between the E bike and a 'normal' road bike, particularly the spokes and hub.

 

[Jimbobins]

Ive tried to do that comparison, but I dont know the diference between Sapim spokes and any other. Tracker road hubs with sealed bearings, kinda dont give much of a clue.
Im not sure I want to spend £500 plus on a set of wheels from giant and were looking for a suitable alternative.
More reasearch required. Thanks for the input.

 

[Nealh]

You can use any rim that suits your needs have it built with Sapim strongs or buy a ready built wheel.
I use Sapim on all my wheel builds now and find no issue with using £20 rims by Exal which I buy off ebay., these are used on road off road on the Downs North and South and any where else I find.
Pot hole swill do for most rims whether on an ebike or road bike orientated.

 

[Kwozzymodo]

I think you should be able to replace either one or both of the wheels with whatever takes your fancy. Take a look on ebay - people are forever ‘upgrading’ their wheels so you may get a bargain.

 

[Jimbobins]

Its a good Suggestion Kwozzymodo. Currently there are 2 or 3 sets of the same wheels, being lsited as swapped out as new, less than 50 miles, etc etc, however, these wheels are prone to failure of the spokes, from new. The origional production wheels are prone spoke failure at the nipple, origionally down to tensioning issues from the factory, and are redone under warranty by giant if theres ever a problem. I did consider rebuying the same set of wheels, from ebay, as they are really cheap, and thats why they are cheap. A quick google of the wheel name leads you down the path of a terrible history.
What I was hoping for , was to buy a replacement set of wheels with the same profile, but with out that issue. What I dont understand is whether they are just road wheels or the same build as mountain bike wheels.... if there is any difference.
My own head tells me I might be over calculating just any build difference in the wheel types, ie that the wheels are not any different to nomal road wheels, there is no consideration for the additional weight of the e-bike, they are just wheels and a giant PR2 disc wheels set on a giant road bike, are the same wheels as on a giant PR-2 disc e-bike.
If that is the case, I have no issue with buying a set of used wheels, and then running them past my local giant shop and have them recheck the spokes, tension and true, and then asking them to replace the spokes. The combined cost wont add up to a new set, so I would be happy with that.
Thanks.

 

[Kwozzymodo]

I think the PR2 wheelset is the same, ebike or standard bike.

Any wheelset with a shimano/sram freehub should work for you. You could probably pick up a set of Shimano or Mavic disc wheels for around £100. I doubt the weight of the motor, in addition to the weight of the bike and you, would make much of a difference (some wheelsets do have a weight limit - usually the super-light carbon-rimmed ones).

If you are concerned about the strength of the wheels - go with a higher spoke count (I think you will have 28 front and rear on the PR2s - I use 32 spokes on my hub-mounted motors) and I would advise a slightly wider rim, to accommodate 28mm-32mm tyres, for a smoother ride.

 

[Jimbobins]

Thanks Kwozzy, thats the info I was after. Thank you. I do run 32mm tyres already so, thanks for pointing me in that direction.