Disc Touring Rims

[confusedcyclist]

I'm building a pair of wheels for my Surly Long Haul Trucker, primarily for winter commuting, but also hauling shopping. I need some 700c rims for my disc model, I think I'm going to run size 35mm tyres. The best discussion I have located are for rim brake model wheels, I'm looking for rims without the aluminum rim brake wall to keep wheel mass down.

Should I be looking at touring specific, or is there any reason not to go for MTB rims? I haven't been able to find touring specific rims without the brake walls within my budget. My max spend is £40 each, but ideally I'd like to keep these closer to £20 as I believe expensive hubs to be a false economy. I've built my own road wheels with cheapo mavic rims and they perform perfectly. I've seen the Rigida Sputnik which were cheap, but these are walled.

The best match I could find were these [URL='https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwj0npT-yLnQAhVKse0KHYDZDQgYABAH&sig=AOD64_3MRrLTAm3Qhv1iMWOu5dba-U0Q1Q&ctype=5&q=&ved=0ahUKEwj97If-yLnQAhWaHsAKHQf0CwEQwzwIBA&adurl=']DT Swiss TK 540 [/URL]rims, however these were well over £40. Is my budget too low? Any suggestions for cheaper disc rims? I'm not going on long distance touring, so I just need something strong enough to carry approx 10-15 kg of shopping in panniers.

 

[I like Skol]

Why are you skimping the £££s on something that should last the life of the bike when using disc brakes?

THIS THREAD about my wheel build should give you a clue about my recommendations for a strong & reliable wheel and my opinion is still the same a few years later. Those wheels now have 13,000 trouble free miles on them and are sure to do at least the same again, if not a lot more (It all deponds on how much I can ride them really).

I would suggest you get some Shimano XT or equivalent hubs, nothing too fancy from the boutique suppliers needed. The spokes should be stainless steel double butted, I ALWAYS use DT but a lot of people have suggested Sapim is as good if not better, the choice is yours.
Rims have got to be Mavic. THESE look ok but THESE are a bit cheaper and available in both spoke counts so you could go 36 rear & 32 front like I did. The second set are also a bit narrower so will allow a better choice of tyre width for road use.

 

[confusedcyclist]

@I like Skol, thanks. Good point, being used to calliper brakes wearing out rims quickly in all weather commuting, I never thought of disc rims lasting much longer. This will be my first disc wheel build, so forgive my naivety!

I had planned on using the more basic deore hubs, cup and cone bearings have probably reached their pinnacle and haven't advanced in recent history. Any particular reason why you would go for the XT models over the more basic Deore?

Edit: I see from a quick google that they are better sealed. If kept greased regularly, I don't see this being a major benefit. I'll stick with the cheap stuff

On Roger Musson's guidance, I always build with DT double butted spokes.

 

[I like Skol]

why you would go for the XT models over the more basic Deore

£35 for an XT M756 rear
£22.50 for the Deore M525
£20 for the M475
The QR skewers on the Deore and XT versions are much nicer but to be honest I don't think there is technically much difference between the two. I did have a set of the M475 hubs in the original wheels that came on my hybrid and there was nothing wrong with them either, it was the shoddy rims and wheel building that necessitated the replacement of them in only 2000 miles. I bought XT because I knew they would be the last set of wheels I would be buying for that bike so worth spending a few quid extra to get the best. More than 4yrs later the minor extra cost is long forgotten but I still have a great set of wheels that work like new.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Certainly not, but another benefit is to not add grime magnets to the side of my wheels

 

[I like Skol]

But they are only grime magnets when used as a breaking surface.

..... or even a braking surface, but he is right.

 

[I like Skol]

Mock my disability why don't you.

I'm sure you have mocked mine in the past.....

 

[samsbike]

Other rims are the exal lx17 and kinlin 22T.

 

[SheilaH]

Dt swiss 460

http://www.starbike.com/en/dt-swiss-r-460-disc/

 

[winjim]

Dt swiss 460

http://www.starbike.com/en/dt-swiss-r-460-disc/

Saving a marvelous 10g mass per rim compared to the standard rim brake version.