New rear wheel for loaded touring - advice

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Jameshow

Guru
My best touring wheel was the RS21. 20 spokes but bullet proof, even with masses of tour weight on the rear wheel.

But it's going to be more highly strung than a 36h wheel. And as much as I love Shimano wheels (light, well built, gvm) for general purpose use for touring I would want something heavier tbh but still well built.
 
Pick an experienced builder with a touring background. Tell them the size, weight, load, terrain. Listen to their recommendation.
It will probably be 36 spoke Shimano hub build.
 

albion

Guru
Location
Gateshead
It is a fairly heavy wheel with special straight spokes, 'These tough and robust wheels feature an offset rear rim for added strength and a reduced spoke count to keep the weight as low as possible.' The rims are ultra stiff plus the elbowless spokes have never needed adjusting. Remember it is a top tier budget wheel, often an upgrade for many.
I must have done 5000 km touring and 20,000+ cycling with mine. Rim brakes though. I still have my 1 spare spoke too.

My 1990s Norway tour was on a new Ridgeback Velocity (a slightly upgraded Ridgeback Comet). I wish I had my 20 spoke wheel back then !
One good thing about ebikes is that the wheels are far far better built. They were certainly designed to fail fairly fast.
 
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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Get a pair of handbuilt 32 or 36 spoke wheels. I did the KAW fully loaded on a pair of low spoke wheels (20/24). I did have to be careful.

I will be going handbuilt for the next bike packing bike.
 
The bike has a weight limit of 275 pounds and as Trek’s entry level road bike ( the AL2 ) Its built down to a price. The wheels it comes with are okay for general use but loaded up for touring with a big guy on it the bike is up near, or above, its limit. Throw a bunch of miles ( second trip right? ) and a few potholes at it and you’ve killed a wheel.

Find a good set of high quality, higher spoke count, wheels. A dealer who deals in touring bikes should be able to help. There’s a huge variation in price out there but a good dealer should be able to line you up with the right wheels at the right price. As the market sucks right now you should be able to score a good deal from his stock… because it isn’t moving right now.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
There is no benefit in 4 X. Stick with 3 X.

It was the guy who has my favourite bike shop who suggested 4 cross as a stronger wheel, John at Bob Warner cycles has been building wheels for over 60 years and not just cycle wheels he also builds wheels for classic cars and racing bikes/sidecars and he is a recommended wheelbuilder in England for the Bugatti owners club and the Maserati owners club, he also does a lot of work for the CRMC (Classic Racing Motorcycle Club) and the VMCC both racing and road Vintage Motorcycles.
I realise that most wheelbuilders don't have the knowledge or skillset to lace 4 cross but tandem builders will have and a fianal point of the 6 or so wheelsets John has built for me I have never broken a spoke, 4 cross uses a longer spoke so more able to resist tension cycles causing fatigue.
 
Location
Loch side.
It was the guy who has my favourite bike shop who suggested 4 cross as a stronger wheel, John at Bob Warner cycles has been building wheels for over 60 years and not just cycle wheels he also builds wheels for classic cars and racing bikes/sidecars and he is a recommended wheelbuilder in England for the Bugatti owners club and the Maserati owners club, he also does a lot of work for the CRMC (Classic Racing Motorcycle Club) and the VMCC both racing and road Vintage Motorcycles.
I realise that most wheelbuilders don't have the knowledge or skillset to lace 4 cross but tandem builders will have and a fianal point of the 6 or so wheelsets John has built for me I have never broken a spoke, 4 cross uses a longer spoke so more able to resist tension cycles causing fatigue.

Appeal to authority. No proof.
 

GarthW

Active Member
Location
SoCal
For anyone in the US, I would recommend Peter White, at Peter White Cycles. I found out about him on the T@H tandem forum where many tandem teams each had tens of thousands of miles on low-spoke-count wheels built by Peter White, leading me to conclude that this man obviously understands something about wheel-building that most don't. Since then, my family and I have gotten quite a few wheels built by him, and have been quite pleased. One of our sons was commuting by bike, and usually had heavy loads on the rack, with power tools, various supplies, even a 90-pound sack of cement, on roads in terrible need of repair, and his rear 36-spoke Peter White wheel with a Velocity Deep-V rim and double-butted spokes held up perfectly (and still is holding up, but he got himself a huge work van a dozen years ago, and has hardly ridden since then).
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/wheels.php
 
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