Please help me choose the right "modern" wheels?

[steveha]

Guys

I haven't bought a bike wheel for about 40 years and as I return to cycling (see https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/h...y-country-lanes-and-sensible-off-road.267324/) I want to make sure I specify the right wheels and tyres :-)

I'm used to riding on alloy 27 x 1.25" "high pressures" with a medium weight tyre. Interested in modern puncture resistant tyres.
Those old rims tended to go out of true every year or two mainly due to off-road riding. Want seriously strong rims now. Interested in a little more "suspension"
" Will often be riding bumpy roads
" Comfort
" Help the tyres grip better?
" Understand fashion for fairly low pressure "fat" tyres
I have deliberately avoided "quick release" wheels - makes wheels too easy to steal. I don't remove wheels often enough for needing a tool to be an issue

There's "so much choice"! So many wheel diameters and widths! How do I find strong, comfortable and grippy?

Thanks

Steve

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

You'd be looking at some decent hand built touring wheels in a 700c size if you want seriously strong and able to fit sensibly wide tyres to. Hardcore touring bike owners seem to regard 36 hole Sputnik rims as the most bomb-proof available but I've never used them.
All my hybrid wheels are the bog standard manufacturers offerings that came with bikes, so not the most spendy types at all. They are all 36 spoke wheels though, not the silly things the roadies ride these days with only half as many spokes as they should have.
Any hybrid/touring rim should be able to take a 35 or 38mm wide tyre so long as the frame has clearance, and as regards tyres it has to be Schwalbe Marathons if you want fit & forget tyres with punctures only once in a blue moon. I'm heading on for three years without a puncture on any Schwalbe tyre I've got fitted, so long as I haven't just jinxed myself when I go for a ride later this morning!

 

[Blue Hills]

+1 for sputniks. Not light but strong. Also a good for general day to day round town and commuting use I think. If you use rim brakes OP beware some oh so modern wheels that have shaved the braking surface.