Rear wheel advice.

[Jmenorton]

Im planning to do some loaded touring (rear panniers only), and currently have these wheels http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/xtreme-atb-wheel-set-28700-c-cross-wheels-474126/aid:474128 on my cx bike, and am starting to think the rear will not be up to the job at 28 spokes. Is there any problems with building road/touring rims, thinking the ones from spa, onto a mountain bike hub (need a disk hub)? also would 36spokes be overkill?

Had a quick look around and cant find many ready built 700c disc wheels, any suggestions? Don't really want to spend more than £100.

ill probably have a bash at building it myself.

 

[Yellow7]

I have 32 hole rims and have never popped a single spoke, although I have hub gears wich are stronger as the wheels isn't 'dished' (same length spokes either side). I'd prefer 36 spokes if using a derailier just to give a bit more strength, all depends on what roads you intend to use. My first tour across France / Spain i had problems with cracked rims and spoke nipples pulling through, that was on Mavic 517 rims.

As far as a "bash at building it myself", don't even go there, you're asking for trouble, building a wheel is a time-served skill and a pro wheel-builder will tension the spokes according to it's inteneded use, for tourring less tension is applied as it helps releive the increased stress from the exra luggage and being ridden for many hours days at a time, unlike a road bike.

For my touring bike I done loads of research and the best rims I found were the Italian DRC MT19 rims ( http://www.drc.it/mounta.htm ), the nipple eyelits are double butted (inner & outer surfaces) so makes a strong wheel. I used a wheel builder at twentyfourseven cycles (MK). The bikes now done 18,000 miles and still running true, with NO popped spokes.

 

[billflat12]

Don,t know road surface/climbs or weights involved but a fully loaded tour using 28 spoke machine built wheels would cause me some concern too,
I have successfully fully re-built wheels myself but wouldn't recommend it for fully loaded touring unless you have plenty of experience.
I don,t really understand whats wrong with 36h for a loaded tour ?
I have 36h front & back so i can use 4 panniers when fully loaded with camping gear etc.
Handbuilt is the way to go for build quality + Spa,s look well up to the job @ under £100
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b17s176p1829

 

[Jmenorton]

Thanks for the link Billflat12, that looks exactly what i was looking for, im carrying camping gear on the rack, and rear panniers with a bar bag, so pretty much all the weight will be over the rear wheel. So i think ill get away with the front wheel i have now?

 

[bigjim]

32 spoke factory rear wheel with 28c tyre, 14 stone rider. No problems.

 

[Bodhbh]

32 spoke factory rear wheel with 28c tyre, 14 stone rider. No problems.

I think there's a certain amount of pot luck (or pothole luck?). With the back loaded up I popped spokes on 3 different factory built back wheels (on different bikes) before getting a couple of handbuilt jobbies from Spa.

 

[doog]

You can get a hand built Mavic A319 36 hole rear touring wheel from Dave Hinde for £56

http://www.davehinde.com/road-bikes/wheels.html

Ive had a tour cut short due to popping spokes on a factory built 32 spoke CX wheel, no issues since with hand built.

 

[bigjim]

I don't see this handbuilt thing. Its not handbuilt if the rim and spokes are made in a factory on a machine. If you mean hand assembled then ok. But surely that only means that the spokes are tensioned by hand, something that an LBS should be capable of doing. I'm open to education with this.

 

[Bodhbh]

I don't see this handbuilt thing. Its not handbuilt if the rim and spokes are made in a factory on a machine. If you mean hand assembled then ok. But surely that only means that the spokes are tensioned by hand, something that an LBS should be capable of doing. I'm open to education with this.

I do not know why hand tensioned wheels should better than factory ones, you would think a robot could tension a spoke well enough. However, you always read the strength of the wheel lies in the correct tensioning as much as the component build and that handbuilt wheels are better tensioned. My experience is all 3 of my factorybuilt rear wheels popped spokes with a load on the back and not a single handbuilt wheel (2 from spa, one from chain reaction) has given problems, so I'm not gonna argue with it.

Regarding the LBS, they should in theory be okay with tensioning wheels but I'd rather trust somewhere with a decent rep. My LBS have bodged or taken ages over simple jobs before and I'm not trusting them with building a wheel when somewhere like spa can just ship one to arrive in a couple of days. Ideally I'd just do it myself like everything else on the bike, but unfortunately wheelbuilding is something I've yet to learn (probably on the factory wheels with the broken spokes...)

Ofc it's arguable whether it's worth shelling out on a handbuilt wheel on the off-chance the existing one might fail, when it might be fine.

 

[ushills]

Handbuilt is something you can do yourself if you are mechanically competent.

If you take your time to ensure the spoke tension is equal and the tension is high you will build a better wheel than a factory one or your LBS.

Factory machines generally don't tension high enough or stress relieve and hence they go out of true or pop spokes. Low tensioned spokes are the problem.

 

[Crankarm]

Handbuilt is something you can do yourself if you are mechanically competent.

If you take your time to ensure the spoke tension is equal and the tension is high you will build a better wheel than a factory one or your LBS.

Factory machines generally don't tension high enough or stress relieve and hence they go out of true or pop spokes. Low tensioned spokes are the problem.

Over tensioned spokes of varying tenions?!

Hand built wheels from a reputable wheel builder are far better than any factory wheels.

 

[bigjim]

So they are not hand built then. They are hand tensioned. They are all factory wheels? So can't an good LBS check and tension your spokes equally? You'd think a computerised machine would produce a more even tensioned set of spokes.

 

[ushills]

So they are not hand built then. They are hand tensioned. They are all factory wheels? So can't an good LBS check and tension your spokes equally? You'd think a computerised machine would produce a more even tensioned set of spokes.

Mine are handbuilt from machined parts, using my hands.

I would never dream of forging my own aluminium and steel

 

[Jmenorton]

Well looks like handbuilt is the way to go then, I reckon i should probably increase my budget to include mining gear now, expensive this cycling

On a serious note, any other tried and tested places to check, other than david hinde and spa. Probs going to use spa atm, something reassuring about a man with a beard.

 

[doog]

Well looks like handbuilt is the way to go then, I reckon i should probably increase my budget to include mining gear now, expensive this cycling

On a serious note, any other tried and tested places to check, other than david hinde and spa. Probs going to use spa atm, something reassuring about a man with a beard.

I got a hand built Mavic Open pro (rear) from Parker International http://www.parker-international.co.uk/

Good value at the time .

As for arguing whether its hand built , would you argue that a kit car wasnt hand built because the builder didnt knock up the parts in a forge or are you on a wind up?