Originally Posted by
Bezalel
My tandem currently has a 135mm OLD rear wheel. While a true tandem wheel is out of my budget, I was thinking around widening a MTB hub to 140 or possibly 145mm.
My question is will this result in a stronger or weaker wheel? There would be less dish in the spokes but there would end up being more axle unsupported on the NDS.
Do you mean 145mm or are you planning on widening your frame?
Is there already a problem with your current wheel?
Are you planning on building/rebuilding wheels yourself or do you expect to have to pay for it?
FWIW I think that you are right, if you put a longer axle and spacers into a MTB hub, the wheel would be stronger but you are more likely to bend/break axles. Do you have a supply of suitable axles available?
Otherwise I'd be tempted to keep the frame as it is and use a MTB hub with as many spokes as you can easily find (32 or 36), built into deep section rims (like Velocity B43) this will build a wheel that will be strong enough, but not weight weenie.
Cheers,
Cameron