Originally Posted by halfspeed
Butted spokes would have been better. Were the wheels hand built?
Yeah, i know butted would have better a better choice. But the thing is, i HAD no choice. I bought these wheels by default, because finding a touring rim here is Mission Impossible, or very very expensive. I could have bought a Mavic A719 rim for ~$170 each+hubs+spokes+build which would have made a mighty deep hole in my wallet.
So instead i bought these A319/Deore on Ebay (figured it was a good deal at $215 including $50 shipping), and figured that having them retensioned by my mechanic is an acceptable alternative. Now, i'm starting to doubt that decision.
Anyway, to answer your question - No, i don't think the wheels were hand-built. They were, however, tensioned and trued by a pro upon arrival. I'm starting to think that the spokes are junk, because they're not DT or Wheelsmith.
I can live with a couple of broken spokes here and there, as i don't intend to go on my round-the-world tour just yet, and will settle for closer, shorter routes around here and Europe. So maybe i'll just ride the heck out of the wheelset, and replace the spokes as they break
What do you do when a spoke breaks on a tour?Do spoke lengths vary between drive/non drive sides? Should i learn how to replace them?
Ah, newbies...Gotta love us!
