Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Ok wheelset for clydesdale tourer?

Hi all,

I'm building a tourer (using a Giant OCR Touring frame) and wanted to run by what I've chosen for my wheels to make sure they will be strong enough for touring. I'm 230lbs.

Mavic A719 rims (36 spoke 700c)
XT hubs
35x700c Marathon Plus tires

I've done a fair share of reading over on the touring forum, and I've decided on this combo, but I need the clydesdale approval! Thanks in advance

Hi all,

I'm building a tourer (using a Giant OCR Touring frame) and wanted to run by what I've chosen for my wheels to make sure they will be strong enough for touring. I'm 230lbs.

Mavic A719 rims (36 spoke 700c)
XT hubs
35x700c Marathon Plus tires

I've done a fair share of reading over on the touring forum, and I've decided on this combo, but I need the clydesdale approval! Thanks in advance

Everything is a good choice. I'd suggest DT Alpine III spokes. I've use them for 5 years or so in off-road applications and haven't broken any spokes. I built up a set of wheels for my touring bike and one for my commuter bike using them but those are both pretty new. No issues yet but I don't expect any either.

The reason for the Alpines is that they have 3 diameters. At the head, they are 2.3mm diameter so that the head doesn't have any possibility of moving in the hub. If they can't move in the hub, they fatique less. The rest of the spoke is a regular butted spoke 1.8mm/2.0mm. The butts are elastic and allow the wheel to flex which takes even more pressure off the heads.

Thank you cyccommute

Your biggest concern will be having the wheels PROPERLY built. If they are the any of the top manufactures wheels with 32h or 36h will do just fine.The parts you have are a very good choice.

Just to give you an idea, on my former roadie I ran Campagnolo Vento wheels (no where near the best set of wheels), 24h/28h and some of the roads I ride have some nasty cracks. I loged over 2000mi in 18mo and only once did I have to tighten the spokes up.

Build 'em right the first time and you should have no problems.

MSF:beer:

May I suggest Velocity Dyad rims instead of Mavics. IMHO, Mavic's quality control is VERY spotty, lately.

What do you think about DT 2 straight guage spokes cyccomute?

I think the A719's are a good choice, you may also look at Salsa Delgado's..

What do you think about DT 2 straight guage spokes cyccomute?

Straight gauge spokes don't make a stronger wheel. Here's what Sheldon Brown has to say about butted spokes:

Double-buttedspokes are thicker at the ends than in the middle. The most popular diameters are 2.0/1.8/2.0 mm (also known as 14/15 gauge) and 1.8/1.6/1.8 (15/16 gauge).
Double-butted spokes do more than save weight. The thick ends make them as strong in the highly-stressed areas as straight-gauge spokes of the same thickness, but the thinner middle sections make the spokes effectively more elastic. This allows them to stretch (temporarily) more than thicker spokes.

As a result, when the wheel is subjected to sharp localized stresses, the most heavily stressed spokes can elongate enough to shift some of the stress to adjoining spokes. This is particularly desirable when the limiting factor is how much stress the rim can withstand without cracking around the spoke hole.


Triple-butted spokes, such as the DT Alpine III, are the best choice when durability and reliability is the primary aim, as with tandems and bicycles for loaded touring. They share the advantages of single-butted and double-butted spokes. The DT Alpine III, for instance, is 2.34 mm (13 gauge) at the head, 1.8 mm (15 gauge) in the middle, and 2.0 mm (14 gauge) at the threaded end.
Single- and triple-butted spokes solve one of the great problems of wheel design: Since spokes use rolled, not cut threads, the outside diameter of the threads is larger than the base diameter of the spoke wire. Since the holes in the hub flanges must be large enough to fit the threads through, the holes, in turn are larger than the wire requires. This is undesirable, because a tight match between the spoke diameter at the elbow and the diameter of the flange hole is crucial to resisting fatigue-related breakage.

Since single- and triple-butted spokes are thicker at the head end than at the thread end, they may be used with hubs that have holes just large enough to pass the thick wire at the head end.

Thanks cyccomute

Does anyone know a good/great wheelbuilder in Toronto?

I DONT KNOW OF A WHEEL BUILDER IN TORONTO.

I had a set of velocity Dyad rims/wheels built by Velocity USA .

I ordered them through Greg at superspokes. they worked out very good so far.

I went with black machined rims and black double butted spokes

velocity uses a force brand hub with a sealed cartrige bearing , not the best But the single speed diehards Like the force hubs well enough, again so far so good!!.

I also was able to get a 40 spoke rear and a 36 front done with my choice of 130 or 135 spacing.

the price was very good ! the Dyad is a very good rugged rim.

"John"

I did a loaded tour of 6 weeks at about 270 total weight with Mavic MA2 36 hole rims laced to Ultegra hubs using straight 14 DT spokes. The wheels were great, even though I built them myself,(I'm not good at it).
MSF said the builder makes the difference, and that's the most important thing in wheels, a good builder.

Thanks guys. Yeah, I know about the need for a good wheel builder. I read it after starting this bike and it has instilled a bit of paranoia. The LBSs around me don't instill a lot of faith in me, but I'm sure there has to be at least one/two wheelbuilders people like. If not, It looks like I'll probably end up getting them from Peter White. His hubs are a little bit more expensive though, I'll see if I can send him some.

Thanks again...have a good weekend

I had some wheels built up with Phil Wood 48 spoke hubs and I use Schwalbe Marathon 700c32 tires. It works great. I never get flats and it rides real well with a heavy load.

A little over three years ago I had Colorado Cyclist build me a set of 36 spoke wheels with Ultegra hubs and Mavic CXP-33 rims. The spokes are straight 14 ga., although I might go for butted spokes if I had to do it over again. I live on a very rough gravel road and do some riding on other rough roads and trails around here (central MO). I've never had to touch them with a spoke wrench, they're as true as the day I got them. The only slight inconvenience is that the CXP-33 is a deep section rim, so they need longer valve stems. They're probably the best money I ever spent on my bike.