Commuting - Wheel Build Help

I recently purchased an 07 dew deluxe from kona. I immediatly added on fenders, rear rack, trunk bag w/ panniers, tailight and headlight, cyclocomputer, slicks, two water bottle cages with the obligitory water bottles, frame pump, spare tubes for each type of tire, tire levers, multi-tool, patch kits, lube for pivot points, lube for my chain, brush to clean the drive train, helmet, reflective bands, reflective vest, and probably several other things I've forgotten.

Then point is I would like a spare front wheel to put a studded tire on for the winter time, possibly even a spare rear wheel to change out as well.

As you can see by the above paragraph I'm feeling a bit tapped out now. So...

My first thought was to buy as budget of wheels as possible and mount the winter setup to it.

What is on there now is Sun MZ 14 wheels, they are a 28" wheel with disc brakes. 700c tires fit on there so a 700c rim should be equal size, but is there such an animal with disc brakes?

Any help from the good members of BF?

Thanks.

Edit: The guy at the store said they are 28"s but looking at www.konaworld.com (http://www.konaworld.com) I don't see anything that says so...

Edit2: Is there going to be a prebuilt 700c/28" wheel with disc brake hubs? If so how much? If not how much is a custom one going to run?

Starting with the big picture: you can run good-quality studded tires (Nokian) on dry pavement. You don't have to take them off just because it isn't icy. Yeah, they're noisy, but they can take it. So if that was your reason for wanting a second set of wheels, it's not totally necessary.

Anyway, they're 700C and your local shop can buy off-the-shelf prebuilt wheels or custom-build some for you. For wintertime use, how about some of the economical 6-bolt Deore front (http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=HU1718) and rear (http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=HU1709) hubs, DT 14-gauge spokes, and WTB SpeedDisc rims (http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=RM1602). If those are carefully hand-built, they should be better than your original wheels. If it were me and I knew you were going to use them all winter, I'd open up the hubs and give them some extra grease too.

If you can afford to go up to the DeoreXT 6-bolt hubs, they've got better seals. Another upgrade would be using DT 14-15ga. butted spokes. Oh, and you'd want another pair of rotors and a second cassette.

Studded tires only come in 700c and 26", so that's where you have to look for wheels. You're going to have a hard time finding a prebuilt 700c wheel with a disc hub for less than it would cost to build as mech noted. You're in luck a little bit as your bike has a 135mm rear hub.

The other option is to run your studs on 26" wheels. You can get a set of wheels for less than $100 at pricepoint.com. Figure another $100 for the tires, and then you need discs for each wheel and a casette for the rear, probably $300 all told by the time you're done.

I concur with DCCommuter, although the pre-built 700c wheels aren't that hard to find since they are the same as on 29" mountain bikes. But there are nowhere near as many available as 26" wheels. You might also try building your own, which is what I did for my Novara Big Buzz, very similar to your Dew Deluxe. I used Alex Adventurer 700c rims, XT M756 6-bolt disc hubs, and DT Competition double butted spokes. The total cost was about $170.00, about half of what I would have had to pay someone to do it for me.

MechBGon was right on the spot.

Get a Shimano hub (I think LX is almost as good as DX and you'll save 10-20 $) with disc brake compatibility, a decent rim and a disc. In theory, if you align the disc correctly, you should have no problem when you swap wheels. I don't know how that theory stands in practice, however.

Just fit studded tires on the wheels you have. If you buy a second set of wheels, make sure you have the same rear hub, otherwise your cassette will end up in a different position and you will have to readjust your rear derailler every time you switch wheels

i'd go with the same hubs (or at least hubs you know to have similar measuremants) if your gonna use two wheelsets; so when you swap, the cassette and discs will line up without having to readjust everytime.

i think two wheelsets is a great idea if you frequently need studs... you certainly can ride them when you don't need them but it sure is nice not to have to... ;)

28" wheels are 700c wheels. Its not a term commonly used in the States but my understanding is Europeans use it to refer to fat tired 700c treking bikes. In fact the 29er MTBs are also 700c rims just with fat knobbie MTB tires.
As for 700c wheels with disc brakes, its an uncommon combination which mean the availability of inexpensive prebuilt wheels is a little rare. I have been paying $20-25 to build up wheels at my LBS. This includes the price of spokes and nipples. Also check out Ebay and other sites for good used wheels that someone may have upgraded.
Craig

I like to buy rims from Superspokes.com and find spokes on ebay usually. Wheelbuilding can be a lot of fun and the more you practice the better you get. It really is an art.