Touring - 32 hole rear hub

just wondering who rides a 32h rear hub, weight, kind, etc...I had really bad luck last tour after re-lacing my 32 rear due to a failing old rim i had started on. The spokes were recognized along the way by a mech who recognized them as a garbage product. Im leary lacing it up now even wit good spokes. Its an lx with lots of life. Just fishing for opinions on how much 4 spokes REALLY adds in strength. BTW the rim to be laced is 559, spoke length 262/264, 14g wheelsmith (thickest I can find, however have heard of 13's).

thanks.

A properly laced wheel of that size shouldn't break spokes. But you can end up with rim failures a more likely outcome, depending on what kind you are using. That's the standard lacing for that wheel so rim failure ought to be a longshot. In that regard I don't think heavier is better, since at a theoretical level you might engender even more impact load. If it where my wheel I would use one of the following: All 14 straights, all 14 butted, 14 and 15 on any dished hubs, or 14 straight, 14 butted on any dished hub.

I see nothing but positives about going to 36 holes, you get performance like 40 hole, at a regular price. If you ended up stranded in the absolute worst situation, you could probably beg, borrow, or steal a replacement 26 inch wheel for a few buck, so you wouldn't get nailed for having chosen a slightly less comon lacing. Your chance of needing that option should be close to nil.

Since you are moving in the direction of custom frames you want to be upgrading your gear as you go. New LXs are pretty cheap, or maybe the time for Phil is upon you. Relacing the current hub is putting a lot of money when it comes to quality spokes, into something that doesn't really merit it.

Proper wheel build with regards to tensioning is more important than how many spokes you have. As an example, this summer we toured about 450 miles with someone using ultra low spoke count racing style wheels on a cross bike, pulling a BOB Trailer. At least half of those miles were across unpaved Alaskan roads. He had no problems and the wheels were as true as could be at the end of his tour.

See Pic. (http://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/image/83648355)

This didn't surprise me. I've been beating the crap out of low spoke count racing wheels since about 1989 and have never had to retrue one that was built right in the first place.

I use 32 hole hubs on my Thorn, carry heavy loads (110-120 pound bike weight) and like heading off the pavement. I've had no troubles and like the fact that if something happens I can probably find 32 hole rims and hubs easier. The only time I've ever needed to borrow a bike shop (bottom bracket mystery), the local "bike shop" was a "chainsaw and cycle shop", with little emphasis on the cycling. :p

YMMV

it doesn't matter....