Touring - Cross-country tour - need extra wheelset?

I was interested in getting feedback on the whether or not I should take an extra wheelset for my upcoming California-South Carolina tour?

Let me explain...I am going on a cross-country tour this summer with my three boys. We'll be supported by my wife driving a support vehicle. The schedule is quite inflexible (24 riding, 4 rest days), as I'll be speaking in various cities along the way. Therefore, I am trying to plan ahead to make sure we take spare equipment that we'll need in emergencies and keep us on schedule, but I obviously want to keep the investment as small as possible.

We'll have spare tires, tubes, spokes, etc. But I was wondering on whether it would be a wise thing to also have an extra wheelset on hand? Said differently, is an extra wheelset a "nice-to-have" or a "must-have"?

Thanks!
Rich
Tour web site: whythebike.com

It's only what ... 5000 miles? No, you shouldn't need an extra wheelset.

Thanks. Actually, just 2,500 miles. However, the only concern I had is that there are four of us. Therefore, I was wondering whether one extra wheelset for four riders (4 x 2,500miles) made sense.

Seems like a risk management thing to me. If you're talking about the cost of one spare wheel vs possible inconvenience and missed speaking dates if someone drives over a wheel while it's parked or you bend a rim, or even just break a few spokes, maybe it's worth it. You could further mitigate the cost by upgrading one of your wheels now, and taking the old one as a spare.

Speaking for myself, I don't recall ever damaging a wheel so badly it couldn't be ridden on, other than when I left the bike locked up and some people apparently took turns jumping on it.

Steve

Given the parameters you present I would say take the wheelset if it can indeed be used for any one of the 4 bikes. If you don't need it on the trip you will always have a spare if you need to take a wheel in for service.