Tandem Cycling - Back up/ spare/ extra wheelset

Hi,

The wheel set threads have me considering purchasing a back up set.

What do people here have or suggest as a back up wheel set and general price.
Looking for suggestions on rims, spoke count/type and hubs.

We have shimano 10 speed with the avid rear disc brake.
Team weight about 300.
Current wheels are Rolfs.

Thanks for your input.

Rob

If you feel the wheels you have are "Performance" oriented then get some sturdier wheels. If you think your wheels are sturdy then get some "Performance" wheels.

Sturdy = 36+ spokes with a double wall rim
Performance = 32 or less spokes with an aero rim

YMMV

If you get a spare wheel set, you may want to get a pack of 0.1 mm disc spacers so that you don't have to adjust the calipers with wheel changes. We got some from Tandems East.

My wish list includes;
1)a set of Topolinos for a go-fast, smooth ride. These would be the daily drivers.
2)a set with wide rims for mounting cross tires.
3)a set with shallow rim depth for windy spring rides.
Until I win the lottery our Bontragers will suffice.

If you feel the wheels you have are "Performance" oriented then get some sturdier wheels. If you think your wheels are sturdy then get some "Performance" wheels.

Sturdy = 36+ spokes with a double wall rim
Performance = 32 or less spokes with an aero rim

YMMV

Excellent response MB1, right on the money.


KRhea

Anybody have a 40 hole, 160 OLD, disc hub? I have a rim that I'd like to lace up for a spare but I need to find a low cost hub.

What do people here have or suggest as a back up wheel set and general price. Looking for suggestions on rims, spoke count/type and hubs.

These would be excellent... having used basically the same wheels on our '98 Erickson for some 6 years and 10k+ miles.

http://www.thetandemlink.com/Images/Calfee/deepv.jpg

Hand built 36h White Ind. Daisy hubset with Deep-V rims & Sapim DB spokes @ ~2,050 grams. Mine were procured locally; however, for price shopping you'd be hard pressed to beat Tandems East for a similar wheelset based on catalog pricing, i.e., ~$550.00. You could mess around with 32h / 36h configurations, but as noted in previous postings I prefer to use the same spoke count on front & rear wheels that will be used for touring, etc... since I can stuff a single spare rim in my travel case "just in case". Also, 36h is relatively common and in a worst case scenario you can salvage the front rim for a damaged rear rim and stick just about any front wheel on the tandem as an interim fix. Again, we're talking about a back-up / robust wheelset so adding a few spokes to the front wheel isn't a big deal. If you were a much heavier team then a 40h wheelset might be prudent; however, at 300# the 36h + Deep-V makes for a very robust wheel.

We haven't used these yet, but as noted we have lots of experience with both the hubset (Racer-X is basically the same as Daisy) and Deep-V rims. Because you have the Calfee I'd shy away from the bolt-on rotor hubs and stick with thread-on adapters like your Rolfs UNLESS your retailer / wheel builder can guarantee the rotor off-set will be at least 15.25mm.

The same hubset with the Fusion rim would also make for an excellent and very light (~1,900 gram) wheelset. We put about 300 miles on a set of White Ind / Fusion wheels and they were outstanding. However, I opted to switch to a Deep-V configuration because the 25mm deep Fusion wasn't as well proportioned for the very large diameter (1 3/4" & 2") top, down and boom tubes on our tandem as the Deep-V with it's 30mm profile and they just looked somewhat undersized (http://www.thetandemlink.com/Images/Calfee/calfee_mar8.jpg). You can find a photo gallery of our tandem with both sets of wheels (as well as some '07 Rolfs & '08 Topolino's) HERE (http://www.thetandemlink.com/calfee_tandem_build.html).