Touring - riding comfort

You hear, all the time, riders talking about component weight, and specifically here -- wheel weight -- and how it possibly affects speed and performance. What about comfort? What in the make up of a wheel makes for the most comfrotable ride? The width of the tire certainly. But what about one rim vs another? Double-butted spokes vs straight gauge? Certain lacing patterns? Anything else? Can anyone help?

In wheels and specifically weight for touring you're splitting fractional hairs when it comes to hubs, spokes and rims...

comfort is defined by width and inflation and tread as well as how beefy the wheel is for supporting weight and not failing under load.

Touring isn't like road cycling... yes, tourers want to keep as much weight down as possible because they are hauling it themselves but that's very different than a roadies usual mindset... as little weight as possible so they can pretend to be Lance or someone else. ;)

For touring, comfort has more to do with ones ability to be in the saddle day in and day out for weeks/months at a time and that owes more to frame design, frame material, saddle, handlebars, solid racks & panniers that are attached & loaded correctly and tire width/inflation as well as good choices in gearing than just mere groupo weight.

Modern V-section rims are supposed to be far more ridgid, and less forgiving than trad box section ones.
I have a very traditional English touring bike (Reynolds 531 ST steel), with good, but not ultra-light componets (Campy Mirage). It is quite a bit lighter than most hybrid or MTB bikes that people tour on (OK there are some ultra-light MTBs around). You can be strong enough without being too heavy.

Touring isn't like road cycling... yes, tourers want to keep as much weight down as possible because they are hauling it themselves...

I fully agree. My primary intrests are comfort as well as reliability of my equipment. If you must save on weight, why not start with your other equipment?

Cheers,
TT

The more spokes the better with touring. You want something to handle the loads. No fun breaking a spoke with 50-100 lbs of gear in the middle of nowhere!