Touring - rims and hubs?

What rims and hubs do you guys use? I'm building a set for a 9 speed 130 mm rear hub set up.

What are your opinions on mavic ma-3 rims and the open road rims?

MA-3's on Deore hubs with 700x37 Panaracer's . No probs after nearly 2000kms with them. Although I've only done one day tours with them, I've carried full loaded panniers enough for two riders. I've used them both on and off road and carried the week's shopping (30kg) without complaints (not pulled spokes or getting-out-of-true rims). I'm satisfied with them, but surely you'll hear warnings against the MA-3's.

what did you hear about ma-3's? They are cheap, but strong I thought.

Mavic seems to be a case of love or hate. I've read posts in other forums (http://www.bicycle-forum.com/tech/durable_rim_suggestions_456831.html) explaining how these rims got cracks around the spoke holes after a short use or how eyelets got pulled.
As far as I'm concerned, Mavic is ok. My other two bikes also have Mavic rims and after years of use nothing wrong has shown yet.

I saw the same post as Clayface. I have Mavic rims with Campy chorus hubs and have had no problems. I've ridden singletrack, and been on some really rough 4 wheel drive roads in Hawaii with my touring gear. I wonder how much of a wheels durability has to do with how well the wheel was built in the first place. I think paying a little more to have a pro build your wheels will pay off in the long run. Good luck-Steve L.

I wonder how much of a wheels durability has to do with how well the wheel was built in the first place. I think paying a little more to have a pro build your wheels will pay off in the long run. Good luck-Steve L.
You hit the nail square on the head, one more wack for checking tension(too loose and too tight) occationally and that nail is all the way in.
The ex-racer guy at my LBS claims it's all about proper build/maintenence, and he rides his radial laced light road bikes on easy single track without problems. (he says he prefers it to MTBs because he's use to road bikes)
I'll back that, from what I've seen in motorcycle/car/lawnmoer/boat/house and any other way to express the lifespan:maintenence/workmanship relationship, it is 80% mechanic talent/care/skill and 20% parts quality. (If you go back to the factory I bet you find the same 4:1 ratio there too, but the 4 would be split between assembly and design.)

I have MA3s on a pro-built wheel, but with a low end hub. It has survived 3 years of daily all-weather commuting with plenty of trail riding and curb jumping. I like them.

I use 36h Sun CR18 rims and XT hubs. They were built into wheels using a 3X pattern with 14 gauge straight spokes. They work fine.

road: phil hubs. front sun cr18, rear rhyno lite. 4-cross dt 12-guage, 48 spoke.
mtb: phil, rhyno lite xl. 3-cross dt triple-butted, 36 spoke.

both used for heavy loaded touring, pulling a bob. rear cr18 on the road bike
blew up after only 10,000 miles. front still good after 50,000. i suspect the failure
(spoke heads pulling thru, cracks in sidewall) was the result of the combination of
the heavy load and the bob, plus not slowing down for the cattle guards.

Standard Alex 700C rims on 2001 Fuji Touring. Had major problems with spoke breakages on the rear. OK now after full spoke replacement and proper tensioning. Front rebuilt with SON dynohub. Have lasted 26,000km.

They are about to be retired to the fixie before the brake-pad wear gets too deep. Their replacements are new Velocity Aerohead rims (made in good ol' Australia). The rear is the OC (off-centre) version which means almost equal spoke tension on both sides, reduced dish and hence (supposedly) a stronger wheel. 36H matched to Velocity's own hub. Front rim will be built up with the SON. Expecting great things from the pair even though they aren't marketed specifically as a touring model. They will have either 28mm Michelin Dynamics or 32 Conti TT2000 tyres.

I did consider the Dyad touring rim, which is wider and probably could take 40mm wide tyres, but it also has a much deeper vee that doesn't bode well for crosswinds. It obviously is superstrong if dimensions are anything to go by, and would be good I suppose for trekking. But then I'd probably go for a bike with 26" wheels.

My back wheel was buit by a pro and the ma3 rim got a crack in it after 600 miles.
there are several builders who will not use them at all. do a usenet search. the MA3 has a pretty bad record. how about a velocity rim very nice and not too expensive.

road: phil hubs. front sun cr18, rear rhyno lite. 4-cross dt 12-guage, 48 spoke.
mtb: phil, rhyno lite xl. 3-cross dt triple-butted, 36 spoke.

both used for heavy loaded touring, pulling a bob. rear cr18 on the road bike
blew up after only 10,000 miles. front still good after 50,000. i suspect the failure
(spoke heads pulling thru, cracks in sidewall) was the result of the combination of
the heavy load and the bob, plus not slowing down for the cattle guards.

12 gauge was not the right spoke size, your spokes over powered your rim. A double butted spoke 14/15 has a lot more stretch so they don't need quite as much tension to get the same pre-strech, but the time you get a 12 guage spoke tensioned properly it's pulling so hard that the rims hole are near failure before you even get on the bike, I'm kind of suprised it lasted 10,000miles. 14/15 should be more than strong enough with a 48 hole setup, heck most xc mtb rear wheels now are 32 spoke 3cross 14/15 and thats with disk brakes. I was under the impression that 48 spoke generally use 5 cross.

Is this a tandem, because you just marked it as a road bike? If its a tandem than cancel most of what I said cause I don't know tandems.

12 gauge was not the right spoke size, your spokes over powered your rim. Is this a tandem, because you just marked it as a road bike? If its a tandem than cancel most of what I said cause I don't know tandems.

oops. fat fingers typing in the dark...they are 14 guage straight.
you're right, probably should have gone with butted, tho.

i doubt 5x would be possible with these hubs - spoke would then run across the head of the
next spoke.

not a tandem, just a plain old mercian single.