NoReg

I was talking to a guy today who does guided rides across Canada, from what I understood, loaded tours, where everyone carries their own stuff. He said that pretty much everyone had suffered rim problems, including those with 36 spoke touring wheels. The only exception were aero rims, because they are so much deeper (I assume). In these particular cases, the rims were 32 spoke (are there 36 spoke aero rims). What say you all? Should we be looking for this kind of rim, and what would be the best model for clydesdales like myself.

NoReg

TTT

no opinions, I'm shocked.

Nomad

My only experience with deep dish rims when touring was on my first tour. My bike had 32 spoke Mavic CXP30's. Unknown to me, the rear rim had been damaged in flight and I didn't realise until I was in the French countryside and had to "limp" to the next bikeshop. I was lucky to get there. While the deep dish rims are strong, I find they are either OK or they've snapped. In the same circumstance (I think my bike box had something else on top of it in flight), a conventional rim would probably have only buckled meaning I would have had a repair on my hands, not a replacement....

Camel

High spoke deep aero rims are great for rough road riding without a load IMO. I've a couple I swap about on my road bikes, along with swapping to non-aero ones-depending on what I'm doing (ie climbing-or if it's too windy).

I wouldn't dream of loaded touring with them.

Touring wheels should (IMO)be built by a master wheel builder, with experience building wheels to meet the riders needs. They will be pricey, but you get what you pay for.

I could probably get by building my own road wheels, where I could fiddle with them all the time in the comfort of my house after nailing potholes+such. I currently re-touch my road wheels on occasion.

I haven't had to touch my touring wheels once. Thousands of miles on 'em, including some incredibly rough potholed descents on Eastern European rodes, as well as a goodley bit of commuting on them to boot.

steveknight

When I wanted a heavy duty wheel as I was hard on them weight about 240 on a racing bike I found out about velocity deep v rims. I was going to go for 48 spokes just to make sure. when my mecanic called the guy who builds the velocity wheels and he built 36 spoke 4 cross deep v's for a guy who weighed 350 pounds. he had no problems with the wheels. so far I ahve not had any problems and they are pretty bullet proof wheels and they only cost about 15.00 or so each. thats hand built.