Braldar

I've noticed there are no updated threads on touring wheels, and I'm wanting to put together 26" wheels that will hold up for a long time. What are some good options for rims, spokes, and hubs. Thanks.

robow

You can't go wrong with Shimano XT or LX hubs and butted spokes 14/15 g, DT or Wheelsmith. The preferred rim choice seems to embroil greater debate along with the question of "32 spokes enough or should I go 36". I like Mavic's line of rims but others don't.

Cyclesafe

What Robow said. For bling hubs short of Phil Wood, I got White Industry M-16's in 36h (disc) with DT Alpine III triple butted spokes. Good 26" rims for touring include Mavic X717 and XM719.

rodar y rodar

What!?! I must be doing a lot of hallucinating then because I see about five new threads a week on the subject- maybe someody is loading my cigarrettes while I`m not looking.

Anyway, general consensus is is a handbuilt or (hand tuned factory wheel) set with plenty of spokes and reasonably good quality parts. You`ll find differences in opinion on whether you "need" XT, Deore, Phils, Mavic, Velocity, Sun, whatever, but the key is in careful lacing and tensioning. You`ll want 32 to 36 spokes per wheel (if you go to 40 spokes on a 26 in wheel, your rim choices will be severely limited) and unless there`s a real problem with the stock dropout width on your current bike or your get a killer deal on a wheelset that`s a different width it`s probably best to just stay with the same size hubs as your frame was built for.

NoReg

You either have to build the wheels yourself, or find a shop that will do it for you. If you do the latter, there can be some limitation as to what the shop will do for you. If they have a lot of experience with a particular combination, it probably makes sense to go with that because they know it well. My local shop is like that. They pump out Alex DH22 rims for tourers and lots of urban bike messengers. They hold up really well. Would the wheels turn out better if I read up some hip stuff and asked them to build a set with some components that had only rarely been through the shop before. Good wheel building is all about getting components that can take the strain, and lacing them up to the max. The latter takes experience with the materials at hand to do a top job.

I think the cheapest components that do a good job, are LX hubs, straight gage spokes, and DH22 rims, or possibly CR 18. For touring bikes I don't see any downside to going for 36 hole rims. 32 make strong wheels but why not go for 36. For top end wheels it's phil hubs and velocity rims with 40 spokes.

Braldar

Thanks for the all the help! I have another question. Is it a good idea to build the wheels myself, or should I just leave that to the LBS?

Cyclesafe

If its the first time and you don't think that you'll do it again anytime soon, I'd recommend against it. The LBS shouldn't be charging you too much if they are also selling you the components. If you do decide to build your own wheel - and its a blast - be prepared to take days doing it. There are lots of tricks that you learn only by doing. To do it properly, IMHO you need a truing stand, dish stick, and tensiometer, which will set you back $150 or so. Oh, and as I can't overemphasize, lots of time.

rodar y rodar

I humbly disagree with your opinion about what`s needed to do a good job building wheels. In my own humble opinion, they can be built just fine with a ten Dollar spoke wrench, a ruler, a bit of grease or anti-sieze, and the bike you`re building them for, flipped upside down on the dining room floor (as long as your wife doesn`t catch you). As a matter of fact, that`s how I did my first set. I do agree that building your own is a blast and that it may or may not be the best way to get your wheels.

Here`s my take on rolling your own VS ordering handbuilts:
PROS- Fun (honestly, that`s the biggest reason that I continue to do it), gain a good understanding about your wheels so you can confidently take care of any problems that may arise on the road, warm fuzzy feeling about your accomplishment
CONS- actually costs MORE for all the pieces than buying them as a finished product, takes a considerable amount of time (my first set took me about eight hours per wheel), have to figure out all the dimentions and plug numbers into a calculator to come up with spoke lengths and wait for the spokes to come in because Murphy`s Law says no LBS in town will have the lengths you need and THEN you have to sweat it out wondering if you screwed up the calculations (the worst part of it for me)

What some people are starting to do is buy factory wheels, then detension and retension/true them themselves. That`s possibly the best and cheapest way to go about it.

Here are two free websites that explain exactly how to do it. Give them a look over and decide yourself if you feel up to it.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
https://miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm
Should you decide to go for it, there`s plenty of help to be found on the Bicycle Mechanics subforum here on BFnet or on the Wheels and Tires subforum on mtbr.com Somebody will help you out if you get stuck (they did for me).

Having your LBS build them for you would probably get you a groovy set of wheels, but I`m guessing they can`t compete with the prices of online wheelbuilders either and will probably cost even more than building your own, which I already admitted costs more than buying handbuilts online. I do support my LBS, but there`s a limit. You can always ask them for a quote though- maybe I`m wrong about wheel prices from an LBS.