Originally Posted by
old_coot
Wow, Rob_E! 2x? 1x?? Maybe it's just that I'm old-school, but I've never used anything less than 3x, and I've never had problems with spoke-hole stress or excessive spoke breakage. I think all my breaks in the past six years have come from a derailleur that jammed up and got forced into the spokes.
I do tighten my wheels pretty good, but it's withing tolerances, I think. The wheel is 36 spoke. The reason for the 1X pattern is the hub, which a very large diameter. I always build my wheels with the maximum number of crosses possible, that's why the first build had a 2 cross pattern, but the large diameter means using short spokes and a sharp angle where the spoke enters the rim. I've also built a 20 inch wheel where a 3 cross wasn't practical. Things you learn with gear hubs. I know it's preferable in some circles to save weight by omitting spokes and/or going with different spoke patterns that allow for shorter spokes, but I assure you, I went with the most spokes and most crosses possible for my build.
Originally Posted by
Kabir424
I also purchased a prebuilt Delgado rim with a shimano generator hub. I have had it for about 8 months now and it has held up phenomenally. I don't know if it came trued to perfection or not because my bike shop ordered it for me so they might have trued it when it arrived. However, I have not had to do anything at all to it concerning trueing. I have a Tubus front rack that I have carried 2 Ortlieb panniers on before and it has not had any problem at all with that. I have also taken the bike on some mountain biking trails in the area and it has been perfectly fine. And then there are the numerous potholes that exist in this area. It is my only mode of transportation so I have probably put about 4,000 miles on it so far. I am actually having a rear wheel built up for me with an LX hub and the Delgado rim.
That is good to hear. I've heard of someone who's rear Delgado rim did not hold up when touring with a heavy load, that's what concerns me about overloading the rim. I am a pretty heavy load all by myself, so I wouldn't want to risk a wheel that wasn't known to stand up to heavy touring, but the front wheel takes so much less weight (especially since my current front rack is only rated for about 5 pounds) that I'm not worried about it, but it's good to hear of a front wheel taking some weight.