Originally Posted by
albertmoreno
wait, so is it a really bad idea to tour with a 32 spoke front wheel?
I'm going taking my Surly Cross Check to the shop to have my stock front wheel repaired, but I'm recycling the old Shimano Deore hub which is meant for 32 spokes, right? and I'm going to use an Alex Adventurer rim. This is my commuting/touring bike. Is this a fatal mistake? I just don't want to spend anymore money to have the front wheel replaced. It's all due to an accident a few months ago in which the rim got scraped pretty good from getting caught in a gap in the pavement.
You can get away with the wheels you have if your not a clydesdale and if you don't pack heavy. If you weigh 145 pounds and are going to carry 50 pounds, 30 on the rear and 20 on the front then you will be fine. But if you weigh 224 pounds and want to carry an additional 70 pounds of gear split 60/40 your probably not going to make it very far before your at a bike shop shelling out money for new rims. You can wait till they give out like you said, but are you touring when it gives out or just commuting? If your just commuting the rims will probably last a long time.
It sounded like you were going to respoke the wheel anyways, is this true? if so you already have the labor and spokes spent. So all that's left to buy is a new Deore hub with 36 holes and a new Sun Rhyno Lite which are very good rims at a low cost around $45, plus the hub at $35 and the other costs you were going to spend to respoke. Just a thought.