Originally Posted by rogerstg

It's tough to give specific advice because you haven't told us how much you weigh or what you consider long rides. I've been eyeing something like Open Sports laced to Ultegra hubs for doing brevets and similar unsupported long rides. That's slightly more than the 300 you're looking at, but should be well under $400 with shipping. FWIW, I weigh ~170# and a long ride to me is more than 75 miles [just a measure of perspective, not ability]

OTOH, if long rides to you means 20-30 miles, they are probably overkill re reliability. In that case, I'd spend the money on a tension meter, spoke wrenches and truing stand and fix what you've got. Busting spokes, especially in a front wheel, usually means that spoke tension is extremely low.